During a recent mission in Miami, a group of parishioners from Miami Korean Catholic Church guided us to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity, the patron saint of Cuba, on the shores of Biscayne Bay. Our Lady of Charity as a focal point of social and spiritual unity among Cuban immigrants drew my attention.

Devotion to Our Lady of Charity is widespread in Cuba, France, Italy, Mexico, the Philippines, Spain and the United States. Cuba, the only socialist country in the Americas, is an island country located in the region where the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean meet.

Christianity arrived in Cuba in 1512. In 1612, two young Indians (Rodrigo and Juan de Hoyos) with a 10-year-old African slave (Juan Moreno) sailed out to collect salt for preserving meat at a slaughterhouse. On their way back, a violent storm overtook their small boat. Struggling against the stormy waves, they prayed to an image of the Virgin Mary in a medal that a little Juan was wearing.

As the sea was calmed, they saw a white bird floating on distant waves. When they drew near, they discovered the bird was a statue fixed to a board with the words: "Yo Soy la Virgen de la Caridad" (I am the Virgin of Charity). The about 41 centimeters clay-baked statue of the Blessed Mother holding Infant Jesus in her left arm and carrying a gold cross in her right hand was found on Nipe Bay, near Santiago, in Cuba.

Three young men understood it as an answer to their prayers for safety and were convinced Mary had rescued them. So, they brought that statue to shore. Since then, Cubans have honored the Virgin of Charity. Finally, in 1916, Pope Benedict XV declared the Virgin of Charity the patron saint of Cuba.

Numerous Cubans have fled from communism in search of freedom since the revolution of Fidel Castro in 1959, and most of them were settled in Miami, Florida. On their journey, they always carried a replica of Our Lady of Charity.

On Sept. 8, 1966, on the feast day of Our Lady of Charity, Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll asked Cuban refugees to build a shrine and donated the land on Biscayne Bay where Cuba is seen from afar. In the end, the shrine was dedicated on Dec. 2, 1973, with thousands of small contributions.

Thus, the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity reveals Cuban American history. The image of Our Lady of Charity in a gold-clothed and doll-like figure is the same image honored at a Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Charity in El Cobre.

"O Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Charity, filled with joy, prostrate at your feet, I entrust myself entirely to you. Virgin of Miracles, heal the sick, console the afflicted, give hope to the destitute, preserve families from evil, protect the young and innocent. From your Chapel at Cobre, watch over the just, convert sinners, fortify thy priests, and save all Christians. O Loving Mother Mary, Blessed Virgin of Charity, patroness of Cuba, pray for us now and at the hour of our death. Amen."

We shall have to add our sincere prayers for the world undergoing a "cost-of-living crisis, natural disasters and extreme weather, failure to mitigate climate change, geoeconomic confrontation, failure of climate-change and adoption, debt crises, erosion of social cohesion and societal polarization, failure to stabilize price trajectories, widespread cybercrime and cyber insecurity, prolonged economic downturn, large-scale environmental damage incidents, natural resource crises..." (The Global Risks Report 2023 by World Economic Forum).

The author is a member of the Daughters of St. Paul. Please feel free to visit her blog "A piece of sunshine" at mtorchid88.blogspot.com.