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ESTABLISHMENT OF CAPUCHIN ORDER IN INDIA - II 533 Commissary was far from crying wolf when he ventilated his fears that on account of Fr Christopher's intransigence various problems would keep crop– ping up in the day-to-day running of the Study. The Guardian, who was Regular Superior Christopher's nominee, had already made it abundantly plain that he would take orders only from his own direct superior and that he expected everyone else in the House including the Commissary to be under his immediate direction 9 4 • The "provisionality" of the permission given to the Commissary to accom– modate the clerics in the Friary, meant that Fr Christopher was declaredly unprepared to bury the hatchet. The temporary concession was a mere exercise in papering over the cracks. His letter of 30 October to the General was, to say the least, a remonstrance against the General's decision to house the Capuchin clerics in the Friary of Mussoorie; he would not take the Commissary's inter– ference lying down. The Commissary's presence in the Friary was both intrusive and unwarranted 9 5. The hapless Commissary now found himself in a fix; lest he should create a scene before the students, he chose to adopt a low profile and let the "young superior" have everything in his own way, even though canonically it was irregular. The Commissary's attempt to dissuade Fr Christopher from demanding the advance payment of the monthly quota of Rs 50 per student, bore fruit and he was granted the leave to pay the stipulated amount at the end of the month. In return for the money the Guardian would only ]:Joard the students and it was up to the Commissary to see to all the other sundry expenses. The Commissary was curtly told that he had no right to know how the fees of the students were expended. The situation was especially annoying for the friars who were not Tuscans. The Commissary got the impression that Fr Christopher was more intent on buying time and retaining everything under his thumb than on being concerned 94 C£ AGCap G 68, II, Novizjato eStudio, Fr Commissary to Fr General Archivist, Mus– soorie 1 October 1924. 95 C£ AGCap G 68, II, Novizjato eStudto, Fr Christopher to Fr General, Agra 30 October 1924. However, the Commissary was dispassionate when depicting the tense atmosphere in the Friary. Fr Commissary to General Procurator, Meerut 17 December 1924: "Appena venuti gli studenti nel Monastero di Mussoorie, ii Presidente di questo luogo che si era recato in Agra a prendere ordini dal Superiore Regolare torn<'> arrogandosi assoluta autorita in tutto: coro, refettorio, amministrazione etc. senza ii minima riguardo a persona o cosa nella mutata situazi– one".

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