Vatican official visits martyred nun’s tomb

(February 28, 2011) A Vatican official visited the tomb of Franciscan Clarist Sister Rani Maria in central India’s Madhya Pradesh state on the 16th anniversary of her “martyrdom” last week. Capuchin Father Giovangiuseppe Califano, postulator or promoter of the sainthood cause of the murdered nun, visited Udainagar on Saturday as part of her canonization process. Sr. Rani Maria’s work among poor landless people had angered several landowners, one of whom hired Samunder Singh to kill her in 1995 while travelling by bus to Indore. The Vatican official from Rome visited the sites where Sister Maria worked, lived and died. A diocesan tribunal set up by late bishop George Anathil of Indore, submitted a 10,000-page report in 2007, which the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints recognized, and appointed Father Daniel Ols as the relator to take the process further. Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal, who heads the Church in Madhya Pradesh, led Saturday’s ceremonies of the 16th anniversary of Sr. Rani Maria’s martyrdom in Udainagar, where the nun was working at the time of her death. Archbishop Cornelio prayed that Sister Maria’s death could help local people understand Christianity and its services to the poor. More than 1,000 people from across the state, mostly nuns and priests, attended the event, including Sr. Rani Mari’s killer, Samunder Singh, who converted to Christianity while serving a 12-year jail term.