Cuban faithful direct hurricane prayers to patron saint

Record ID: 909400

  • Title: Cuban faithful direct hurricane prayers to patron saint
  • Date: 8th September 2017
  • Summary: PARTICIPANTS PRAYING IMAGE OF THE PATRON SAINT, OUR LADY OF CHARITY, PLACED IN FRONT OF HAVANA BAY WHILE IN THE BACKGROUND A VOICE IS HEAR OVER SPEAKERS PRAYING IN SPANISH SAYING 'Prevent it [Hurricane Irma] from reaching here and prevent it from reaching Cuba this Hurricane Irma." GENERAL VIEW OF THE PROCESSION (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PARTICIPANT MIRTA ANTONIA ARRELLANO SAYING: "We are asking the holiest Virgin of the Holiest Charity for peace around the world and for everything to dissolve and that nothing happens here in Cuba or elsewhere." IMAGE OF THE PATRON SAINT, OUR LADY OF CHARITY, WITH THE BAY AND THE CITY IN THE BACKGROUND CUBAN, ARMANDO RICARDO ABALLI, SITTING WITH DOLL OF THE PATRON SAINT ABALLI FIXING ADORNMENTS ON DOLL (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PARTICIPANT, ARMANDO RICARDO ABALLI, SAYING: "All of the miracles are created at sea and she is the overseer of the see, do you understand? She is the overseer of all of these things that could do us harm, (overseer) of these conditions so that a hurricane of this intensity come in which would be a devastating thing." GENERAL VIEW OF THE PROCESSION IMAGE OF THE PATRON SAINT, OUR LADY OF CHARITY PARTICIPANTS THROWING FLOWERS AS THE PROCESSION MAKES ITS WAY THROUGH THE STREET FAMILY STANDING ON BALCONY TAKING PICTURES
  • Embargoed: 22nd September 2017 02:17
  • Keywords: Cuba storm religion Our Lady of Charity Hurricane Irma prayers fear concerns
  • Location: HAVANA, CUBA
  • City: HAVANA, CUBA
  • Country: Cuba
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Wind/Hurricane/Typhoons/Tornadoes
  • Reuters ID: LVA0026XLN7T3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Hundreds of Cubans participated on Thursday (September 7) in a procession to honour the country's patron saint, Our Lady of Charity, in hopes of warding off Hurricane Irma.
    Participants paraded through the streets of Havana to honour the patron saint which they believe protects them from all things born of the sea. Faithful prayed that Cuba would be spared the devastation from Hurricane Irma that has already wrought on a string of Caribbean islands as it churns westward.
    Cuba started evacuating some of the 51,000 tourists visiting the island, particularly 36,000 people at resorts on the picturesque northern coast, most of them Canadians.
    The "extremely dangerous" Hurricane Irma raged offshore vulnerable Haiti as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century took aim at parts of Cuba, the Turks and Caicos islands and Florida.
    With winds of around 185 miles per hour (290 km. per hour), the storm has smashed through several small islands in the northeast Caribbean in recent days, including Barbuda, Saint Martin and the British and U.S. Virgin Islands, ripping down trees and flattening homes and hospitals.
    Winds dipped slightly on Thursday to 175 mph as the storm lashed the northern coast of the Dominican Republic but it remained an extremely dangerous Category 5 storm, according to the National Hurricane Centre (NHC).
    Across the Caribbean authorities rushed to evacuate tens of thousands of residents and tourists in the path of the storm.
    Irma was the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean and one of the five most forceful storms to hit the Atlantic basin in 82 years, according to the NHC.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register