By Sr Lini Sheeja MSC –
She was threatened several times, but was not one to be bound. Sr Rani Maria was so passionate about her missionary call, that she would run to the villages every morning without fail, be it in rain or thunderstorm. As she was full of courage, no threatening call could deter her from helping the poor and the impact of her work was so huge that the tradesmen plotted to kill her. Rani Maria Vattalil (29 January 1954 – 25 February 1995) – known as Sr. Rani Maria – was an Indian Syro Malabar professed religious and a social worker in the Franciscan Clarist Congregation who worked among the poor within the Diocese of Indore. Sr Rani Maria dedicated herself to catechetical formation and education of children. As a religious she moved from place to place teaching in different regions. She was particularly vocal in matters of social justice and engaged herself in social activism. This led to her death at the hands of those who were opposed to her efforts in aiding the poor and the downtrodden. Her feast is celebrated on 25 February.
Childhood
Rani Maria Vattalil was born to Paily and Eliswa of the Vattalil family in the small village of Pulluvazhy, near Perumbavoor town, not far from the city of Kochi in the state of Kerala. Born on 29 January 1954, she was the second child in a family of seven children. Her siblings were Stephen, Annie, Varghese, Thressiamma, Celine (Sr. Selmy Paul) and Lucy. Rani Maria’s parents were God-fearing and they raised their children on the path of faith. Her brother Stephen described her as a girl of few words, hardly displaying any interest in outward appearances. She would always try to help someone and never hurt anyone. Her Mother beamed with pride when speaking of her daughter Marykunju, which means ‘Little Mary’ who was different from her other children and an exceptionally obedient child. Sr Rani Maria grew up in an environment of deep prayer and devotion. She enjoyed working with her parents and helping them out to the best of her abilities, both in the fields and in household chores. On her obtaining brilliant result in her SSLC examination, Rani Maria Vattalil’s parents decided to send her to St Joseph’s High School, Trippunithura,
Religious Life
Her parents had their own dreams about Rani, but God’s plans were different. During the final year of her studies she felt the call of God to embrace the Consecrated Life. Her frequent visits to the nearby convent and acquaintance with the Franciscan Clarist nuns drew her to enter the Franciscan Clarist Congregation. Though parents were unwilling to offer their daughter to Religious life, Rani Maria’s grandmother insisted that she should answer the call of God. Rani Maria Vattalil joined the Franciscan Clarist Congregation at Kidangoor following completion of her secondary schooling. She entered the convent together with her cousin Soni Maria on 3 July 1971 for their aspirancy period which concluded on 30 October 1972. Their Postulancy spanned from 1 November 1972 to 29 April 1973 and their novitiate from 30 April 1973 to 20 April 1974. She assumed the religious name of “Rani Maria” when she entered the Novitiate. She made her first profession on 1 May 1974.
Sr Rani Maria – A Missionary
In the northern part of India, rich landlords have exploited the poor illiterate people for hundreds of years. Christian missionaries tried hard to educate the poor people of this area and tried to release them from being exploited by landlords. The provincial Councilor of missions in North India, Sr Infant Mary, used to visit the missions and share her experiences with her novices. That sharing conveyed to them the urgency of spreading the Good News among the millions of illiterate and ignorant people of North India. Sr Rani Maria was one of the novices of Sr Infant Mary. Hearing the experiences of missionaries, her missionary zeal was inflamed and she used to repeat, ‘I too want to go to North India to serve the poor and die for them.”
Nun of the Villages and Huts
India is a land of diversities in religions, languages and cultures. For greater efficiency in her work as a missionary Sr.Rani Maria realized that she had to master the language of North India. She bid farewell to the mission field on 9 July 1975 and engaged in language study at the provincial house of the Sisters of Notre Dome, Patna after which Sr Rani arrived at St Mary’s convent in Bijnor, in North India on 24 December 1975; Bijnor became the cradle of her missionary life. She used to say, ‘I was born and brought up as a missionary in Bijnor’. She served there as a teacher from 8 September 1976 to 7 August 1978. During this period after her teaching hours she engaged herself in social ministry through which she could reach out to every little child, every sick and vulnerable person in the interior villages and huts. Sr Rani knew that education was going to free people from exploitation, and so with the Bishop’s approval she started to educate the children in the villages. She went into the villages and convinced parents to allow her to teach the children.
