Celebrating the Our Lady Virgin of Charity, patronnes of Cuba

Father Claret tells us in his Autobiography: “Fifteen days after our arrival to Cuba we went to visit the Shrine of Our Lady Virgin of Charity at El Cobre, four miles away from the capital, a center of devotion for all the inhabitants of the island. The picture of the Virgin is enshrined in a chapel that has been very richly adorned through the continual offerings brought there from far and near”.

In fact, at the very moment in which Claret arrives in Cuba when the ship had entered into the Bay of Santiago, the captain had turned it toward the mountain of El Cobre and fired a five-gun salute, while all on board sang a prayer to the Virgin. On the day of his installation Claret placed his episcopal ministry under the protection of the Virgin: “The Blessed Virgin will always be the Prelate here; and my administration will be of the kind she inspires me to”.