Candelaria of Saint Joseph

The work of Mother Candelaria de San José is inseparable from the foundation of her religious institute. In 1903, with the support of local doctors and Father Sixto Sosa, she founded the San Antonio Hospital in Altagracia de Orituco to welcome the most destitute. On September 13, 1906, Susana and her companions donned the habit of the "Hermanitas de los Pobres" and she took the name Candelaria de San José. On December 31, 1910, the congregation was officially erected under the name Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor of Altagracia de Orituco. In December 1916, she made her perpetual vows. Under her 35-year leadership, she founded several other hospitals, notably the Hospital of the Crucified in Upata and a hospice in Porlamar. On March 25, 1925, the congregation was affiliated with the Order of Carmel, becoming the Carmelite Sisters of Mother Candelaria. After caring for the victims of an earthquake and a smallpox epidemic in Cumaná in 1929, she stepped down from her position as Superior General in April 1937 and passed away on January 31, 1940, in Cumaná.

The cause for the beatification and canonization of Mother Candelaria de San José officially opened in Caracas on March 22, 1969. On April 19, 2004, Pope John Paul II signed the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her virtues, thereby declaring her Venerable. The miracle required for her beatification was approved by Pope Benedict XVI through a decree signed on July 6, 2007. This miracle concerns the scientifically inexplicable healing and birth of a child in Venezuela in September 1995.

The beatification ceremony was celebrated on April 27, 2008, at the University Stadium in Caracas, Venezuela, presided over by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI. Mother Candelaria of Saint Joseph thus became the second Venezuelan blessed in history. The miracle accepted occurred in September 1995 in Altagracia de Orituco. Rafaela Meza de Bermúdez, 29 weeks pregnant and suffering from serious pathologies, learned of the in utero death of her fetus. After praying to Mother Candelaria of Saint Joseph, she gave birth to a living and healthy baby girl, Milagros del Valle Candelaria Bermúdez Meza. The congregation is actively pursuing the promotion of her cause for canonization.

The spirituality of Blessed Candelaria of Saint Joseph is deeply marked by the Carmelite charism, combining an intense life of contemplation and union with God with fraternal and active service to the poorest. She held a special devotion to Jesus Crucified and to the Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Her legacy endures today through the congregation of the Carmelite Sisters of Mother Candelaria, who continue her work of mercy in hospitals, schools, clinics, and nursing homes for the elderly in Venezuela.