Name of Jesus – Most Favourite Prayer
Initially she taught children under the trees but after sometime she was able to shift the classes to a building. Education was free in that school. When she began the school, there were only 20 students but today it has more than 800 students. If such a school were not there the majority of these students would have been working in farm lands and remaining illiterate because there are no other schools existing in that village. During her hours of work, the favourite invocation she was wont to repeat was the name of ‘Jesus’. She kept this habit till her very last breath.
Missionary to Udaynagar
She made her final profession of vows on 22 May 1980 at Ankamaly in St Hormis Church. On 21 July 1983 she was transferred to Odagady and arrived there on 25 July where she served as the coordinator of social activities. As in Bijnor she worked to uplift the poor and downtrodden, she continued to do the same here. From 1 June to 31 July 1985 she spent time in silence and solitude at Aluva and later served as the local superior from 30 May 1989 to 15 May 1992. It was around this time that she received a degree in Sociology from Rewa University. Sr Rani Maria was later transferred to Udayanagar on 15 May 1992 and arrived there on 18 May.
Nun for the Needy and Oppressed
When Sr Rani Maria was first posted to the destitute central Indian region 25 years ago, she urged men loitering in the village to quit wasting their time drinking. Rani Maria was the first Christian missionary to visit Kaala Pani, a village among several that fell under the Udainagar mission which Sr Rani Maria joined in 1992. The nun had found Solanki and other men wasting away their time. “We had nothing much to do. So we drink or gossip,”Solanki told her. Sr.Rani Maria started visiting Kaala Pani and other villages as soon as she was posted there. To reach Solanki’s village, she had to walk nearly 10 miles through slushy, uneven paths, clad in traditional nun’s dress. She approached the men, explaining to them the ill effects of alcoholism.
They listened but persisted, until the day she caught them defaulting on their promise to quit. On that day Solanki vowed to her that he would adhere to his promise by any means. His wife, Nani Bai, sitting on a cot near him, nodded and said, “He has not touched alcohol since that day.” Sr Rani Maria’s surprise visits jolted the men, who started to work and quit drinking gradually. “They began spending time in farming, cattle rearing and other gainful occupations,” said Nani Bai. She reiterated that the villagers were impressed with the nun who took so much trouble to improve their lives.
Sr Rani Maria – A Woman of Courage
Sr Rani Maria worked tirelessly for the poor and oppressed people. She responded to the call of God who called her to be His hands and heart amidst the poor and the needy, when the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings” (Exod 3:7). Sr Rani Maria, a woman of courage, went from village to village, standing for the rights of the people and dedicated her life to the upliftment of the downtrodden.
Upliftment of Women
Sr Rani started self-help groups for women which adversely affected the business of the moneylenders. The self-help groups which were started by Sr Rani liberated the women from the clutches of moneylenders. Landlords too were offended due to her work among the landless poor.
Voice to the Voiceless
Sr Rani Maria made a thorough study of the tribes there and she realized that they had unconsciously fallen into the death trap played cunningly by the tradesmen and landlords of Udainagar. The poor were not aware of the grants that government had allotted for their socio-economic development. Sr Rani made them aware of their rights and the injustice inflicted on them. Thus the poor in Udainagar became active citizens and started to free themselves from bondage under their heartless landowners. As a result of Sr Rani’s developmental works, the marshy places of Udainagar were converted into agricultural lands. The men folk became engaged in small-scale business. Those capable of going for higher education were given opportunities.
