Vatican close to proclaim Sister Rani as 'martyr'

The Vatican is close to proclaim nun Rani Maria Vattali, who was brutally stabbed to death in Madhya Pradesh 22 years ago, as "martyr" for beatification.
"I have come to know that Pope Francis has signed a recommendation from Congregation for Causes of Saints on March 23 for beatifying the Franciscan Clarist Nun as martyr," Archbishop Leo Cornelio, who heads Catholic Church in Madhya Pradesh, told PTI today.
The beatification date of Sister Rani, who was a member of Syro-Malabar Franciscan Clarist Congregation, has not been finalised yet, said the Bhopal-based prelate.
"I hope it might be somewhere in October," he added.

Rani Maria Vattali, popularly known as Sister Rani, then 41, was stabbed around 50 times on board a bus in which she was travelling in Dewas district on February 25, 1995, the Archbishop said.
Hired assassin Samunder Singh stabbed her, as some landlords in MP's Indore region were upset with her work for landless people's uplift, a catholic faithful said.

Singh was sentenced to life in prison after he was found guilty of killing the nun. Later, his sentence was commuted due to his good conduct during imprisonment, he added.
In 2002, Sister Paul, who belongs to the same congregation of nuns to which deceased Rani belonged had visited Singh in jail to accept him as her brother, he said.

Then Indore Bishop George Anathil initiated the cause for Sister Rani's martyrdom in 2001 by setting up two panels - historical and theological, to examine her life, he said.
The two commissions submitted their findings to the three-member diocesan inquiry tribunal in June 2005 to carry forward the process, he recalled.
She was found to have led a heroic life of Christian virtue. Thereafter, her name was sent to Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which reviewed the gathered information and recommended that the Pope declare the candidate "venerable", he said.
After this, beatification takes place. In case of canonisation of sainthood, a miracle was required but it was not necessary for martyrdom, he said.