On October 19, Pope Leo XIV will canonize eight Blesseds — among them, Venezuela’s first saints: Dr. José Gregorio Hernández and Sister María del Carmen Rendiles.
Pope Leo’s first consistory, held June 13, finalized dates for the upcoming canonizations, which had been approved by Pope Francis earlier this year, before his passing.
José Gregorio Hernández, known across Latin America as “the doctor of the poor,” was a physician and devout Catholic who served Venezuela’s sick with profound humility.
His beatification came in 2021, following the miraculous recovery of Yaxury Solórzano Ortega, a young girl who survived a gunshot to the head after her mother prayed for Hernández’s intercession.
Sister María del Carmen Rendiles, founder of the Servants of Jesus, was born in Caracas in 1903. Her miracle involved the sudden healing of a Venezuelan doctor in 2003, acknowledged by the Church as medically inexplicable. She was beatified in 2018.
In Venezuela, the Church has launched the national campaign “Santos para todos” (Saints for All) to celebrate Hernández and Rendiles.
Events will span cultural, educational, and medical initiatives, and posters of the new saints will be distributed to parishes and schools.
The October canonization ceremony at the Vatican will also recognize six others: Armenian Archbishop and martyr Ignatius Choukrallah Maloyan; Papua New Guinean catechist Peter To Rot; Italian Sisters Vincenza Maria Poloni and Maria Troncatti; and Italian layman Bartolo Longo, a devoted promoter of the Rosary.
While both Hernández and Rendiles lived in different times and served in different ways, their paths to sainthood affirm a truth that transcends borders: holiness begins in daily acts of service, compassion, and faith. Their stories now join the Church’s universal memory — not as distant icons, but as familiar companions from Venezuela’s own soil.
Meanwhile, the Vatican announced that Blesseds Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati will be canonized on September 7. Originally scheduled separately, their joint canonization reflects a desire to highlight their shared witness of youthful holiness.