Champion of the Vulnerable
She chose a few youngsters and trained them to stand against injustice. She taught them how to help the poor and themselves by getting financial assistance from the government and private banks. Once a bank manager asked her, ‘why are you struggling for these peasants?’ Holding in her hand the Crucifix hanging from her neck, Sr Rani Maria humbly told the officer, ‘Sir, we have accepted this way of life and come here not because we have no means of livelihood at home nor because our parents have pushed us out of our families. Look, we have accepted this way of life, a life of sacrifice in order to work for Christ in the poor’. Gradually, her gentle manners won over the admiration of the bank manager. He began to do the necessary things to help the villagers.
Sr Rani – Object of Hatred
Since all these assistance to poor tribes went counter to the vested interests of the unscrupulous money-lenders and social exploiters Sr Rani became the object of their hatred. Jeevan Singh was one of the major opponents of Sr Rani. He was a gangster in the village. Under his command were more than a hundred criminals. At the time of elections, he used to threaten the villagers and gain their votes for his favorite party. But, in December 1994, during the Panchayat election things were not as they were before. Few of the villagers were not ready to obey Jeevan Singh, because of the light shed on them by Sr Rani. So, Jeevan Singh made a fake complaint and jailed those villagers. Sr Rani intervened and she bailed them out. This incensed Jeevan Singh and his partisans.
Paying the Price
On 25 February 1995, Sr Rani arose early in the morning, because she had planned to go to her native place, Kerala. When the bus named Kapil arrived in front of the convent, Sr Rani got into it with her handbag. Among the 50 passengers in the bus there were 3 men seated in different parts of the bus but united in one purpose! They were determined to murder Sr Rani! Jeevan Singh, the leader of the group was seated at the back seat of the bus together with Dharmendra, his bodyguard. The third man was Samandhar Singh, who took his seat near Sr Rani Maria. Jeevan Singh began to insult her saying, “why have you come here from Kerala? Have you come to convert these poor tribal people to Christianity? We will not allow that”. The bus reached the jungle about 20 Kilometers from Udainagar, Samandhar Singh rose from his seat and asked the driver to stop the bus.
He got down from the bus and broke a coconut against the stone on the roadside. With pieces of the coconut in his hands, he re-entered the bus and distributed them among the passengers. He offered a piece to Rani, but suddenly withdrew it as if to fool her. She asked him, ‘why are you so overjoyed today?’ Drawing out a knife he said, ‘just for this’and he stabbed her in the stomach. He continued to stab her repeatedly and deaf to her cries, he dragged her out of the bus and stabbed her to death.
Jesus –Sr Rani’s Last Words
The passengers were too shell-shocked with fear to intervene and some fled the scene in panic. In all, she sustained 40 major injuries and 14 bruises. Throughout the attack she kept calling out “Jesus!” repeatedly. At 10.45 AM the police contacted the nuns to inform them of what had happened and to tell them that their slain sister’s remains were still on the side of the road. The distraught nuns contacted the Bishop of Indore, Most Rev George Anathil, to inform him of what had happened. Bp Anathil and some priests arrived at the spot by 2 PM to find her bloodied corpse. They then transported her remains to the Bishop’s House to be cleaned and laid in state. Rani Maria had paid the price for standing for truth!
Mission of Reconciliation
Police arrested the convicts. Samandhar Singh was sentenced to life imprisonment and the other two were freed during the trial. It was through the intervention of Fr Sadanand CMI (Swamiji)that the amazing transformation of the murderer became a possibility. The journey of this ascetic priest began with his eagerness to visit the places where Sr Rani Maria lived and the spot at which she was murdered. He then thought of meeting the criminals behind this murder. He collected all relevant details from her convent and proceeded to the remote villages of Madhya Pradesh, where she spent her last days. Although Swamiji could meet the master brain behind the crime and assured everyone that he came with a message of reconciliation, he was not accepted. Swamiji returned to his Ashram in Narasimhapur a little disappointed. Five years after the murder of Sr Rani Maria, Swamiji was invited to give a retreat to the novice sisters of the Clarist Congregation, in Rani Maria Ashram in Udayanagar. There, he could sense the depth of fear that was still gripping those sisters. That is what that prompted Swamiji to continue his mission of reconciliation. He moved to those villages where she worked and began collecting data on her mission. The villagers were unanimous in their opinion that she was nothing less than a saint. Their tear-filled eyes revealed the nun’s close connection with them. This was a turning point for Swamiji when respect for Sr Rani Maria turned to devotion. He noticed too that a sense of fear was hovering over all those villagers too.
