Indore: Sr Rani Maria, the Keralite nun who was stabbed to death in Madhya Pradesh 22 years ago, 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 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 Gradious 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.
"The Blessed title is considered a prelude to beatification of sainthood as was the case with Mother Teresa," public relations officer of Madhya Pradesh Catholic Church, Father Maria Stephen told PTI.
But for canonization of sainthood, a miracle is required, he said.
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 victim's family at Pulluvazhy, near Perumbavoor, in Kerala after he served his jail term.
Kerala village rejoices
The beatification of the Kerala nun was celebrated at her Pulluvazhy village with the bursting of firecrackers and distributing of sweets.
On Saturday, all roads led to the St Thomas Catholic Church near Kochi where a special mass was held to mark the beatification ceremony held in Indore.
The nun, who was born in Pulluvazhy village in 1954, mostly worked in north India.
Host of programs
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.
(With inputs from PTI)
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