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518 BENEDICT VADAKKEKARA While the Commissary wished that the Master were a bit more astute in · expending money on repairs and furnishings, the Master had ample grounds for bemoaning the modus operandi of the masons and the craftsmen. However, none of these incidents queered the Commissary's pitch; to a man, everyone in the Fraternity pulled his weight and the Novitiate stayed the course, in the face of all the difficulties it encountered. Given the diversity of the components of the Fraternity, this was indeed a great achievement4 9 • In order to maintain the tenor of the Novitiate all too frequently the Commissary had to juggle with the few available hands; the list of welcomes and farewells that took place in Sardhana in the course of 1923 goes to confirm this: Fr Albert of Borgo San Lorenzo (Prov. Tuscany) left on 9 February; on 3 March Fr Louis of Seggiano (Prov. Tuscany) who was Vice Master and Vicar was transferred to Mussoorie; the new Vice Master Fr Oscar of Pamel (Prov. Bel– gium) bade goodbye on 12 April. Fr Pius of Mhow (Prov. Britain) and Fr Symphorian of Paris (Prov. Paris) arrived on 3 and 15 March respectively. Frs Cajetan of Marradi and Jerome of Castiglione (both of Prov. Tuscany) joined the Fraternity on 12 April; on 29 of the same month Cajetan was moved to Gwalior. Fr Cyril of Chatillon (Prov. Paris) was transferred on 25 October. Fr Arnold of Brugge (Belgium) became Vice Master on 28 November:5°. 3. Nagging strains andgrowingpains In their meeting of 8-9 February 1921 the Regular Superiors had agreed upon Sardhana as the best suited place for the Novitiate and the Course of Philosophy; but they left pending the question of settling on the location for the Theologate. The course of philosophy for the neo-professed clerics had already commenced in the Novitiate House, with Fr Arsenius of Sant'Agata Feltria as lector. The improvisato.rial Study was intended to be only a makeshift arrangement, since _a permanent disposition had sooner or later to be worked out in order to enable the clerics to pursue their studies for priesthood. Hence the incidental fuss and tussle about the founding of the Study cannot be divorced from the actualization of the plan of implanting the Capuchin Order in India 51 • 49 C£ AGCap G 68, II, Novizjato e Stud.to, Fr Commissary to Fr General, Agra 15 Febru– ary 1923. 5 ° C£ APCapTusc, Missione Indostan, "Status personalis of Sardhana Novitiate". 51 APCapTusc, Missione Indostan, the Commissary's "Sunto Storico...": "Perun anno e poco piu tutto ando bene. Le difficolta sorsero quando diversi giovani ebbero terminate il Noviziato.

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