Rani Maria Vattalil

From 1975, Sister Rani Maria was sent on a mission to northern India. She worked successively in the missions of Bijnor (1975-1983), Satna (1983-1992), and then Udainagar (1992-1995), a locality situated in the diocese of Indore, within the state of Madhya Pradesh. In Udainagar, she dedicated herself fully to the defense and social advancement of tribal populations and poor farmers, who lived in extreme poverty and were exploited by powerful local usurers (the Baniyas). Guided by her faith, she implemented education programs for children and adults, organized village women into self-help groups, and created savings and interest-free microcredit cooperatives. These concrete initiatives allowed small landowners to escape the cycle of debt and regain their dignity. This social and evangelical action provoked the anger of large landowners and usurers. Despite repeated death threats, Sister Rani Maria refused to abandon her mission.

On the morning of February 25, 1995, while traveling by bus from Udainagar to Indore, Sister Rani Maria was brutally attacked. A hired killer named Samundar Singh, paid by local moneylenders, boarded the bus and stabbed her 54 times in front of the other passengers. During her agony, she expired while repeating the name of "Jesus." Her funeral was celebrated on February 27, 1995, at the Cathedral of Indore. The epilogue of this martyrdom was marked by an extraordinary gesture of evangelical forgiveness. The religious sister's family, notably her mother Eliswa and her religious sister, Sister Selmy Paul, publicly forgave the assassin. On August 21, 2002, Sister Selmy visited him in prison and tied a rakhi on his wrist, accepting him as her brother. On February 25, 2003, her mother visited him in turn and kissed his hands. Overwhelmed by this mercy, Samundar Singh sincerely repented. Released in 2006 for good behavior, he was welcomed by the family.

The cause for the beatification of Sister Rani Maria was opened at the diocesan level in Indore on June 29, 2005, and closed on June 28, 2007. On March 23, 2017, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing her martyrdom in hatred of the faith (in odium fidei). The beatification ceremony was celebrated on November 4, 2017, in Indore, presided over by Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, representing Pope Francis. Sister Rani Maria was thus proclaimed Blessed. Her liturgical feast is set for February 25, the day of her birth into heaven. As she was beatified as a martyr, no miracle was required for her beatification. To this day, she has not yet been canonized.

The spirituality of Blessed Rani Maria was deeply Christocentric and Franciscan, summarized by her motto: 'Jesus for all, and all for Jesus'. She drew her strength from long hours of daily Eucharistic adoration before going to the villagers. Her commitment was not a simple humanitarian action, but the direct expression of the Gospel of charity. Pope Francis hailed her during the Angelus of November 5, 2017, in these terms: 'She was so good. She was called the "sister of the smile"'. Her martyrdom and the heroic forgiveness granted by her family remain a powerful testimony of reconciliation and peace for the Church in India and throughout the world.