By Matters India Reporter

Kochi: The Catholic Church in Kerala and the Franciscan Clarist Congregation will on November 12 jointly celebrate the beatification of Sister Rani Maria in Kochi, the state’s commercial capital.

Sister Rani Maria, a Franciscan Clarist nun, was stabbed to death in Madhya Pradesh. She was declared a blessed at a ceremony in Indore on November 4.

The Kerala programs include a thanksgiving Mass followed by a public meeting at St Mary’s Basilica. The function will begin at 2:45 pm with a procession carrying relics of the beatified nun from the Archbishop’s House to the nearby basilica.

Syro-Malabar Church Major Archbishop Cardinal George Alencherry will lead the Mass. Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council president Archbishop M Soosa Pakiam of Trivandrum will deliver the homily.

Archbishop Abraham Viruthakulangara of Nagpur, Bishop Chacko Thottumarickal of Indore, Auxiliary Bishops of Ernakulam-Angamaly Jose Puthenveetil and Sebastian Edayanthrath and bishops from the state and outside, will join the Mass.

Catholic Bishops Conference of India president Cardinal Baselios Mar Cleemis will open the public meeting. FCC Mother General Sister Anne Joseph, the beatified nun’s younger sister Sr Selmy Paul and Seva Singh, a representative from Udainagar where Rani Maria worked at the end of her life will speak at the meeting.