Recently, Padraig posted on another thread about Fr. Theophane, "The Indian Padre Pio" from Kerala, who was declared Venerable. I hadn't heard of him before and when I looked for some more information about him discovered that there were a number of Saints and Blesseds from Kerala, who were also unknown to me. I made some posts about them in the last few days. Then, on the Totus Tuus Fb page today there was a piece about another Blessed from that area of Southern India. Blessed Rani Maria: "She was murdered in front of many witnesses, mercilessly dragged from the bus she was riding, her final words a cry of faith: 'Jesus!' This is the remarkable story of Blessed Rani Maria. Born in a simple family in Kerala, India, in 1954, Blessed Rani Maria left everything to become a Franciscan Clarist Sister. She went to serve the poorest villagers in Madhya Pradesh—empowering women, fighting exploitation, and bringing hope to the forgotten. Her motto? “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach good news to the poor.” But her work threatened those who profited from injustice. On the morning of February 25, 1995, she entered the convent chapel to pray before boarding a bus that would take her to do her holy work with the people. Having missed the first bus, she boarded the second, and hours later the police would call her convent to state that Sister Rani Maria had been murdered. An assassin had boarded the bus and brutally stabbed her 54 times in front of the crowd, dragging her body off the bus where she would take her last breaths, saying, “Jesus, Jesus.” Her story doesn't end in tragedy. Her family and sisters chose forgiveness—they visited and forgave her killer. That radical love turned hatred into healing. Today, Blessed Rani Maria (beatified in 2017) reminds us: One person's quiet "yes" to God can change lives forever. We don't need to be famous or powerful—just faithful and kind where we are. In our daily struggles—helping a neighbor, standing up for what's right, or forgiving someone who hurt us—let's ask her intercession: "Help me love like you did, even when it's hard." Blessed Rani Maria, pray for us!"
