CNA Staff, Sep 8, 2020 / 15:30 pm
September 8 marks the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. For the faithful in Cuba - and other Hispanic countries - Mary is also venerated on this day under the title Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre.
Images of Our Lady of Charity depict Mary standing on the moon and surrounded by angels, while holding the Child Jesus, who holds a globe in one hand and raises the other hand in a gesture of blessing.
Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary under this title stretches back more than four centuries, to when the original statue of Our Lady of Charity was discovered off the coast of Cuba, near the village of El Cobre.
Found by two indigenous laborers and a slave boy around the year 1600, the small wooden statue of the Virgin Mary appeared after a storm that hit while the three were out at sea in an old boat looking for salt. The men prayed for the protection of Mary from the storm.