By Matters India Reporter
Pulluvazhy: The native parish of Blessed Rani Maria is all set to celebrate her first feast day on February 25.
“Sister Rani Maria is a message and an example of love toward strangers,” said Cardinal George Alencherry of Ernakulam-Angamaly on February 16 while addressing the faithful at St Thomas Church in Pulluvazhy, some 50 km northeast of Kochi, Kerala’s commercial capital.
On the same day, the Syro-Malabar parish began a novena in preparation for the feast.
The parish will celebrate the feast on the day Blessed Rani Maria died of 54 stab wounds inflicted by a hired assassin 23 years ago in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
Parish priest Father Joseph Parapuram hoisted the flag of the feast. Assistant Vicar Fathers Christi Madathil and Antony Vattaparambil were present as celebrants for the liturgy.
The parish will conduct daily evening Mass and Novena until February 24.
Sister Rani Maria, a member of the Franciscan Clarist Congregation, was beatified on November 4, 2017, at Indore, the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh.
A miracle through her intercession would lead to her canonization, a process that began in 2003.
She was born Mariam on January 29, 1954, as the second of seven children to Paily and Eliswa Vattalil.
She joined the Franciscan Clarist Congregation on July 3, 1971. Her first profession was on May 1, 1974, before she was sent to Bijnor in northern India.
She came to Udayanagar in 1992 and worked among landless agricultural laborers, encouraging them to demand fair wages and better treatment that infuriated the landlords.
Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and special representative of Pope Francis for the beatification ceremony, said Rani Maria’s sacrifice at the age of 41 has become “a beacon of light for the multitude of missionaries, who find in her inspiration and protection for their difficult work for the good.”
More than 15,000 people, including the assassin, Samandar Singh, attended the beatification ceremonies.