Rani Maria cleared for beatification
Sister Rani Maria, professed sister of the Franciscan
Clarist Congregation, who died of 54 stab wounds from as assassin in central
India 22 years ago, has been cleared for beatification. by the Vatican.
During an audience on Thursday with Cardinal Angelo Amato,
S.D.B., Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Holy Father
authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, among others, to
promulgate the decree of the martyrdom of Servant of God Regina Mariam Vattalil
(née Rani Maria), killed in hatred of the faith on 25 February 1995.
Beatification is the penultimate stage in the four-phased
canonization process in the Catholic Church. Rani Maria’s cause of canonization
began in 2003 and she was declared a Servant of God four years later.
The nun was 41 when Samandar Singh, hired by some landlords,
stabbed her inside a bus on February 25, 1995. She was on traveling to Indore,
the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh state, en route her native place in
Kerala, southern India. The attacker followed her when she ran out of the
crowded bus and continued to stab her. She died on the roadside at Nachanbore
Hill, near Indore.
She was buried at Udaingar in Dewas district where she had
worked among poor landless agricultural laborers and others to fight for just
wages and other rights. This upset the landlords.
As part of her beatification process, on November 18, 2016
Bishop Chacko Thottumarikal of Indore supervised the opening of the slain nun’s
tomb and shifted the mortal remains to a church.
Rani Maria was born on January 29, 1954, as the second of
seven children of Paily and Eliswa Vattalil at Pulluvazhy, a small village near
Kochi, Kerala’s commercial capital. She was baptized on February 5, the same
year and was given the name Mariam.
She joined Franciscan Clarist Convent at Kidangoor near
Palai in 1972 and made her first profession on May 1, 1974, and chose the name
Rani (queen) Maria. She began her mission in northern India in Bijnore in 1975
and then came to Udainagar in 1992.
The slain nun’s family made international headlines when it
accepted Singh as a member after forgiving him. Rani Maria’s young sister Selmy
Paul, also a member of the same congregation, accepted Singh as her brother by
tying “rakhi,” a sacred thread, on the festival of siblings Rakshabandan. Some
people, though not born of the same parents, tie the “rakhi” and accept each
other as brothers and sisters. Sister Paul’s gesture helped Singh to regret his
action. He now leads an exemplary life in his village in central India after
serving his life term.
A documentary, “The Heart of a Murderer,” which depicts the
murder and subsequent repentance of Singh, won an award at the World Interfaith
Harmony Film Festival in 2013.
The Congregation for the Causes of Saints granted the “nihil
obstat” (‘nothing against’) to the cause. The subsequent diocesan process took
place in Indore from June 29, 2005, to June 28, 2007. It received the
congregation’s validation on November 27, 2009.
The C.C.S. received the Positio in 2014 and passed it onto
consulting theologians who on February 11, 2016, voiced their approval to the
cause. The congregation’s website says the saintly nun’s courageous sacrifice
and martyrdom has helped sow “the seed of love and justice and brotherhood in
many hearts.”
It also says the nun, during her initial years in the
mission, showed keen interest in educating children through formal and
non-formal methods. “This slowly gave way to a much wider field of development
of the poor, the oppressed and the marginalized,” the website says.
Once she was asked why she had chosen the saffron shawl she
replied, matter becomes red hot when it absorbs heat. This is true for human
soul also. He developmental programs among poor tribals went against to the
vested interests of unscrupulous moneylenders and social exploiters, it
explains.
The congregation hails Rani Maria’s martyrdom as “the most
glorious event in the history of Udainagar as well as of Amala Province.”
(Source for Biography: Matters India)
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