MIAMI — As the statue of La Virgen de la Caridad, Our Lady of Charity, completed its 30-minute journey across a stretch of the Biscayne Bay for her 400th anniversary celebration here on Saturday, a rainbow burst into view to frame her arrival.

In this city long devoted to La Virgen, the patron saint of Cuba, it was yet another dazzling display of her munificence and mystery. Mexicans may have La Virgen de Guadalupe, but among Cubans, Cachita, as she is endearingly called, reigns supreme.

“Viva Cuba Libre!” shouted the Cuban exiles who greeted the statue at the slip and who, over the decades, helped transform this once sleepy town into a playground of guayabera shirts, Cuban cafecito and rhythmic congas. “Viva Cuba Libre!”

Inside the American Airlines Arena, at least 13,000 people awaited the entrance of La Virgen, in her sparkling gown of gold lamé, to attend a Mass in her honor. And, this being Miami, a raucous party followed with a lineup of Cuban musicians and singers. A similar scene played out in Cuba, where for the first time a simultaneous celebration of the Virgin took place and was shown on Cuban national television, a sign of burgeoning religious tolerance on an island that once shunned Roman Catholics and their rituals.