At La Ermita, ‘closest to the Virgin and closest to Cuba’

By Cristina Cabrera Jarro -

Photography: Cristina Cabrera Jarro | FC

MIAMI | Thousands of pilgrims of all ages entered and exited the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity in Miami on Sept. 7, 2026. The Labor Day holiday gave many the opportunity to visit the shrine near Coconut Grove, known as La Ermita de la Caridad, on the vigil before the Sept. 8 feast of Our Lady of Charity, patroness of Cuba.

Among them were Iraida Lopez, her husband, Raynier Martinez, and their 8-year-old daughter, Natalia. They came to pray and give thanks to the Virgin Mary, whose image was relocated to an outdoor altar overlooking Biscayne Bay.

“I am a devout Catholic. I always went to church in my province in Cuba, and we have always had the Virgin as our guide and protector,” said Lopez.

The family arrived in Miami three years ago, leaving Cuba amid economic uncertainty and seeking a better future for their daughter.

“In Cuba, it’s difficult for her to have a future. Here, she already has several options. And the majority of my family is here also. Little by little we have come,” said Martinez.

Like many Cubans living in exile in South Florida, the family has made visiting La Ermita around the feast of Our Lady of Charity a tradition.

This year marks 65 years since Miami’s image of the patroness of Cuba arrived from the island in 1961. This year’s celebrations began in August and included pilgrimages of the image to parishes in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, a fundraising radio marathon, novena Masses, veneration and a musical vigil.

“I tell people it’s the Virgin’s feast day and her personal Mother’s Day. Everyone pitches in. One person brings one thing, another brings something else,” said Sister Elvira Garcia, a Cuban-born nun from the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.

At the request of La Ermita’s founding priest, Miami Auxiliary Bishop Augustin Roman, her religious order has cared for the shrine since 1975. Sister Elvira arrived from Cuba 13 years ago and now guides visitors in their veneration of Our Lady of Charity.

“The Virgin Mary helps us because her example helps us,” she said. “We come, we ask, and she helps us. But have you ever asked her, ‘What do you want from me?’”

For Jessica Toledano, that question became part of a lesson for her young daughter a decade ago.

Toledano was at the beach, pregnant with her son, Tito, when her then-2-year-old daughter, Mia, asked whether there was a “Virgencita,” or Little Virgin, associated with water.

“I told her yes, La Caridad del Cobre—Our Lady of Charity,” Toledano recalled.

Mia wanted to ask the Virgin for a favor, and her mother explained that when you ask, you need to give.

“She said, ‘I’m little. I can’t give a lot,’” Toledano recalled.

They decided to make a promise to visit La Ermita every year around the feast of Our Lady of Charity to give thanks.

“It’s been 10 years that she’s interceded for us, and it has been a miracle,” said Toledano. “I am eternally grateful to her. And we will come until my feet can’t bring me here. We will give back, and we are appreciative.”

 

‘We really must cherish this place’

At Floreria “El Cobre,” the flower shop at the shrine, preparations intensify in the week before Sept. 8, as thousands of pilgrims come to visit the patroness of Cuba in her Miami home.

“Days like today require a lot of preparation,” said Lauren Almeida, who manages the shrine’s flower shop. “It’s not just selling the flowers, and that’s it. We have to keep the flowers as fresh as possible, and we have to arrange them. People really like small arrangements—sunflowers with baby’s breath, that sort of thing.”

For this year’s celebrations, the shop stocked 1,000 sunflowers, 1,500 yellow roses, and more than 200 yellow margaritas and chrysanthemums. Flowers purchased elsewhere are also welcome, but those purchased at the shrine benefit the church.

Almeida, known at La Ermita as “the flower girl at church,” began running the shop in 2023. She works alongside her grandmother, Ida Elena Garcia, who crossed the border with an image of Our Lady of Charity among her belongings.

The young florist left her native Matanzas, Cuba, with her family in 2021, fleeing political persecution.

“My dad took part in the protests on July 11, and on the 21st, we had to leave Cuba,” she said.

Like many immigrants, she says she carries the weight of leaving home while worrying about those who remain behind.

“You face all the challenges of being an immigrant anywhere in the world—because no one wants to leave their homeland—plus the burden of a family that is falling apart. So, you leave there, but you come carrying a very, very heavy backpack,” Almeida said.

Conditions in Cuba add to those worries.

“Whether it’s a lack of electricity, water, or food, or food going to waste—it’s all a constant ordeal,” she said.

Still, Almeida believes there are signs of hope.

“For the first time in history, I truly believe there are possibilities—there is hope—that things will change. At the very least, something is happening now that has never happened before,” she said.

For more than 60 years, prayers for freedom and change in Cuba have resounded at La Ermita. When conflict stirs on the island, Cubans in South Florida turn toward the shrine.

“I believe this place is the most Cuban corner of Miami. This is where they are closest to the Virgin and closest to Cuba. Regardless of religion or personal beliefs, I think this is the place where Cubans feel most Cuban. And considering how Cuban Miami is, that’s saying something,” said Almeida.

She frequently hears from Cubans who were unable to visit the National Basilica Sanctuary of Our Lady of Charity in Cuba.

“Every day, I hear people say, ‘I couldn't go to El Cobre. But the first thing I did as soon as I arrived in Miami was come here to give thanks to the Virgin of Charity,’” she said.

“That is why we must take such good care of this place, because it is so deeply ours,” Almeida said. “We really must cherish this place. It is a gift we have, and we need to value it.”