Cuban-Americans flock to celebrate La Ermita

By Tom Tracy - Florida Catholic

Photography: Tom Tracy

MIAMI | Dressed in the customary yellow colors of the event and with umbrellas in hand, elementary school student Aniela Alejandra Garcia and her mother Yeily Garcia didn’t let the weather stop them from approaching the statue of the Cuban Virgin of Our Lady of Charity.

“I was helping people with the candles,” Aniela told the Florida Catholic, as she joined the local Cuban-American community Sept. 8 in placing bright yellow sunflowers and candles outdoors during a recitation of the rosary followed by Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity in Miami.

The color yellow is customarily associated with the Virgin of Charity, and her shrines are often graced with yellow flowers. Affectionately known as La Ermita de La Caridad and located near Coconut Grove, this year was also the 25th anniversary of La Ermita’s designation as a national shrine by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2000.

Flash flood warnings and epic rain may have shut down flights at the Miami Airport Sept. 8, 2025, but it didn’t stop faithful from making the pilgrimage to Biscayne Bay for the annual feast event.

Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenksi did, however, take the decision to move the Mass indoors due to lingering lightning and rain and a somewhat reduced turnout due to difficulties many people had in getting to the location.

The Mass concluded a series of anniversary events that had begun Aug. 22 with the unveiling of two new sculptures at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity. “Angels Unaware” and “Be Welcoming,” two symbolic sculptures set to honor migrants and refugees, and Aug. 23 with a procession of the image of Our Lady for the first time in Broward County and concluding at La Ermita.

“It’s crazy weather and perhaps many of the people who arrived here today arrived by boat — not from Cuba but from Hialeah,” Archbishop Wenski said in jest as the rain made for challenging conditions. “They come because of their devotion to the Blessed Mother, the patroness of Cuba Our Lady of Charity, and all throughout the day today there are people entering and leaving saying their prayers.”

A section of the Shrine campus with outdoor seating for the Mass sat empty and unused as a change of venue was made.

“Because of the weather we will have Mass inside with great devotion and great joy as we celebrate this special day for Cubans everywhere. Our Lady of Charity has become a symbol of the identity of the Cuban people everywhere and it shows that the Cuban people are very much tied to their faith,” the archbishop said.

During his homily, Archbishop Wenski said the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity opens its doors to all devotees of the Virgin. Believers and the faithful from all Hispanic America come daily to visit the Virgin, who spreads her mantle to welcome everyone.

He also said that the two pieces of art installed on the grounds of La Ermita remind us “not to allow ourselves to be carried away by the globalization of indifference, but rather to rediscover solidarity, welcome the stranger as a brother or sister, and show hospitality. One piece depicts a boat overloaded with immigrants and refugees from all over the world and all times. The other piece features a figure that resembles both a poor stranger and an angel. These works remind us of the quote from Hebrews 13:2: Do not forget hospitality, for through it some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

Established by the Cuban exile community more than 55 years ago and following the Cuban Revolution, La Ermita de La Caridad stands as a spiritual beacon on the shores of Biscayne Bay, a testament to faith, heritage, and the unbreakable hope of all people united by devotion to Our Lady, according to Father José Joaquin Espino, rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity.

This year’s celebrations embraced the theme: “María, Faro de la Libertad / Mary, Beacon of Freedom,” a reflection of the light and hope Our Lady offers to all who seek her intercession.

The annual event took on a special meaning this year for physician assistant and Cuban-American Cristina Medio, who was on the eve of departing for an annual medical trip and health care mission for the poor in Santiago, Dominican Republic.

The medical mission program is sponsored by the Miami-based Cuban Association of the Order of Malta and brings together hundreds of health care specialists and volunteers from around the United States in the Dominican Republic’s second largest city.

Medio works next door to the Shrine at the Mercy Medical Building near Mercy Hospital and so she had a short walking distance to visit the National Shrine here. She was joined at the celebration by other Cuban-American members of the Malta Order.

“Sept. 8 is a big deal for anyone of Cuban descent,” Medio said. “And imagine that I was born right here at Mercy Hospital and working here since 2002, and I went to Immaculata-La Salle High School (also on the same property as the Shrine.)”

Medio said her faith inspired her to start working on medical mission trips some 15 years ago after meeting other nurse participants and Dr. Jose J. Centurion, a Mercy Hospital-affiliated cardiologist and member of the Cuban Association of the Order of Malta who helped establish the Order’s medical mission outreach to the Dominican Republic as well as other locations.

“At that time I was a social worker and I thought, ‘What am I going to do there, I am a social worker?,’” Medio said, who now helps oversee the pharmacy operation during the mission.