Murdered nun Rani Maria beatified

The nun, who was born in Pulluvazhy village in 1954, mostly worked in north India.
November 6, 2017

Sr Rani Maria, a Franciscan Clarist nun, was working with landless laborers in Madhya Pradesh when Samandar Singh, a hired assassin, stabbed her on February 25, 1995. Indore:
The beatification of Sr Rani Maria, the Keralite nun who was stabbed to death in Madhya Pradesh 22 years ago, was held in Indore on Nov 4. Cardinal Angelo Amato, the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, read out the announcement from Pope Francis at the St Paul’s School ground here.

The declaration was also read out in English by cardinal Mar George Alencherry. Cardinal Amato celebrated the mass.
Cardinals Mar Baselios Cleemis and Dr Oswald Gracias accompanied Amato along with archbishop Giambattista Diaquattro, Vatican’s emissary to India, and Dr Chacko Thottumarikkal, the archbishop of Indore.
The nun’s killer also attended the ceremony.

Selmy, sister of the slain nun, who along with other family members was present at the ceremony, said she was “overwhelmed” at the declaration. An elated Selmy said she will walk on the path shown by her sister.

All the four cardinals of India – Mar Baselios Cleemis (president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India), Mar George Alencherry (of Syro Malabar Church), Oswald Gracias (Archdiocese of Bombay) and Telephore Toppo (Archdiocese of Ranchi) graced the ceremony.
Sr Rani Maria, a Franciscan Clarist nun, was working with landless laborers in Madhya Pradesh when Samandar Singh, a hired assassin, stabbed her on February 25, 1995. Rani Maria’s family pardoned Singh and accepted him as one of them.
Singh visited the nun’s family at Pulluvazhy, near Kochi, in Kerala after he served his jail term.
The beatification of the Kerala nun was celebrated at her village in Kerala with the bursting of firecrackers and distributing of sweets.
The nun, who was born in Pulluvazhy village in 1954, mostly worked in north India.
A special mass was held on Saturday at the St Thomas Catholic Church near Kochi to mark the beatification ceremony held in Indore.
The Syro Malabar Church in Kerala will mark the occasion with a mass and a public meeting at the St Mary’s Basilica in Ernakulam at 2:30 pm on November 11. The relics of the blessed nun will be taken from the Major Archbishop’s House in Ernakulam to the St Mary’s Basilica.
The relics will then be taken to Pulluvazhi through different churches in Ernakulam and Angamaly dioceses, said bishop Mar Sebastian Edayanthrath.
Similar programs are organized at the St Thomas Church at Pulluvazhy at 3 pm on November 19.

Source: Manorama online & UCAN