Determined to do something to ease the tension, Swamiji travelled to Indore Jail. His intention was to have a meeting with the murderer, Samandar Singh, who was deserted by the landlords after he served their purpose. With the help of his friend who was the Superintendent of Narsinhapur Jail, Swamiji was able to meet Samandar. He had prepared himself for this meeting with a week of fasting and prayer. There Swamiji learned from Samandar that he had been written off by his family and friends upon receiving his life sentence. When Swamiji met Samandar for the first time, he saw his face dark with disappointment and frustration.
Samandhar is Forgiven
Swamiji told him that he was forgiven, and that he had just come there as a messenger. They talked at length. As Swamiji, started walking back, he heard a soothing voice from behind telling him, “Come again.” Swamiji visited Samandar again and their relationship strengthened, especially since he was the only visitor of Samandar. By his third visit, he found Samandar calm and composed. He shared with Swamiji that the severe headache that had been disturbing him since the murder of Rani Maria, had disappeared. With tears flowing down his cheeks, he shared with him the full story of her murder. Subsequently, Samandar wrote Swamiji five letters to him in his own primitive village slang, revealing his transformation.
On Rakshabandhan day Swamiji arranged for Rani Maria’s sister nun Sr Selmi and two nuns to visit Samandar in the Jail. Sr Selmi tied a rakhi on his wrist, as a symbol of a continuing relationship. They also gave him some small gifts. All who witnessed this were moved to tears. But that was not all…the family of deceased Sr Rani Maria submitted a mercy petition to Governor Balram Jakhar who accepted their request. Samandar Singh was released in 2006.
The Path to Forgiveness
When Sr Selmy was preparing to return home to southern Kerala in January 2007 to visit her ailing 82-year-old father, Paul Vattalil, Singh accompanied her and apologized to her parents. Since then, Singh has been in regular contact with Sr Selmy, who was posted at the same convent in Udainagar where her sister is buried. Singh, who leads a solitary life as a farmer (his wife and son left him after he was convicted of the murder), says the incident has “changed my attitude to life.” “I am a new man, and I help others. Many have realized that the suspicion about the Christians is misplaced.”Today, he has dedicated his life to social work and helps people from underprivileged families. Whenever he gets time, he visits Sr Rani’s memorial and offers prayers. The memorial is built at the same spot, where Singh had killed her. It bears the words, “Lord, do not hold this sin against him.”
Tears streamed down the cheeks of Singh when Stephen Vattalil, the elder brother of Sr Rani, embraced the man who stabbed his sister at the beginning of the public meeting to celebrate the beatification. “I wanted to be here. So I came,” Singh told the Registrar during the beatification. Singh walked more than 6 miles from his village of Semlia to catch a bus to reach Indore for the beatification ceremony. “What happened is very bad. I regret it. But now I am happy because the whole world is rejoicing over the beatification,” said Singh, a school dropout who had carried out the murder at the behest of moneylenders angered by the nun’s social work among villagers.
Posthumous Recognition
Cardinal Oswald Gracias described her work as a “heroic example … siding with the poor and disadvantaged”. A museum in her honour exists in Ernakulam. Her remains were exhumed for inspection and reburial on 18 November 2016 in Indore with the diocesan bishop overseeing the exhumation.
