CARACAS (AP) — Mother Carmen Rendiles, educator and founder of the Congregation of the Servants of Jesus in Venezuela, will be the first saint of the South American country by decision of Pope Francis.
On March 28, the Supreme Pontiff authorized the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to promulgate a decree confirming “a second miracle from God” through the intercession of the blessed one, said the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference (CEV) in a statement on Monday, citing the Vatican. This is the final step for her to be considered a saint.
The date for the canonization of Mother Carmen has not been set yet.
Who was Carmen Rendiles?
Born in Caracas on August 11, 1903, and died on May 9, 1977, Rendiles began her novitiate with the name María Carmen at the age of 24. From a young age, after her father’s death, she helped her mother support the family and worked in a local parish.
She wanted to be a teacher, but that dream was thwarted after being stigmatized for being born without her left arm.
In 1927, the nun joined a French congregation, which had just been established in Venezuela: The Servants of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Less than seven months later, she began her novitiate.
In 1961, Mother Carmen chose, with the support of the Venezuelan episcopate, to request the separation of the mother congregation to form an autonomous institute. In this nascent congregation, called Servants of Jesus, Mother Carmen was appointed as the first superior general.
“The testimony of her life, her dedication and delicacy as general superior, her maternal tenderness and her experience of God strengthened through continuous contact with Him, were the best tools to lead souls to God and enhance God’s Eucharistic life on earth,” highlighted the statement.
Her canonization process began on March 9, 1995. Almost two decades later, Pope Francis granted her the title of venerable in 2013, acknowledging his “heroic virtues.”
In 2014, the diocesan investigation stage of a presumed miracle attributed to Mother Carmen began. In September of that year, with a solemn session of the diocesan tribunal, the documents were sealed and later sent to the Vatican for further study.
Three years later, in 2017, Pope Francis published the decree approving the beatification of the Venezuelan woman. On June 16, 2018, Mother Carmen was recognized as the third Venezuelan blessed, after Mother María de San José and Mother Candelaria de San José.
What miracles are attributed to her?
According to the Vatican, the canonization was approved after miraculously healing a young woman diagnosed with a type of hydrocephalus in 2015, a condition in which cerebrospinal fluid accumulates in the brain. The condition required the placement of a shunt valve, a device that redirects excess cerebrospinal fluid from the brain to another part of the body, the Vatican indicated. She underwent several operations and, after multiple hospitalizations, her health deteriorated.
Her loved ones and other faithful individuals prayed for her recovery. And after the sick person touched the portrait of Rendiles, her health improved rapidly.
“The young woman’s recovery was complete, stable, and lasting, and the event was deemed inexplicable from a scientific point of view,” added the Holy See in a statement, confirming the second miracle.
The first miracle recognized by the Catholic Church dates back to 2003.
Rinette Durán de Branger, a surgeon, said that she was healed in her right arm before being operated on in July of that year. A strong electric shock she suffered while operating in a run-down public hospital left her limb paralyzed, but then she miraculously regained mobility from her hand to her armpit before undergoing surgery.
She thanked that her case paved the way for the beatification and sanctity of Rendiles. “There are no words to describe the emotion,” said the now retired surgeon to the AP, who healed after visiting the place where the nun rested in life, at the Colegio Belén in Caracas.
The other Venezuelan saint
The decree of canonization of Rendiles was approved 31 days after Pope Francis did the same with the canonization of Blessed José Gregorio Hernández, known as the “doctor of the poor” and who was the first Venezuelan layperson to be beatified. The other three blessed women, including Rendiles, were members of religious orders. The first one was beatified in 1995, Mother María de San José.
The rise to the altar of Hernández, born on October 26, 1864, and who died at the age of 54 in 1919, was full of obstacles, but in the hearts of Venezuelans, he was already a “saint”.