INDORE, India — More than 15,000 people, including hundreds of nuns and priests from far corners of India, witnessed the beatification of Franciscan Clarist Sister Rani Maria Vattalil at a Nov. 4 ceremony led by Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

Sister Rani — who was brutally murdered aboard a bus in 1995 — was beatified with four cardinals of India and 50 bishops from across the country converging at Indore in the Hindu heartland of central India, which has only a nominal Christian presence, including Sister Rani’s former Clarist convent in the town of Udainagar.

Also present was the Hindu man who murdered her: Samandar Singh, who shed tears at the ceremony when he was embraced by the martyred nun’s older brother.

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