An unlikely patron.

We all have patron saints. We get ours at Baptism and sometimes Confirmation, Their charge, according to tradition, is to keep an eye on their namesakes. Some patron saints, without mentioning any names, must be quite busy.

Some saints are assigned whole countries and continents to watch over. The United States is under the protection of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. St. George drew England. Our Lady of Lujan is the patron of Argentina.

With the Brothers Castro, Fidel and Raul, in the news these last months, the patron saint of Cuba must have been busy. But who is it? The official patron of Cuba is Our Lady of Charity. But there is another "patron saint" of Cuba--Ernesto Guevara, more commonly known as Che.

Che was born in Argentina, studied medicine, and eventually found his way to Cuba to fight alongside the Castro brothers during the revolution that brought Fidel to power in 1959. After spending several years in high governmental positions in Cuba, he joined with revolutionary forces in Bolivia, where he was killed in October 1967.

Che was a complex character, definitely working for the poor and oppressed but also managing his own style of repression during his revolutionary efforts. The fact that he died young and did not have to deal with the myriad of subsequent complex problems of the Castro regime no doubt aided his "saintly" status among many Cubans.

Che's portrait is everywhere in Cuba. His likeness is painted on the sides of buildings, chalked on sidewalks, stenciled onto T-shirts, and tattooed onto young men's forearms or chests. Tourists snap up Che portraits in remember their stay in Cuba.

There is a single "icon" of Che--bearded, long hair, wearing a beret with a star in the front center. His penetrating eyes, dosed lips, and intent gaze complete the image. This picture of Che, revered by so many Cubans and endlessly reproduced on radical-chic T-shirts outside Cuba, is modeled on a photo snapped by Cuban photographer Alberto Korda in 1960.

Che's body was recovered in Bolivia and brought to Cuba in 1999. He was buried in Santa Clara, a town in the center of Cuba where the last battle of Castro's successful revolution was fought. Fidel Castro was effusive in his praise of Che at the entombment ceremony. But some say Fidel ordered Che to be buried in an out-of-the-way place, rather than Havana, where more Cubans could venerate his remains, because he was jealous of Che Guevara's patron saint status.

Transition looms large on the horizon of Cuba. I suspect Che as the unofficial patron saint of Cuba has his hands full these days. But a prayer to Our Lady of Charity, the official patron of Cuba, is probably an even better bet.

PETER GILMOUR ([e-mail]) teaches at the Institute of Pastoral Studies of Loyola University Chicago.