Hurricane Melissa ravages Cuba’s Basilica of Our Lady of Charity; shattered windows, flooded nave. Faith endures as nation rallies to rebuild.
Newsroom (05/11/2025, Gaudium Press ) The Basilica of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, Cuba’s most revered sanctuary and a potent emblem of national hope, stands battered after Hurricane Melissa unleashed 195 km/h winds and torrential rains on the island’s east.
Perched in the Sierra Maestra foothills 20 km west of Santiago de Cuba, the hilltop shrine—long hailed as the nation’s “spiritual home”—suffered extensive damage in the Category 5 storm that made landfall late last week. Shattered stained-glass windows, breached masonry, and rainwater cascading through the nave greeted parishioners who had sought refuge inside.
“The walls shook, the wind screamed, and the sanctuary seemed to gasp in pain,” said Father Rogelio Dean, the basilica’s rector. “We have never seen anything like it. The vitrals are gone, water poured in, and chunks of wall were ripped away.”
The façade, once aglow in ochre and white, is now pocked with broken glass and strewn debris. Yet the structure endured—a poignant mirror, locals say, of the Cuban people’s own resilience amid cascading crises.
Father Dean’s concern extends beyond the church. “People have lost nearly everything,” he told reporters. “We are in profound pain.”
For generations, the basilica has been more than a place of worship; it is the beating heart of Cuban faith. Here, families have prayed through wars, revolutions, and chronic shortages. Its wounding feels intimate, personal.
Caritas Cuba has launched parish-level relief drives despite blackouts and crippled roads. “Food is what we can offer now,” Father Dean said, noting that mountain hamlets remain cut off.
The Cuban Bishops’ Conference labeled the storm “another crushing blow atop our people’s daily struggles.” In a statement, the prelates urged donations of food, clothing, bedding, and roofing—especially for the elderly and isolated.
Pope Leo XIV, speaking at his October 29 general audience in St. Peter’s Square, offered prayers for victims in Cuba and Jamaica, entrusting them to the Virgin Mary’s care.
The basilica’s origins trace to 1612, when three fishermen found a small statue of the Virgin adrift in Nipe Bay, inscribed “Yo soy la Virgen de la Caridad” (“I am the Virgin of Charity”). A shrine followed; in 1916, Pope Benedict XV named her Cuba’s patroness.
Every September 8, thousands climb the steep path to venerate “Cachita,” as the Virgin is lovingly called—devotees, doubters, and exiles alike bearing candles and petitions.
Through dictatorship, embargo, and now this tempest, El Cobre has endured. As cleanup begins, Cubans once again answer their mother’s call: rebuild with hands and hearts.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Zenit News
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