Fidel Castro's illness has renewed interest in a legend of Cuba's patron saint predicting the death of a terrible ruler in the fourth decade of his reign.

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Stories about the prediction are making the rounds on the Internet -- with some variations -- the Miami Herald said Saturday.

The legend begins in the 1850s and goes something like this:

A Spanish priest, San Antonio Mari­a Claret, had been sent to Cuba to become archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, coincidentally Castro's home province. While riding his horse through Sierra Maestra -- also coincidentally Castro's mountain rebel stronghold in the mid-1950s -- he saw La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre in a vision.

She relayed to him the future of Cuba in the hands of a leader that resembled Castro -- long hair, a beard, a uniform, bearing weapons with followers who look just like him.

He would promise reforms to the Cuban people but betray, imprison, divide and inflict them with great pain and heartache.

Claret said the virgin told him the ruler would rule for four decades, and Cuba would be devastated during this time. However, the young man would grow old and die -- and Cuba would be free.