Venezuela: The miracle of the canonization of Mother Carmen Elena Rendiles

The inexplicable healing of a young woman from Caracas who in 2018 suffered from meningitis and encephalitis has led to Blessed Mother Carmen Elena Rendiles being canonized this Sunday, October 19, by Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Square.

She is the first Venezuelan nun to achieve sainthood, which she will achieve together with Dr. José Gregorio Hernández and five other blessed from around the world.

In an interview with ACI Prensa, Father Franklin Manrique told the details of the healing of Fabiola de Abreu Obadía, who this year the Vatican declared as one of supernatural character.

“Fabiola, this young girl, began to suffer from headaches. They discovered that she has hydrocephalus, they placed a valve on her – then a second valve – and she became even sicker. She was practically in a vegetative state and was going to be contaminated with meningitis and encephalitis. Some say that there were signs of a cerebral apophyia because her hands were all crippled and her neck was on one side, there was no type of reaction,” the priest recalled.

Father Manrique then worked as chaplain at the Belén School in Caracas, an institution founded by Mother Carmen and administered to this day by her congregation, the Servants of Jesus. The mortal remains of the next saint rest in this place.

It is thanks to his ministry at Colegio Belén that this Venezuelan priest gets to know Fabiola and her family very intimately.

“Thank you, Lord, thank you”

On June 16, 2018, Mother Carmen was beatified in a massive Mass celebrated in Caracas. That day, Fabiola being in very serious health, which prevented her from taking care of herself, Gisela, her mother, turned on the television and—almost by chance—came across the broadcast of the ceremony.

It was the first time I had heard of Carmen Rendiles. Then, an inner motion invited him to ask the blessed to intercede for his daughter’s health. Discussing this with his family, they decide to go to Colegio Belén where they meet the sisters of the congregation and Father Manrique.

Since then, a closeness begins to develop between the priest and the family. Father Manrique first celebrates, with prior authorization from the local bishop, a Mass in the house where Fabiola was bedridden and then another, when the doctors allow the young woman to leave her house, at the Belén School.

In this second celebration, the priest asks the sisters to place a relic of Mother Carmen in the hands of the young woman and also asks them to bring the painting of the Venezuelan nun. in front of which the first miracle occurred that allowed his beatification.

Fabiola received communion, a tiny particle that she consumed with great difficulty because she was unable to chew or swallow, and then everyone present prayed in silence.

“One of the sisters placed the painting on her and told her: ‘You are very pretty, Mother Carmen is going to ask God for you’; and in the end I told her mother, Mrs. Gisela: ‘God is going to surprise you, you just have to say: ‘Thank you, Lord, thank you,'” Father Manrique said.

An inexplicable cure

The days passed and the priest remembers that on September 18 of that year, Fabiola’s health suddenly worsened. “It kind of faded away, because there was no longer any kind of reaction,” he said. However, everything would change radically the next morning.

“On the morning of September 19, 2018, Fabiola says: ‘Mom, give me the phone to talk to my grandmother’. Her mother is surprised because she had not spoken, did not eat, did not say anything for more than 4 months and gives her the phone. With difficulty she dials, talks to the grandmother, calls the aunts and asks to eat, although she had a feeding tube, she had no difficulty eating after so many months,” explained Father Manrique.

One of the aunts calls the priest and tells him about the extraordinary situation. The family decides to return to Belén School, it was a Thursday, so the Blessed Sacrament was exposed all day.

“My biggest surprise is when they send me a video of Fabiola getting out of the car walking to Mother Carmen’s tomb. At the moment I say that it is a miracle, because I have seen her (during the illness) but then everything that the Church has to say will come,” he added.

Precisely, from that moment on, a process of documentation and ecclesiastical investigation began that would end in 2025, with Pope Francis’ approval of the second miracle and the decree of canonization of Mother Carmen.

A party for all of Venezuela

Father Manrique was emphatic in pointing out that the canonization of the first two Venezuelan saints is a celebration for the country in many ways: for the laity and religious, for teachers and educators, for doctors and for those who sow values.

“It is a party for families and to strengthen friendship. It is a party to put on the table the figure of the woman, who in the midst of everyday life knows how to get ahead and be a sign of hope,” he commented.

“Both Mother Carmen and José Gregorio had a life dedicated to the service of others. All Venezuelans are characterized by solidarity and the sense of helping others, we must return to that by doing good. May we overcome selfishness and division, seeing in Mother Carmen and José Gregorio a great treasure for all Venezuelans,” he added.

The story of Fabiola de Abreu and the testimony of Father Franklin Manrique have been captured in a documentary that the Servants of Jesus have published on the official YouTube channel of Madre Carmen.