Venezuela will soon host its first beatification ceremony, welcoming to the list of the blessed the founder of the Venezuelan Carmelite Sisters, Mother Candelaria of St. Joseph. The Venezuelan bishops' conference announced the beatification will take place April 27. Benedict XVI recognized last July a miracle attributed to Mother Candelaria's intercession, thus opening the way for her beatification.
The ceremony will take place in Caracas, and will be presided over by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, "who will come to us as the papal legate for this joyful occasion," the bishops stated.
The prelates gave an overview of Mother Candelaria's life and virtue.
They wrote, "The highlight of Mother Candelaria's life was her deep faith, intense love for God and her brothers, a compassionate and merciful heart, filial adhesion to holy mother Church, and her generous and enterprising character."
She was born Susana Paz-Castillo Ramírez in 1863. She "enthusiastically welcomed the call of God to holiness, and since her youth, stood out in practicing living and effective charity, with which she cared for, consoled and healed the sick and wounded that strife had left on the streets of her birth city," the bishops said.
A founder
Encouraged by Father Sixto Sosa, later bishop of Cumana, she consecrated herself to the service of the sick of San Antonio Hospital, founded in 1903.
Later, she began the foundation of a new religious congregation, dedicated to serving the poor. The congregation was definitively established in 1910 with the name "Congregation of the Sisters of the Poor of Altagracia de Orituco."
Afterward, the congregation was joined to the Carmelite Order, and was called the Third Order of Regular Carmelites. Today they are known as the Venezuelan Carmelite Sisters or Carmelites of Mother Candelaria.
The bishops continued: "With great tenacity and enthusiasm, in spite of the economic straits of the congregation, and the general scarcity of resources, Mother Candelaria performed a widespread, attentive labor to those wounded by wars and the poorest sick people, showing a great trust in Divine Providence, and an intense love for the most needy.
"Because of her ardent love for God and her generous and selfless surrender to the poor, under the direction of the bishops and in the company of the religious of her congregation, this new Venezuelan blessed is today an example of virtues, standing out among them, her living and intense faith in Jesus Christ, our only savior; her union with and love for the Church, particularly the Venezuelan bishops, and her lively charity for the poorest."
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