Biography
The eldest of six children born to Benigno María Hernández Manzaneda and Josefa Antonia Cisneros Mansilla; he was baptized on 30 January 1865 and confirmed on 6 December 1867. Beginning at age 18, he studied medicine at the University of Caracas, Venezuela, graduating on 29 June 1888, and then in Paris, France and Berlin, Germany. Feeling called to religious life, José joined the Secular Franciscans on 7 December 1899, and began investigating becoming a Carthusian monk. After some theology studies in Rome, Italy, he was forced to return to Caracas for health reasons. José took this as a sign that he should give up the idea of religious life, and serve an apostolate as a physician. Thatâs how he spent the rest of his life - single, celibate, prayerful and dedicated to caring for the poor for free. Born: 26 October 1864 in Isnotú, Trujillo, Venezuela Died: • hit by a car on 29 June 1919 in Caracas, Venezuela while delivering medications he had purchased for an elderly patient • relics enshrined in the church of Our Lady of Candelaria in Caracas