Havana, September 8, 2025.- Cubans celebrate today the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre, Patroness of Cuba, a solemn appointment proclaimed by Pope Benedict XV in 1916, at the request of veterans of the War of Independence.
The Holy Father Pius XI authorized the canonical coronation of the sacred image, and on the morning of December 20, 1936, the ceremony was performed by the then bishop of Santiago de Cuba, Monsignor Valentín Zubizarreta.
Later, in homage to the people of Cuba during his visit to the island in 1998, St. John Paul II crowned and blessed the image of the Patroness of Cuba during the third Mass celebrated in Cuba, which took place in the Plaza Antonio Maceo in the city of Santiago de Cuba.
This pope called for the great events related to Charity to never be forgotten and recalled the unique place that the Virgin Mary, to whom St. John Paul II himself was devoted, occupies in the mission of the church.
The feast day of the image is commemorated on September 8, the birth and nativity of the Virgin Mary. She is also called Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre or simply Cachita. According to accounts from that time, this icon appeared in 1612, or early 1613, in Nipe Bay, the largest on the island, and was sighted by three men: a 10-year-old black boy (Juan Moreno) and two brothers of pure Indian blood (Juan and Rodrigo de Hoyos), who worked as slaves in the copper mines of the region. The trio became known in Cuban imagery as “the three Juans.”
The young men, who had gone to fetch salt, saw the image of the Virgin Mary with the Baby Jesus in her arms—the same object of veneration for Cubans—floating toward them on a board with the phrase “I am the Virgin of Charity” written on it.
Today, visitors to the shrine often return home with tiny stones in which the copper from the mine shines, and it is said that those who keep them have special protection and a noble future for themselves and their families.
The National Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre is one of the most venerated religious sites for the Cuban people. Coming from different parts of the nation, the faithful seek spiritual comfort from the Patroness of Cuba, as well as solutions to their desires and problems that affect human beings.
This chapel was inaugurated on September 8, 1927, and has a solid silver altar and other ornamental objects of great value. Beneath the Virgin's Camarín is the so-called Chapel of Miracles, where believers deposit various offerings, such as gold jewelry and precious stones, amulets, and other valuable objects. Some 500 people visit the site every day.
Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway presented the medal that awarded him such a high honor to the venerated Patron Saint of Cuba and pointed to this act as recognition of the Cuban people, who inspired his work “The Old Man and the Sea,” for which he received the highest award in literature in Stockholm.
Oshun, an orisha of the Afro-Cuban religion of Yoruba origin venerated in Santeria, is syncretized with the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre. This deity brought from Africa reigns over fresh waters, streams, springs, and rivers.
The feast of the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre and the celebration of Oshun are celebrated in Cuba on September 8 as part of the same festival, marking the transculturation and religious syncretism between Catholicism and Yoruba that took place among the Cuban population.
(Cuban Embassy in South Africa - Prensa Latina)