Our Lady of Charity

[Goya]

I know the Feast Day for Our Lady of Charity is ordinarily observed on September 8–the same day as the Nativity of Our Lady.

But it recently came to my attention that another date has also been assigned: April 12 (yesterday)–hence this post.

See here:

April 12: OUR LADY OF CHARITY of Cuba

In the mountains outside Santiago in Cuba is an old pilgrimage church, “Nuestra Senora de la Caridad”—“Our Lady of Charity”. It is the national shrine of Cuba. A few hundred years ago, three sailors were shipwrecked, drifting in a small boat on the roaring ocean. Our Lady appeared to them. They invited her into their boat and rowed her to shore. She indicated the place where she wanted a church, near the copper mines outside of Santiago.

The Village of Cobre, where the shrine is, is surrounded by high hills that roll back to the Sierra Maestra Mountains. The village is named Cobre because of the rich deposit of copper. A lamp of copper is kept burning before the statue of Our Lady. Twice the statue mysteriously disappeared and returned just as unaccountably. In each case Our Lady indicated where richer deposits of copper could be found.

In 1936 after the completion of a beautiful church in honor of Our Lady of Charity, the statue was solemnly crowned amid great rejoicing and religious festivity.
The shrine has much of old-time charm. Literally hundreds of lights burn before the shrine’s statue. Our Lady is dressed richly in silken garments; she is dark like a Cuban girl with a sun-tanned Infant on her arm, smiling down on her brown Cuban children, who come to her in great numbers and with great confidence. The prayers of centuries seem to hang down from the walls in heavy folds. It is a place where prayer comes easily, and its answer seems to be a matter of course.

ourladysrosarymakers.com/Marysfeastsapril.html

and here:

Our Lady of Tears ----- April 1 [Sicily]
Our Lady of the Highest Grace, Dominican Republic
and Our Lady the Great, Poitiers, France ----- 2
Apparition of Our Lord to Our Lady and the Apostles In the Upper Room ----- 3
Our Lady of Grace ----- 4 [Normandy, France]
Our Lady of Divine Providence ----- 5 [Cussanio, Italy]
Our Lady of the Conception ----- 6 [Flanders]
Our Lady of Puig ----- 7 [Valencia, Spain]
Our Lady of the Valley ----- 8 [Sicily]
Our Lady of Myans ----- 9 [Savoy, France]
Our Lady of Laval ----- 10
Our Lady of Fourviere ----- 11 [France]
Our Lady of Charity ----- 12 [Cuba]
Our Lady of Mantua ----- 13
Our Lady of Guam ----- 14
Our Lady of Keiff ----- 15 [Russia]
Our Lady of Victories -----16 [In the Church of St. Mark, Venice, Italy]
Our Lady of Arabida ----- 17 [Portugal]
Our Lady of Lyons ----- 19 [France]
Our Lady of Schier ----- 20 [Bavaria]
Institution of the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception ----- 21 [Toledo, Spain]
Our Lady of Betharam ----- 22 [France]
Our Lady of Mende ----- 23 [Africa]
Our Lady of Bonaria, Patron of Sardinia ----- 24
Dedication of the Lower Holy Chapel in Honor of Our Lady ----- 25 [Paris, France]
Our Lady of Good Counsel-----April 26
Our Lady la Moreneta ----- 27 [Spain]
Our Lady of the Oak, Anjou, France and Our Lady of Quito, Eucador ----- 28
Our Lady of Faith ----- 29 [Amiens, France]
Our Lady of Africa ----- 30 [Algiers]

catholictradition.org/Mary/marian-feasts.htm#APRIL

as examples.

So…does anyone know why there are 2 days assigned to this Feast Day?

Just curious.

 

[Goya]

…and just for good measure, as I would be remiss if I didn’t post it: here is the traditional prayer to Our Lady of Charity:

Our Lady of Charity

Prayer to Our Lady of Charity, Patroness of Cuba
Most Holy Mother of Charity
who came to us as a messenger of peace across the sea.
You are the Mother of all Cubans
To you we come, Most Holy Mother of God
to honor you with love as your children.
To your motherly heart
we entrust our desires and hopes
our work and our prayers.
We pray for our torn country
that we may be able to build
a nation based on peace and unity.
We pray for our families
that they may live in fidelity and love.

