Basilica of Our Lady of Charity
Found on the water by two indigenous men and an African child: I am the Virgin of Charity. Cuba’s patroness, in a copper-mining town. You go because the island’s whole wound is in the boat, and she has never left it.
El Cobre, Santiago de CubaFeast 8 September
The pilgrimage
To pray with Cubans — on the island and in exile — before the lady they actually love.
Because charity is the title, and the finding is the Gospel of the poor in one image.
The apparition, the Gospel sign, the body, the image — whatever this place is known for, told as a file of its own.
