Thiruvananthapuram: While Kolkata’s Mother Teresa joined the pantheon of Catholic saints on Sunday, in India’s southern state of Kerala a touching tale of forgiveness was playing out for a second time.

The incident has to do with the heartless murder of a young nun, imprisonment of the murderer, his repentance, forgiveness by the victim’s family, and a possible sainthood for the victim sometime in the future.

Sister Rani Maria, a Franciscan Clarist Convent nun hailing from Pulluvazhy near Kochi, was murdered at Udaya Nagar near Indore in Madhya Pradesh in February 1995. She was murdered apparently because a few local people were unhappy about her work in bringing some of the backward communities to the mainstream.

According to the police, the hired killer, Samandar Singh, carried out the crime while the nun was travelling in a bus, first hacking away her hands and then stabbing her 54 times.

Singh was soon imprisoned, but his life was to take a turn in manner in which even he might not have imagined. The nun’s mother, Elisha, and siblings visited him in jail and informed him that they had forgiven him. Singh later confessed that it was “the beginning of my second life”.

Seeds of repentance were sowed in Singh’s heart when Elisha told him that she considered him like her own son. The deceased nun’s younger sister Selma, also a nun, tied a Rakhi on Singh’s hand to underline that she too considered him a true brother. Rakhi is an Indian tradition that celebrates the bond between brothers and sisters.

Playing a crucial role in his repentance was Madhya Pradesh-based Catholic priest, Michael Purattukara, known locally as ‘Father Swami’.

Sr Rani Maria’s family went one step further and wrote to the then governor of Madhya Pradesh and to the jail authorities to reduce his prison term. That appeal was successful and Singh was released ahead of his original prison term.

Singh visited the nun’s grave at Udaya Nagar, and in 2007 he visited Rani Maria’s home in Kerala. On his return to Madhya Pradesh, he turned a farmer. His wife deserted him and he now stays single.

Last week, nearly a decade after his first visit to Rani Mania’s home, Samandar Singh made another visit to Pulluvazhy on Thursday, this time on hearing that the late nun’s mother Elisha was critically ill.

Sitting beside her bed, Singh, now 54, once again sought forgiveness from Elisha, kissed her hands and feet. Family members witnessed the healing power of forgiveness as Elisha pardoned him once more amid moist eyes all around.

Elisha (88) died on Friday.

In 2007, Sr Rani Maria was given the title ‘Servant of God’. Kerala has the honour of producing the first Indian Catholic Saint, Sr Alphonsa.