Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Caracas (Agenzia Fides) - Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, President of the Commission that is coordinating the preparatory activities for the beatification of Madre Candelaria de San Jose, foundress of the Venezuelan Carmelite Sisters, has stated that all is set for the ceremony that will take place this Sunday, April 27. The celebration will be presided by Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, Prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, with the participation of the Bishops and clergy of Venezuela.
The beatification of M. Candelaria, “is not only significant for the Church and for the Carmelite Order, but for all Venezuelans, because she is the model of an exemplary life, of profound faith and support for the poorest and most marginalized of society, for all men and women of good will,” the Venezuelan Bishops said in a statement encouraging the faithful to participate in the beatification.
Madre Candelaria was known for her profound faith, her intense love for God and others, a heart full of compassion and mercy, filial relationship with the Holy Mother Church, her generous character, and her spirit of initiative. She was born in Altagracia de Orituco on August 11, 1863. She was enthusiastic in responding to God’s call to holiness and from a young age practiced works of charity, attending, consoling, and curing the sick and wounded from the war, who had been left on the streets of her hometown.
Under the guidance of a priest and medical doctor named Father Sixto Sosa (who later became Bishop of Cumana), she decided to consecrate her life to the service of the sick in San Antonio Hospital, founded in 1903 in Altagracia de Orituco. Later, together with Father Sosa, at a time when their was a flourishing of female religious orders in Venezuela, she began the foundation of a new religious congregation, dedicated to serving the poor. Today they are known as the Venezuelan Carmelite Sister or the Carmelites of Madre Candelaria.
Madre Candelaria carried out an impressive service in attending to the injured of the war and the poorest sick persons, showing a great trust in Divine Providence, and an intense love for those most in need. For her ardent love for God and her generous self-donation and self-abnegation in service of the poor, under the guidance of the Bishops and in collaboration with the religious sisters of her Congregation, this new Venezuelan Blessed is today an example of virtue, among which shine forth he living and intense faith in Jesus Christ, our only Savior, her union with and love for the Church - and in particular, for the Bishops of Venezuela - her ardent love for the poorest in society.
“We bless the Lord for this new gift to the Church in Venezuela. We take this opportunity that the Lord offers us to joyfully recognize our Christian identity as children of God, disciples and missionaries of Jesus Christ and members of the Holy Catholic Church,” the Bishops said in conclusion. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 25/4/2008; righe 39, parole 490)
