Our Church of the Charity of Cobre

This is one of the religious sites Cubans worship the most: the Church of the Virgin of Charity of Cobre (the Saint Patroness of Cuba), which is visited by over 500 people on a daily basis.

The Sanctuary is perched on the highest spot of Maboa Hill, 27 kilometers away from Santiago de Cuba City, features three halls crowned with towers and belfries, with a symmetric main façade and there is a dome over its central structure.

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Inaugurated on September 8, 1927, the holy place has a staircase with three groups of steps, flanked by a low wall with lamps that remain on all night long.

The churched is spruced up in ocher and white shades. This precinct houses the virgin, who stands on a mobile altar that can be seen from every corner of the main hall.

The Chapel of Miracles is located right under the Virgin’s Chapel and it’s a small hall where believers place different offerings: gold jewels and gemstones, chains, pieces of cloth, Olympic medals, baby cloth, common objects that represent richness for those believers.

The image of the Virgin of Charity of Cobre is strongly linked to Cuba’s history, as it accompanied the Liberating Army to the battlefields against the Spanish metropolis.

Just as many religious stories, this one seems to be a legend. The story tells that, in 1612, two indigenous brothers and a 10-year-old boy, known as the "three Johns", were looking for salt in Nipe Bay –north coast of Cuba’s easternmost region – and the saw the image floating on the sea.

They picked it up, took it back to the coast and found the following line: I am the Charity. This virgin that came out of the sea became popular among the people that started to worship it and built a temple in this region.

The virgin has been put in different places throughout all these years, from the palm-made chapel, the hospital chapel, to parish at the present sanctuary, built in 1927.

The title of Cuba’s Patroness was given to the virgin in the early 20th century, as requested by the veterans of the Pro-independence Wars. This status was bestowed by Pope Benedict 15th, in 1916 and September 8 was chosen as the day of the virgin.

In 1998, during his visit to the Island, Pope John Paul 2nd crowned it in a mass given at Santiago de Cuba’s Antonio Maceo Square.