Bl. Rani Maria

So let's do some traveling for our next saint. Today we will visit India.

Blessed Rani Maria was born Mriam Vattalil in Kerala India in 1954. As a child, she attended the government run primary school and helped her father in the work of the fields and her mother in domestic duties. She joined the Franciscan Clarist Congregation at Kidangoor following the completion of her secondary schooling and assumed the religious name of "Rani Maria" upon joining and entering their novitiate. Her cousin Cicily joined at the same time.

During her time in religious life, Sister Rani Maria spent time teaching, coordinating social activities, meditating and leading a congregation as a superior. She also earned a degree in Sociology from the Rewa University.

On February 25, 1995, she took a bus from her convent in Udaynagar to Indore.She was asked to sit in the back of the bus, which was unusual as the sisters were usually given front seats. Three men were waiting in the back of the bus for her. One of the men started insulting her and then asked the driver to stop the bus. He offered coconut to the other passengers, and when he got to Sister Rani Maria, he would tease her with the coconut, then stab her. The other passengers were too frightened to intervene. The hitman did this several times, then dragged her out of the bus and continued stabbing her. The murder was arranged because some landlords were offended due to her work among the landless poor.

The police contacted the sisters to let them know what happened and told them that their slain sister's remains were still on the side of the road. The sisters contacted the local Bishop who, with some priests, retrieved the bloodied corpse. Sister Rani Maria was 4 November 2017, Indore, India by Cardinal Angelo Amato. Her feast day is February 25 and she is the patron of Aid Workers and Missionaries.