When Pope John Paul II, now a saint, visited Venezuela in 1996, he received a petition signed by 5 million people — at the time, almost one in four Venezuelans — asking him to declare Hernández a saint.
“This historic event, long awaited by the Venezuelan people, is a recognition of the exemplary life and heroic virtues of a man who dedicated his existence to alleviating human suffering and transmitting a message of love and hope,” the Archdiocese of Caracas said in a statement.
Hernández, born on Oct. 26, 1864, in the western Venezuela town of Isnotu, never married and graduated as a doctor in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, in 1888.
He was convinced that science was one of the main ways to get the South American country out of misery and went on to establish two research institutions as well as teach several classes at the Central University of Venezuela, the nation’s oldest and largest.
A man revered by millions as the “doctor of the poor” will be the first saint from Venezuela after Pope Francis approved a decree Tuesday.
.jpeg?auto=webp&width=800)
