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How many times has the Virgen del Cobre come out of her Shrine in Santiago de Cuba?

Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre

We look for our Cachita, the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, in her Shrine in Santiago de Cuba. There we see her, from any point of the place we can look at her and ask her for her blessings.

The protector of the people, to whom we turn in the most difficult moments, is the Patroness of Cuba, who syncretizes her worship with Oshun, Yoruba goddess of Love and Rivers, as both deities have merged into Afro-Cuban identity and roots.

The Story of the Virgin, Patroness of Cuba

The Virgin of Charity of Copper It is one of the invocations of the Virgin Mary, one of the ways in which the mother of Jesus has made herself known to us and legend has it that she was found in the sea, floating on a piece of wood.

The image was collected from the waters by the so-called Tres Juanes in 1613, two brothers descended from indigenous people, Juan and Rodrigo de Hoyos, and a nine or 10-year-old black boy, named Juan Moreno, while they were looking for salt in the eastern bay of Nipe.

When they took her to the town of Real de Minas, near the town of Santiago de Cuba, the event was considered divine and the Virgin of Caridad del Cobre was since then, considered the protector of the faith of the Cuban people.

Legends of the Copper Charity

The image of La Caridad del Cobre is located in the Shrine in her honor in Santiago de Cuba.

Legend has it that the arrival of the image to the mountains of the Sierra del Cobre, in that province, occurred when Francisco Sánchez de Moya, artillery captain, received a mandate from King Felipe II in 1597 to go to the mines from the Sierra del Cobre to defend those coasts from the attacks of English pirates.

The king also entrusted him to erect a small church, a place where soldiers and miners could go to pray to the venerated image of the Virgin of Charity. Thus, the Captain ordered a replica of the Virgin to be carved in Toledo to be placed in the Sanctuary.

Many years later, and during his visit to the Island in 1998, Saint John Paul II crowned and blessed the image of the Patron Saint of Cuba during the third mass that he officiated in the country, celebrated in the Plaza Antonio Maceo in the city of Santiago de Cuba.

The Virgin who shelters an entire people with her miraculous cloak...

National Shrine of our Lady of Charity of El Cobre
National Shrine of our Lady of Charity of El Cobre en Casa Particular in Santiago de Cuba

The National Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre It is today one of the most revered and recognized religious sites by Cubans and foreigners.

The Virgin protector of Cubans is always there, located so that it can be seen from any corner of the Sanctuary.

The history of Cuba indicates that the Virgin of Charity has left her sanctuary only on occasions of great spirituality, because usually she must always be in the place where she arrived as a miracle and a blessing.

Times the virgin has left the Sanctuary

For this reason, the representation of Copper has appeared only on five occasions:

  • 1936, when it was crowned by the Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba.
  • 1952, on the XNUMXth anniversary of the Republic of Cuba.
  • 1959, the representation of the Patron Virgin of Cuba was located in the National Catholic Congress in Havana.
  • 1998 is crowned by Pope John Paul II, in the Plaza Antonio Maceo.
  • 2011, a pilgrimage was made throughout the island to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the appearance of the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre.

We have also dedicated these articles to the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre:

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