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ESTABLISHMENT OF CAPUCHIN ORDER IN INDIA- II 521 buildings of Joelikote, it was incumbent upon the Order to repay the Rs 5500 that the Sisters had already invested there. And there would n!'!cessarily be other considerable expenses for fixing up the existing conveniences f'or the needs of the Study. Therefore, their considered opinion was that under the circumstances the most feasible way to provide for the Study was to make available to the Capuchin clerics the first floor of the Friary of Mussoorie, just as it had been in use in 1880-88. The first floor had been lying idle ever since because the missionaries had the entire second floor all to themselves. The fourteen serviceable rooms on the first floor would suffice for the Study. The Friary's proximity to the t,vo schools, instead of being a minus point, was now viewed in a favourable light. Earlier it was precisely this aspect that had tipped the scale against using the House of Mussoorie for the Novitiate. Now it was pointed out that the exemplary life and comportment of the clerics would be a source of edification for the school students, and that it could catalyse the growth of vocations to the Order. As a matter of fact one of the students from Mussoorie had already joined the Capuchins. The four-hundred school students did not any longer pose a source of menace to the quiet and privacy of the friars; the noisily bothersome students now became potential candidates to the Order 57 . Lest the past should repeat itself, the Commissary proposed a series of practical measures for making the envisaged Study at Mussoorie a success. Since the Fathers of Agra had been keeping a jealous eye on this Friary, certain preemptive steps had to be taken to reassure them that the collocation of the 57 AGCap G 68, II, Novizjato e Studto, Fr Commissary to Fr General, Mussoorie 9 June 1923: "E giache l'Arcivescovo tiene qui la sua residenza in estate, ci sarebbe il vantaggio di fare spesso belle funzioni in chiesa con utilita per gli Studenti e con edificazione <lei ragazzi <lei due collegi, che quest'anno arrivano a 400, tra i quali potremmo avere vocazioni religiose. Intanto ne abbiamo gia una. Questo luogo era il centro di redutameo'to dell'antico Noviziato su riferito. Inoltre qui ci abbiamo ampio terreno, tutto nostro, anche per fare buone passeggiate privata– mente e quel che piu importa due Cappellani hanno la loro paga che aggiunta allo stipendio a ragione degli Studenti puo servire a mantenere lo Studio indipendentemente e con decoro". In a letter written in February 1923 tbe Commissary had already told tbe General tbatJoelikote failed to stand up to tbe expectations when he inspected tbe site. AGCap G 68, II, Novizjato eStudto, Fr Commissary to Fr General: "Riguardo al luogo per lo Studio tutti i Superiori erano per Joelikote... ma a clir vero non rimasi troppo entusiastico del luogo perche manca di terreno per ricreazione ed altre cose. Il fabbricato poi essendo stato costruito per servire ad un orfanotrofio nativo e fatto di materiale e di costruzione piu econornica possibile e quindi non tanto stabile e per ridurlo ad un decente monastero di studio, come si e fatto peril Noviziato di Sardhana, ci converrebbe spendere parecchio".

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