Saints celebrated on the 9th of May
BLESSED MARIA CARMEN RENDILES, FOUNDRESS
Carmen Elena Rendiles Martinez (Maria Carmen) was born on August 11, 1903 in Caracas as the third of the seven children to Ramiro Antonio Rendiles and Ana Antonia Martinez. Maria Carmen was born without a left arm and so was given a prosthetic arm which she had attached to her for her entire life. Her baptism was celebrated in the church of Santa Anna on September 24, 1903.
THE CALL TO RELIGIOUS LIFE
In 1918 she felt her concrete call to the religious life. Her father died in the mid-1920s. In December 1926 religious from France arrived in the nation and she learned about them and took their arrival as a sign that she was to follow her vocation as part of their order so applied and received permission for admission into their order.
THE MOVE TO TOULOUSE
Maria Carmen joined the Servants of the Eucharist on February 25, 1927 and moved to Toulouse in France for her religious formation where she received the habit on September 8, 1927. Maria Carmen made her initial profession on September 8, 1929 and made her solemn profession later on September 8, 1932 all while in France. In 1945 she was made the superior for all the order's houses in Venezuela.
THE SERVANTS OF JESUS
Maria Carmen founded the Servants of Jesus on March 25, 1965; the order received diocesan approval and support on August 14, 1969 from the Cardinal Archbishop of Caracas Jose Humberto Quintero Parra. She was the Superior General of her new order from 1969 when she was appointed until her death.
Maria Carmen died in mid-1977 due to influenza. In 2015 there were 94 religious in a total of 19 communities in both Venezuela and in Colombia.
(Source: Wikipedia -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Elena_Rendiles_Mart%C3%ADnez)
Comments
Post a Comment