Rani Maria Vattalil

Who is Rani Maria Vattalil?

Sister Rani Maria Vattalil was a Catholic religious and missionary social worker in the Franciscan Clarist Congregation, who worked among the poor within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Indore. She was born in what is now the Indian state of Kerala. She was declared to be a Servant of God in 2007, and her beatification is being considered.

Sister Rani Maria was murdered in a knife attack by a hitman named Samandar Singh at Nachanbore Hill in Indore, Madhya Pradesh on 25 February 1995. The murder was arranged because some landlords were offended by her work among the landless poor. Cardinal Gracias described her work as an "heroic example ... siding with the poor and disadvantaged." A museum in her honour exists at Pulluvazhy in Ernakulam.

The documentary depicting the murder and subsequent conversion of Samandar Singh to Christianity was the winner at the world interfaith harmony film festival 2013.