Carmen Rendiles
Venezuelan Religious Sister, foundress and saint of the Catholic Church
Feast: 9 May (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
The Vatican record
- 5 July 2013 — Heroic virtue declared — title Venerable (decree list, 2013)
- 18 December 2017 — Miracle through their intercession approved (decree list, 2017)
- 28 March 2025 — Miracle through their intercession approved (decree list, 2025)
Who they were
Carmen Elena Rendiles Martínez was born in Caracas on 11 August 1903, the third of seven children, without a left arm; she wore an artificial arm all her life. In 1927 she joined the Servants of the Eucharist, a congregation from France, and made her novitiate there before returning to Venezuela.
On 25 March 1965 she founded the Servants of Jesus of Venezuela, and led it until her death. She died in Caracas on 9 May 1977. With St José Gregorio Hernández, canonised the same day, she was one of the first two Venezuelan saints.
The miracles
Trinette Durán de Branger — Caracas, Venezuela
A woman's paralysed arm was healed after she touched Mother Carmen's tomb.
Fabiola de Abreu Obadía — Caracas, Venezuela — 18–19 September 2018
A young woman from Caracas with hydrocephalus had two shunts fitted, then caught meningitis and encephalitis, which left her in a near-vegetative state with paralysed hands and a twisted neck. After prayers to Blessed Carmen, overnight from 18 to 19 September 2018 she began to speak for the first time in four months and asked for her phone to call her family. She later walked from a car to Mother Carmen's tomb at the Colegio Belén.
Why that counted as sanctity
The case of Trinette Durán de Branger was examined by the Church's doctors and theologians and approved as a miracle on 18 December 2017, opening the way to beatification. Beatification followed on 16 June 2018 by Cardinal Angelo Amato, for Pope Francis. The case of Fabiola de Abreu Obadía was examined by the Church's doctors and theologians and approved as a miracle, opening the way to canonisation. Canonisation followed on 19 October 2025 by Leo XIV.
Connected on this site
- José Gregorio Hernández Saint“With St José Gregorio Hernández, canonised the same day, she was one of the first two Venezuelan saints.” — this site's research
- ACI Prensa - the miracle for the canonisation of Mother Carmen Rendiles
- Rome Reports, Jul 2025 - Venezuela's first two canonised saints
- Wikipedia - Carmen Elena Rendiles Martínez
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints — promulgated decrees (causesanti.va), summarised in our own words
- Wikidata Q17333589 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Carmen Elena Rendiles Martínez (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.