The Virgin of the Charity of Cobre in the Soul of Cuba
Emilio Cueto’s book entitled “The Virgin of the Charity of Cobre in the Soul of Cuba” was launched at El Cobre a few days ago. This book extensively describes how such a Cuban image as the Virgin of the Charity has been the theme of paintings, songs and common situations.
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In nearly 500 pages, the book reviews the presence of the Virgin of the Charity in numerous aspects of Cuban culture. It includes a list made up of over a thousand fine art works, seven hundred related to literature and two hundred to music… “The impact of the Virgin in our culture is overwhelming. The Cuban people has not only worshiped her at the altar, but they have made her part of their daily life”, the author of the book confessed.
“Launching the book at El Cobre… it obviously is an indescribable event, because there aren’t many people that have the privilege of right in front of the subject of the biography. I was inspired by this person to collect the information. Standing in front of her image, the true 400-year-old image, and talking about the book I wrote by following her steps was a very emotional moment, very moving.”
This volume will be in all dioceses of Cuba thanks to the Episcopal Council and the author promised to launch one copy at every municipal and provincial library. So the book is going to be distributed throughout Cuba.
Emilio has lived in different places around the world and joyfully tells how he has found elements from Cuba wherever he goes. “In Azerbaijan or in Mexico you can find the Virgin of the Charity of Cobre or one of Martí’s books, or scores, or a Cuban restaurant. There are Cuban restaurants in every corner of the world. What actually surprises me is that an island of this size (it’s not Venezuela, Argentina or Brazil) is so present, so acclaimed everywhere. That’s moving. I think it’s very curious when you visit a city and you see a Cuban flag, an image of the Virgin of Charity or a menu that includes meat stew. That’s when you ask yourself: how did we get here?
He points out that his first surprise related to the Virgin took place in Barcelona, where he visited one of the most important churches and saw a gorgeous stained-glass window on the Virgin of the Charity of Cobre, including Cuba’s coat of arms. Likewise, he recalls that during the research process, he found an invitation, which dated back from 1920, to the inauguration of the altar of the Charity in Melilla, Africa. “I was certainly surprised because I wasn’t expecting such as thing. Finally, he dug into the information and discovered that the Governor of Melilla in 1920 had lived in Santiago and the Mayor of Melilla was Cuban. So, both the mayor and governor of Melilla were linked to Cuba and that was the reason why they had an image of the Virgin.”
Emilio Cueto is presently working to gather the music that has been composed on Santiago, so it can be played in the concert dedicated to the 5th Centenary of Santiago de Cuba, in 2015.
