Following the Virgin, if not the faith

Following the Virgin, if not the faith
By Vanessa Arrington
The Associated Press
Posted September 23 2006

EL COBRE, Cuba · It's been 400 years since three men found a diminutive
wooden statue floating off the Cuban coast bearing the label, "I am the
Virgin of Charity."

Countless miracles have been since ascribed to the image, which was
declared the patron saint of Cuba and crowned by the late Pope John Paul
II during a historic visit in 1998.

But while the Virgin has become one of the island's most important
symbols, it confounds both the Roman Catholic Church and Cuba's
communist rulers. That's because many of her most fervent devotees say
they follow the Virgin, but not the faith, and some use her shrine as a
place to make anti-government statements.

"I am not Catholic -- I just believe in the Virgin," says Marleny Faria,
a 50-year-old seamstress from Santiago de Cuba. "I came to ask for the
health of my grandson."

Faria spoke at the El Cobre church with a 1-month-old baby in her arms,
sat through a morning Mass before climbing a winding staircase to face
the Virgin and solemnly solicit her protection of the newborn.

During services, the Virgin gazes down at the congregation from a clear
casing high above the pulpit; afterward, she mechanically swivels around
to the cozy alcove where she receives visitors. Pilgrims lay wreaths of
bright flowers at her altar and gaze adoringly at the 16-inch figure,
dressed in an elaborate golden gown and wearing dangling earrings.

In a room downstairs, devotees leave behind chunks of hair and letters
to ask the Virgin for good health, love and success. They also deliver
objects to thank her for wishes already fulfilled. Wheelchairs and IV
tubes mingle with concert posters, medals and baseball jerseys.

"She's answered the wishes of humble, regular people as well as
political leaders, athletes and artists," says Karel Despaigne, who
turned over the thesis that earned him an economics degree this year to
the Virgin. The 24-year-old had previously come to her shrine a few
months earlier asking for help in finishing his project.

"A lot of people trust more in her than in anything else," Despaigne
says. "I was baptized when I was little, but I don't follow the Catholic
religion. I follow her because of her history, her idiosyncrasy, her
miracles."

The Virgin was discovered in the Bay of Nipe in the early 17th century
before being brought to the village of El Cobre, nestled in lush
tropical forests outside Santiago in southeastern Cuba. She resided in
several small shrines, including one in a hospital, until the church on
a hill in El Cobre was built in her honor.

The church's current priest, the Rev. Jorge Rodriguez Rey, recognizes
that many who hear his sermons are not devout believers. Tourists and
nonreligious Cubans from across the island certainly outnumber
practicing Catholics who go to the church, he says.

"Those who take Communion, or use the church for weddings and baptisms
-- well, it's a small number," he says. "Many people who come here have
an informal faith. We try to educate them about Catholicism."

Gifts for the Virgin are also accepted. A treasure chest contains jewels
donated over the years, some of which were used for the Virgin's
intricate crown.

Ernest Hemingway gave her the Nobel Prize he won after writing The Old
Man and the Sea in his Havana hacienda. The mother of Fidel and Raul
Castro left behind a small golden guerrilla fighter in the 1950s as her
sons battled the government of Fulgencio Batista.

The brothers survived: Cuban President Fidel Castro turns 80 in August
and Defense Minister Raul Castro, his designated successor, just
celebrated his 75th birthday.

More recent objects include replicas of rafts, which began appearing in
the 1990s as Cubans increasingly took to the seas for the risky voyage
to the United States, and more recently, objects related to imprisoned
political opponents of Castro's government.

A black-and-white poster showing the shadow of a man looking out behind
prison bars asks the Virgin for "the liberation of political prisoners."
Pins and keychains with photos of activists imprisoned in a government
crackdown in the spring of 2003 line one table.

In Cuba's highly controlled society, it's rare to see these images
outside the homes of dissidents or their relatives.

But the Catholic Church has gained some autonomy and the Virgin belongs
to all Cubans, says the priest, Rodriguez Rey.

The tradition has become "so Cuban, so integrated in mainstream
culture," Rodriguez Rey says. "Even members of the military come here."

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