By Cristina Cabrera Jarro -

Photography: Emily Chaffins | FC

MIAMI | Dressed in a new royal-blue gown adorned with dazzling embellishments, the statuette of Our Lady of Charity traveled through Miami atop a bed of yellow and light-pink roses. She was on her way to her Sept. 8, 2026, feast day celebration at the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition Center, where Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski, joined by bishops and priests, celebrated Mass for more than 3,000 people, most of them Cuban.

The celebration’s theme, “Caminando con su Pueblo,” or “Walking with Her People,” reflected a journey that began in exile 65 years ago and continues today as new generations of Cubans look to the patroness of their homeland as a source of faith and hope.

This year marks 65 years since the statuette of the patroness of Cuba arrived in Miami, having been smuggled out of the country through the Panamanian embassy. The statuette is a replica of the original housed at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity del Cobre. The original was discovered in the Bay of Nipe, Cuba, in 1612 by three men known as “Los Tres Juanes.”

Father Jose Espino, rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity in Miami, explained, “This image, belonging to Father Jimenez Rebollar’s family, arrived—like so many of us—in secret, with no knowledge of how it would leave our beloved Cuba or when it might reach this land that had welcomed so many of us.”

More than six decades later, Cubans continue to leave their homeland because of the deterioration of its economy, food shortages, unreliable electricity, failing infrastructure, political and religious persecution, and other hardships.

Many who arrive in Miami eventually make their way to the shrine, known as “La Ermita,” joining thousands of exiled Cubans who, since the 1960s, have prayed at the feet of their Virgin of Charity for Cuba and its freedom.

The generations and circumstances have changed, but the devotion has endured.

Since that historic first Mass, celebrated Sept. 8, 1961, in Miami’s Bobby Maduro Stadium and attended by 30,000 exiled Cubans, Father Espino said, “she has been present in the midst of a portion of Cuba, exiled from its native soil, that, like Varela, Martí, and so many others, dreams of, hopes for, and works toward a free, prosperous, and sovereign homeland.”

That message of accompaniment was also at the heart of Archbishop Wenski’s words during this year’s Mass.

“Present both on the island and in exile, she continues to shower her motherly love upon us, today as yesterday,” Archbishop Wenski said. “She is present, accompanying all those who, both inside and outside Cuba, strive to uphold human dignity and work toward a future of freedom, justice, and peace.”

A special stop

Prior to the start of this year’s Mass at the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition Center, guests visited an exhibit chronicling the history of Our Lady of Charity and the religious men and women associated with Cuba. An apostolic movement community fair, a communal rosary, and musical tributes by members of La Coral Cubana of La Ermita de la Caridad were also part of the evening’s activities.

The Virgin’s journey that evening also carried the celebration beyond the walls of the exposition center.

Before her grand entrance into the venue, the image of Our Lady of Charity made a special stop at the Memorial Cubano, located in Tamiami Park. The 62-foot-tall obelisk, painted like the Cuban flag, is surrounded by a wall engraved with the names of men, women, and children who died under the Castro regime or while seeking freedom.

With livestreaming coverage provided by Maria Vision, participants at the expo and viewers online watched as Father Espino, Father Angel Andres Gonzalez Guillen, members of Caridad Joven, and La Ermita volunteers gathered in prayer. In a symbolic gesture, they placed bouquets of white roses at the memorial.

Singer-songwriter Pedro Pablo Diaz also performed his new song, “Madre Isla,” dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Cuba and its people.

“An island fits within your mantle…and a people who have suffered so much…the absent pray from here…the survivors pray from there,” he sang.

The song concludes with a plea: “You Virgin Mary, you warrior Virgin…return the light to my flag.”

 

‘She has always been with me’

For Jorge Luis Azze, the evening’s theme of Mary walking with her people was also deeply personal.

Azze, a member of Caridad Joven and a volunteer at La Ermita, was one of four men chosen to carry the throne bearing the image of Our Lady of Charity during the procession for Mass.

“My story is a sad one,” he said. “I’d rather not even tell it. It’s very hard. They tried to kill me three times… But well, I’ve been here now for 20 years, happy and grateful to God and to that Virgin to whom I prayed for this.”

Azze recalled that when he was 18 and living in Cuba, he suffered an accident that severely injured his right knee and was told he would never walk again. After months in different hospitals, he asked an ambulance driver transporting him between hospitals to take him to the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity in El Cobre.

“The chauffeur told me five minutes. I told him all I needed was for him to park the ambulance behind the tower where the Virgin stands. Not even to change gears. In less than a minute, I would tell her all that I needed to tell her,” he said.

He asked the Virgin Mary to intercede for him and ask Jesus to allow him to walk again.

Less than eight months later, after surgery and therapy, he could walk.

“It was a miracle. I have no knee, but the only thing that remains is the scar. And I can walk,” he said.

Years later, like many Cubans, Azze left Cuba. As he departed, airport staff broke statues of Jesus of Divine Mercy and the Virgin Mary that he was carrying with his belongings.

When he arrived at Miami International Airport, however, Azze said he felt renewed, as though he had been born again in Miami.

But he remained on edge—a result of being repeatedly assaulted in the streets of Cuba while aiding the pastoral ministries of the Church and Caritas Cuba.

“Although many still say otherwise, I am one of the victims of those who persecuted the Church,” he said.

In Miami, Azze began a new life rooted in his faith. He eventually joined the mission work of the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity, serving the Virgin Mary and the needs of the community.

“Thank God, I am living in freedom and truly living out God’s values,” he said.

His devotion eventually came full circle. During a visit to the Apostolate of Divine Mercy House of Prayer and Shrine in Miami, Deacon Rafael De Los Reyes gave him a statue of Jesus of Divine Mercy and the Virgin Mary, similar to those that had been broken when he left Cuba.

“It was as if the Blessed Sacrament had entered my home,” he said.

Asked what the feast day of Our Lady of Charity means to him, Azze replied, “I am an orphan, but I don’t feel like an orphan because she has always been with me.”

For Azze, those words captured “Caminando con su Pueblo” in a personal way. For Archbishop Wenski, they also reflected a devotion that has accompanied Cubans on the island and in exile for generations.

“To Jesus through Mary, [Our Lady of] Charity unites us,” Archbishop Wenski said.