There seems to be a lot of interest in Venezuelans at the moment. Following the recent award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Corina Machado for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela, we now read that two of the seven saints, recently canonised by Pope Leo were also Venezuelans!
A week ago, Pope Leo raised seven men and women, formerly ‘Blesseds’ to be canonised Saints in the Catholic Church, as the Church celebrated World Mission Sunday. Among these were,
- Maria del Monte Carmelo Rendiles Martínez, a Venezuelan religious sister of the Servants of the Eucharist, who founded the congregation of the Servants of Jesus of Caracas and became its first superior general. In 2015 there were 19 communities across Venezuela and Colombia; and
- José Gregorio Hernández Cisneros, a renowned Venezuelan physician and member of the Franciscan Third Order, known for his many acts of charity including treating the poor for free and even buying them medicines with his own money.
In his sermon, the Pope asked the question whether Jesus would find faith on earth when He comes again. “Today”, he said, “we have before us seven witnesses, the new Saints, who, with God’s grace, kept the lamp of faith burning,” he said. “Indeed, they themselves became lamps capable of spreading the light of Christ.” A world without faith, added the Pope, would be filled with children without a Father.
Instead, the Pope invited Christians to embrace faith in every aspect of our lives and noted that the seven new Saints would assist us in our vocation to holiness.
Read the story on the Vatican news site here.
Photos above: (1) Beata María del Monte Carmelo Rendiles Martínez by Enman23. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. (2) José Gregorio Hernández Cisneros, in the public domain.