2023-05-10 17:01:00
May 10, 2023 / 10:01 a.m.
On the occasion of the feast of the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, which is celebrated on September 8, the Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba narrated the story of how this beloved Marian dedication came to be proclaimed as the Patroness of Cuba.
On September 7, the Archbishopric of Santiago de Cuba shared a message from Bishop Dionisio García Ibáñez, its Archbishop, to the Cubans, on the occasion of the feast of the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre.
In his message, Msgr. García pointed out that the history of this Marian devotion on the island of Cuba goes back to 1915, when during the independence struggle, the troops used to entrust their struggles to the Virgin of Charity, and even they dedicated their final victory.
In this context, the veterans asked the then Pope Benedict XV to declare the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre as Patroness of Cuba, something that happened a year later, on May 10, 1916.
Bishop García read the exact message with which the veterans addressed the Pontiff.
“Neither the hazards of war, nor the work to earn our livelihood, could quench the faith and love that our Catholic people profess to that revered Virgin, and rather the contrary, in the heat of combat and in the greatest vicissitudes of life, when closer was the [Virgen]consoling dew for our souls”, reads the text.
In the text, the veterans call the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre the “Cuban Virgin”, and remember the love of their mothers and wives towards her.
“This is how our soldiers have proclaimed it, all praying before it for the achievement of victory and for the peace of our unforgettable dead,” they point out.
Then, they recall that it would be “a shameful ingratitude” if “we remained inactive or mute, and did not raise our voices before the successor of Saint Peter” after having received the “benefits” of the Virgin of Charity.
In this sense, they asked the Pope to echo “the sentiments of the Catholic people of Cuba and those of its Liberation Army”, to declare “the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre as Patroness of the Republic of Cuba”, and designate his ecclesiastical feast.
“Therefore, we humbly beg His Holiness to kindly grant our request,” they conclude.
After this story, the Prelate highlighted the “excitement” felt by the veterans upon receiving the approval of Pope Benedict XIV, after returning from the fight for their independence.
“[Ellos] They came mounted on their horses like the mambises”, as the independence warriors were known, carrying on “their backs all the pain that the fight for independence meant, but also in their hearts the joys of having achieved the freedom of a people”. , said Msgr. Garcia.
“They had realized that winning a fight did not mean achieving happiness for a people”, and “that sin, evil was also in our midst and that is why they went to El Cobre”.
“They knew that with their own strength they could not achieve that happiness and that freedom,” he said.
The Prelate recalled that, for the veterans, the Virgin “was like a light that illuminated and united” on the battlefield and “they knew from experience” that there were still many divisions, interests, selfishness and partisanship in their town.
“Thank God that they decided to take that step, to publicly request that the Virgin be declared the Patroness of Cuba, so that we Cubans today, more than a hundred years later, do not forget that the Virgin is the that guides and that unites”.
In this sense, he called to follow the Virgin, so that his people find the common good, “rejecting all division, all selfishness, all pride that divides us, discarding everything that prevents us from being a people of brothers.”
Cuba, he said, must be “a people that wants to inhabit this beautiful land that the Lord God gives us, make it prosper, bear fruit, to be happy.”
“Let us return to our Mother the Virgin of Charity, which means, return to Jesus; let us prostrate ourselves before her feet and say: ‘Mother, you followed your Son Jesus, help us also to follow him, accompanied by you, for our good, our family and our Homeland,’” she concluded.
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