Beatification
The beatification process began on 26 September 2003 after the title Servant of God was conferred upon her and the Congregation for the Causes of Saints granted the “nihil obstat” (‘nothing against’) to the cause. The subsequent diocesan process took place in Indore from 29 June 2005 to 28 June 2007 and received C.C.S. validation in Rome on 27 November 2009.The C.C.S. received the Positio in 2014 and passed it onto consulting theologians, who on 11 February 2016 voiced their approval to the cause. The C.C.S. later approved this on 21 March 2017. Pope Francis approved the cause on 23 March 2017 and confirmed that Sr.Rani Maria would be beatified on 4 November 2017 in Indore.Cardinal Amato presided over the Beatification Mass for Sr Rani Maria in Indore, in central India’s Madhya Pradesh state on Saturday, on 4 November 2017 and he described her as a person who lived and died preaching the gospel of charity and defending the poor.
Sr Rani Maria – A Bold Servant
Sr Rani Maria was a bold servant. For, our Saviour was bold. He was bold when He stood for truth. He was bold when He cleansed the temple. He was bold when He called the Pharisees and Sadducees white washed tombs. He was bold when He allowed the sinful woman to wash His feet with her tears. He was bold when He ate with sinners and outcasts. He was bold when He touched the lepers and healed them. He was bold when He asked the disciples to gather the lost after feeding 5000. He was bold when He went in search of the one leaving 99. He was bold when He preached publicly and courageously. Jesus was bold when He said to the paralysed man, your sins are forgiven. He was bold when he said to the woman caught in adultery, neither do I judge you. Go, sin no more.
He was bold when He forgave sinners. He was bold when He carried the Cross and walked patiently to Calvary. He was bold when He forgave the thief on the Cross. He was bold when He gave up His life on the cross to gather the scattered children of God. Sr Rani Maria, walking in the footsteps of the Master was bold when she walked through the villages and huts to bring justice in the lives of the oppressed and vulnerable. She was bold when she stood for truth.
Festal Blessings
Blessed Rani Maria worked as a missionary in Northern India in various dioceses in the most isolated villages. She had a preference for the oppressed and the marginalized. Her aim was to alleviate suffering, console broken hearts, bring peace, form consciences, promote justice and defend the truth. Her Franciscan spirituality, profoundly Christ-centred, was expressed in the motto “Jesus for all, and all for Jesus”. In Udainagar Sr Rani Maria promoted the creation of a savings co-operative, for giving interest free loan to the villagers. This obtained for her the detestation of the money lenders who couldn’t then oppress the poor. The threats to which she was subjected did not intimidate her but made her more generous in giving herself: “I have the strong conviction that I was chosen to be here for the poor and oppressed. I am happy to work for them, because they too are children of God, our brothers and sisters”, said Sr Rani Maria.
The hostility towards Sr Rani and her actions for the Kingdom of God, heightened when she managed to obtain the release of those who were imprisoned and had fallen victims to a trap. Her enemies decided to get rid of her and decreed her death. Thousands of persons, even non-Catholics went to pay their respects at her coffin during the celebration of her funeral which was held on 27 February 1995.
This courageous nun, a consecrated woman, invites all of us today to lay down our lives for God who called us. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.You are my friends if you do what I command you” John 15:12-14. And these are the words by which Sr Rani Maria lived and she embraced the crown of martyrdom offered by her Master and God. What are we afraid of? Whom are we afraid of? Jesus our Master was never afraid! “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it” Mt 16:25. Sr Rani Maria lost her life in the hands of the landlords and got it saved in the hands of her Master. What a blessed woman! As Sr Rani Maria walked through their lives, she invites all of us to stoop and enter the huts to lift these suppressed ones. Let us never be afraid to raise our voices against injustice around us and be ready to pay the price for it. Festal Blessings of Blessed Rani Maria!
Sr Lini Sheeja MSC, belongs to the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. She authored a book named, Prison Ministry: The Dreamers’ Mission in which she invites everyone to have dreams for the lost, least and the last.