Sr Rani Maria to be beatified in Nov 4, 2017

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, May 27, 2017: The beatification of Sister Rani Maria, who was killed by a hired assassin in central India 27 years ago, will take place on November 4. The official announcement will be made at Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

“It is a blessed moment for the Catholic Church in India. The decision of Pope Francis to beatify Sr Rani Maria brings joy to all Catholics in India,” said Mar George Cardinal Alencherry, head of the Syro-Malabar Church.

The beatification ceremony will start at 10 am on Nov 4 on the grounds of St. Pauls school, adjacent to the Bishop’s House in Indore. Cardinal Angelo Amato, who serves as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints will lead the ceremony. Bishop of Indore, Chacko Thottumarickal,  Bishop Leo Cornelio, Archbishop of Bhopal  will also lead the celebrations . Several bishops from India and abroad, family members of Sr Rani Maria, nuns of  Franciscan Clarist Congregation will take part in the ceremony along with representatives of various congregations. The ceremony will be followed by a public meeting.

A special function to commemorate the beatification, will be held on Nov 5 at the tomb of Sr. Rani Maria at Sacred Heart Church in Udainagar, Madhya Pradesh.

Beatification is the penultimate stage of the four-phased canonisation procedure followed in the Catholic Church. Sr Rani Maria’s cause of canonisation began in 2003, and she was declared a ‘Servant of God’ four years later. Once the beatification is declared officially, the nun will be known as a ’blessed’ martyr.

Sr Rani Maria joined Franciscan Clarist Convent at Kidangoor near Palai in Kerala 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 Bijmore in 1975 and then came to Udainagar in 1992, where she had worked among poor landless agricultural labourers and others to fight for just wages and their other rights. This upset a group of landlords, who hired an assassin to kill her.