HAVANA (AP) -- Singing "Hail Mary, Hail Mary," thousands of Cubans
                  walked through the streets of central Havana to honored the island's Roman
                  Catholic patron saint, the Virgin of Charity of Cobre.

                  Cardinal Jaime Ortega, Cuba's highest ranking churchman, joined the
                  procession Wednesday and later said Mass in the church that bears the
                  saint's name. Sept. 8 is the Virgin of Charity's feast day.

                  She also is revered here by practitioners of Santeria, who identify her with
                  the Afro-Cuban religion's deity Ochun.

                  According to church tradition, the Virgin of Charity appeared in eastern
                  Cuba in the Bay of Nipe near Santiago in 1628 to Rodrigo and Juan de
                  Hoyos, brothers of mixed white and black heritage, and Juan Moreno, a
                  black boy of about 10.

                  Other versions say all three witnesses were named Juan and that one was
                  white, one was black and one was mixed -- reflecting Cuba's racial makeup.

                  Struggling in a storm-tossed boat, they heard a voice declare "I am the
                  Virgin of Charity." Across the waves they spied a wooden board carrying a
                  statue of the Virgin Mary, dressed in a yellow gown and depicted as mixed
                  black and white.

                  In her left arm, she carried a mixed-race baby Jesus. In her right hand, she
                  held a cross.

                  What are said to be the same statue and board remain on display in a
                  basilica built in the saint's honor in the town of Cobre, just outside Santiago.

                    Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.