The Blessed Candelaria of San José, Susana Paz Castillo Ramírez, was a Venezuelan religious and founder of a family dedicated to the poor, the sick and education. The Holy See presents it as a woman of prayer, charity and service. His history lies between Altagracia de Orituco, where he was born, several works of assistance and Caracas, linked to the process of his cause and the celebration of his beatification. The map uses Caracas as a local reference: it does not claim that the coordinate is the exact point of its grave.
Where is he?
The tab is located in Caracas, Capital District, Venezuela. The coordinate comes from OpenStreetMap using Nominatim and the mapping response was HTTP 200. The precision is locality: the cross-cutting sources do not allow the identification here of a unique building that can be presented as the exact GPS of the tomb or of the general house. Caracas is therefore a prudent territorial reference related to its cause and to the life of the congregation.
Documented history
Susana Paz Castillo Ramírez was born in Altagracia de Orituco, in the state of Guarico, on August 11, 1863. The biography published by the Holy See describes a family Christian education and practical training in work and sewing. After his mother's death in 1887, he took over the house and began to care for the sick and wounded in a space near the parish church.
With other young people, doctors and the parish priest Sixto Sosa, he participated in the foundation of a hospital for people in need. The work began in 1903 and gave rise to a religious family first known as Sisters of the Poor of Altagracia and later as Carmelite Sisters of the Candelaria Mother. On September 13, 1906, he professed as a religious and took the name Candelaria de San José. In 1910, the congregation was officially formed with the profession of the first sisters.
His service was not limited to one place. The Vatican biography recalls its attention to the sick and its concern for the education of children. In 1929, after an earthquake in Cumana, he went with two sisters to take over a hospital; during a smallpox epidemic he personally attended to isolated people, according to the same source. These data belong to the documented history of his work and should not be confused with stories of supernatural healing.
He ruled the congregation until the general chapter of 1937 and then continued to collaborate as a novice teacher. He died on January 31, 1940. The cause of beatification and canonization began in Caracas in 1969; Benedict XVI recognized his heroic virtues and signed the decree of beatification in 2007. The celebration took place in Caracas on 27 April 2008.
Marian Tradition and Devotion
The source of the Holy See points out as its great loves Jesus crucified and the Virgin Mary. His Carmelite bond explains the relationship with Our Lady of Carmen, but there is no approved personal Marian apparition or canonical coronation associated with his cause. Here Mary appears as venerated and intercessor; worship corresponds only to God.
No independent legend about the tomb is incorporated. The existence of hospitals, communities and educational works provides a sufficient framework to understand their devotion without turning pious memory into an undocumented supernatural affirmation.
Ecclesial State
Candelaria de San José es beata de la Iglesia católica. He was beatified in Caracas on 27 April 2008. It is not presented as a canonized saint: beatification is the ecclesial state that consists of the sources used for this fact sheet.
Anecdotes and stories
A concrete picture of his charity is the care of the sick in a simple hospital, with hammocks and tarts that she herself helped to prepare. Another is his stay in service when the disease and pain marked his last years. Congregational tradition also retains its joy and confidence in Providence, but the fact sheet does not add details that are not supported by official biographies.
Prayer
Blessed Candelaria of San José, pray for the sick, for those who care for them and for the poor or abandoned. He asks the Virgin Mary to teach us to venerate her as Mother and intercessor and to serve Jesus Christ with humility, joy and charity. Amen.