- The Virgin of Charity of Cobre: 100 years as Cuba’s Patron Saint.
THE VIRGIN OF CHARITY OF COBRE IS ALWAYS A PRESENCE FOR THE PEOPLE, A COMPANION THAT EXUDES FROM HER OWN SYMBOLISM FULL OF LOVE, PATRIOTISM, AND CUBAN ESSENCE.
The centennial of the proclamation of the Virgin of Charity of Cobre as the Patron Saint of Cuba, May 10, 1916–2016, stirred our interest to reunite with the events that gave rise to the special condition bestowed upon the Virgin of Charity of Cobre.
Outstanding researchers of Cuban history, such as sage Don Fernando Ortiz, PhD. Olga Portuondo, and researcher Julio Corvea have gone deeper into how the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre was gradually defined as the spiritual axis of the patriotic feeling of the mambises and, consequently, a symbol of the Cuban character.
And it is precisely this condition, assumed by many ever since, what motivates that a group of general, NCOs, and privates decide to send, on September 24, 1915, a special petition to Supreme Pontiff Benedict XV.
Holy Father,
The undersigned, sons of the Holy Roman Apostolic Church, who are writing to you, Your Holiness, humbly state:
That some of us are members and others sympathizers of the Cuban Liberation Army, a title that fills us with pride for it synthesizes the supreme asset of freedom and independence of our fatherland; that aside from this title, we hold another one, which is to belong to the Holy Roman Apostolic Church in which bosom we were born in. We live under the shelter of its precepts and will die in accordance with them; and these two titles makes it for us, gathered today in El Cobre Villa where the Sanctuary of the Holy Virgen de la Caridad is, and respectfully knelt before her altar, we agreed to beg Your Holiness to realize the most beautiful of our hopes and the most fair of the aspirations of the Cuban soul, by declaring Her Holy Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, as the Patron Saint of our young republic and, as a precept for Cuba, September 8 with her holy name.
In the original document, two pages support the petition and the other two pages contain the signatures of the war veterans who were the main characters of this event. There stand out the signatures of Major Generals Agustín Cebreco and Jesús Rabí, Brigadier Generals Luis Bonne, Tomás Padró Griñán, Vicente Miniet, Bernardo Camacho and Emilio Guilard; Commanders Ramón Garriga and Juan López, along with other NCOs and privates. Another three pages complete the document in which a heading states: “the undersigned give our unconditional support to the proclamation of the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre as Patron Saint of Cuba.”
After it was sent to the Vatican, they waited the reply with anxiety over several months until the happy news reached them that on May 10, 1916, it had been approved by decree by the Holy Congregation of the Church Rites, the proclamation of the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre as the Patron Saint of the Cuban republic. Pope Benedict XV
sent somewhat later a letter of congratulations on the event. This was a moment that filled the faithful of the Christian faith and the admirers of the mixed race Virgin with joy.
Twenty years later, on December 20, 1936, the archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, Fray Valentín Zubizarreta, requested the Holy See the canonical coronation of our Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre.
Once the request was approved, this event was matched in time with the National Eucharistic Congress held on Michaelsen Avenue in Santiago de Cuba where, before several thousands of people, the coronation was carried out. Several decades later, in 1998, Pope John Paul II did the official coronation during the mass held at the Revolution Square “Antonio Maceo.”
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