Kochi: Sister Rani Maria was a Franciscan Clarist nun hailing from Pulluvazhy, a small hamlet near Kochi, who worked among the tribals and Dalit communities in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
While working with landless laborers in Madhya Pradesh, she informed the villagers of government schemes and loans and this did not go down well with the local moneylenders in Udainagar. In December 1994, a clash broke out between the tribals and the villagers of Semlia Raimal in which a moneylender was injured. Sr Maria helped some tribals, who were arrested following the clash, get out on bail.
Two months after the incident, on February 25, 1995, she was brutally stabbed to death by Samandar Singh on a bus from Udainagar to Indore. Her body was found on the road with over 40 major injuries.
Samandar, and his two aides, Jeevan and Dharmendra, were caught by the cops three days later.
Pardon
In 2002, Samandar was serving term in Indore jail when Sr Maria's sister, Sr Selmy Paul, visited him on a Raksha Bandhan day and tied 'rakhi' on him. The family pardoned him and accepted him as one of them.
Sr Selmy also helped him get parole thrice and in getting an early release from jail after spending 11 years in prison. Samandar visited Sr Maria's family in Kerala.
Beatification
Sr Maria was beatified by the Vatican in Indore on Saturday. 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 in Indore.
The declaration was also read out in Hindi by cardinal Telesphore Toppo and in Malayalam by cardinal Mar George Alencherry. Cardinal Amato celebrated the Mass.
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.