MARÍA CARMEN RENDILES

Join us for a special presentation honoring Blessed María Carmen Rendiles, given by her great-niece and nephew, María Patton and Juan Lopez, during Sunday’s Coffee Hour.

Mother María Carmen Rendiles was born in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1903. Despite being born without a left arm, she never allowed her physical limitation to define her. From an early age, María Carmen felt a deep calling to serve God, one that only grew stronger as she matured. She joined a French religious congregation, the Servants of the Eucharist, but later realized that God had other plans for her. With unwavering faith and humility, she founded the Servants of Jesus of Venezuela in 1965, dedicated to education, pastoral work, and the care of the poor. She led by example, with a heart full of compassion and a quiet, unshakeable strength.

Her life was marked by simple holiness and humbleness. Everyone who knew her said the same: that she never complained and always took on her duties and challenges with a smile. She dedicated her entire adult life to prayer, servitude, mentorship, and leadership within the convent. She suffered several health issues, including pulmonary tuberculosis and early-onset arthritis. Moreover, she lost a brother and her father at an early age and was wheelchair-bound during the last years of her life.

The Servants of Jesus remain active today, with several locations across Venezuela and Colombia. These locations include convents, medical and food dispensaries, schools for the poor, facilities that produce Eucharist wafers and ceremonial clothing for churches, spiritual retreat centers, and chapels.

María Carmen died in 1977 due to complications from influenza after more than 50 years of religious service. She passed in the presence of her younger sister, Mother Luisa, also a nun of the Servants of Jesus. Before she departed, she gave blessings to each of the nuns and novices of her organization and asked for forgiveness for any bad example she may have left.

On March 31, 2025, Pope Francis recognized a second miracle attributed to Blessed Mother María Carmen Rendiles. This involved the miraculous cure of a woman with idiopathic triventricular hydrocephalus. On June 13, 2025, it was formally announced that Mother María Carmen Rendiles would be canonized on October 19, 2025, making her the first canonized female saint from Venezuela—a historic moment of joy and pride for the Venezuelan Church and its people.

María Carmen Rendiles: making a difference in the lives of countless people through her unwavering faith, compassion, and service.

María Patton and Juan Lopez