We pray for our children
that they may grow strong
in spirit and in body.

We pray for our young people
that their faith may increase,
as well as their attachment to
the truth.

We pray for the sick, the homeless,
the lonely, the exiled,
and for all suffering souls.
We pray for the Catholic Church in Cuba,
for its mission,
for its priests, deacons,
religious and laity.

We pray for the victory
of justice and love
in our country.

Mother of Charity!
We place ourselves
under your mantle of protection!
Blessed are you among women
and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus!
And to Him be the glory and the power
now and forever. Amen.

viarosa.com/VR/Cobre/OurLadyCharity.html

…and some background:

THE HISTORY Back to Top

The story of Our Lady of Charity is a rather simple one. Like many other Marian apparitions, it occurred in a nameless place and involved ordinary people.

Around the year 1600, three boys were sent to gather salt needed to preserve the meat of the town’s slaughterhouse, which supplied food for the workers and inhabitants at the Spanish copper mines near Santiago, Cuba. Two of the boys were native Indians and brothers, Rodrigo and Juan de Hoyos, and the third was a 10-year-old black slave, Juan Moreno.

On their way back to Santiago del Prado (modern El Cobre) and halfway across the Bay of Nipe, they encountered a fierce storm that threatened to destroy their frail boat.

Suddenly, the waters calmed. In the distance the boys saw a white bundle floating on a piece of wood that they mistook for a sea bird. In reality, it was a small statue of Mother Mary holding the infant Jesus in her left arm and a gold cross in her right. Inscribed on the wooden board were the words, Yo soy la Virgen de la Caridad (I am the Virgin of Charity).

According to recorded testimony, despite the motion of the ocean waves and the storm, neither the image of Mary nor her white robes were wet.

The crowned head of the original 16-inch-statue is made of baked clay covered with a polished coat of fine white power. Her feet rest on a brilliant moon, while angels spread their golden wings on a silver cloud. The child Jesus raises his right hand as in a blessing, and in his left hand he holds a golden globe. A popular image of Our Lady of Charity includes a banner above her head with the Latin phrase “Mater Caritatis Fluctibus Maris Ambulavit” (Mother of Charity who walked on the road of stormy seas).

The youths brought the statue back to their village of Barajaguas, where a chapel was built and the image venerated by all who heard the story. Much like Our Lady of Guadalupe for the Mayan Indians, Our Lady of Charity instantly became a pilgrimage site, a reminder for the underprivileged that their heavenly Mother cared and stood beside them. El Cobre was to be the first place in Cuba where freedom was won for slaves.

In 1688, the Archdiocese of Santiago, Cuba, initiated the first inquiry into the statue’s mysterious origins in response to the extraordinary and faithful devotion demonstrated by the Cuban people. Surnamed El Cobre — the name of the mining town where her sanctuary was eventually built — Our Lady of Charity was declared the patroness of Cuba by Pope Benedict XV in 1916 at the request of the nation’s bishops and the faithful, with a special appeal by the veterans of Cuba’s War of Independence from Spain.

…

PAPAL RECOGNITION Back to Top

The original image of Our Lady of Charity was solemnly crowned in 1936 as part of the Eucharistic Congress that took place in the nearby city of Santiago. And in 1977, Pope Paul VI raised the prominence of the sanctuary in El Cobre to a basilica.

More recently, Pope John Paul II crowned the original image as queen and patron saint of Cuba on January 24, 1998, during his historic pastoral visit.

“From her shrine,” declared the pope, “the Queen and Mother of all Cubans — regardless of race, political allegiance or ideology — guides and sustains, as in times past, the steps of her sons and daughters toward our heavenly homeland, and she encourages them to live in such a way that in society those authentic moral values may reign which constitute the right spiritual heritage received from your forebears…”

kofc.org/un/en/columbia/detail/458998.html

 

[Mintaka]

It’s probably the traditional day when the statue was found, or it’s the day when the church that houses the statue was dedicated.

 

[Goya]

It’s probably the traditional day when the statue was found, or it’s the day when the church that houses the statue was dedicated.

Perhaps.

Anyone else with any ideas? (i.e.–bump).

 

[Goya]

Take 3.