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540 BENEDICT VADAKKEKARA instruction. Thanks to the open-mindedness and interest of the Commissary and the general superiors, the path was soon cleared for the members of the Syro– Malabar Church to join the Capuchin Order 116 . The first person from the Syro-Malabar Church to seek entry into the Capuchin Order was J. John Elapunkal of the then Diocese of Changanacherry. He was accepted as cleric-postulant on 27 October 1926 and inside a fortnight, that is on 9 November, he donned the novice's habit. On 4 November the nu/la osta of the Ordinary of Changanacherry was forwarded to Rome; the Capuchin Curia put in a formal petition dated 23 November 1926 to the Sacred Congregation for the Oriental Churches for the indult for the accomodamento al Tito latino. Elapunkal's religious name was Br Philip of Changanacherry. He did not stay on to make his profession 117. As regards the prospect of getting candidates for the Order, strangely the boot seemed to have been on the other foot. The Commissary kept complaining that the Regular Superiors were not keen to augment the strength of their missionary personnel 118 . To their chagrin, the superiors in Rome realized that the superiors in India were trying to economise at the expense of the growth of the Order, and so they strongly remonstrated with them against their insensitivity to 116 AGCap G 68, II, Novizjato e Studto, Fr Commissary to Fr General, Mussoorie 12 August 1925: "Veda se puo sollecitare il permesso di ricevere al Noviziato candidati di rito Orientale. Ce ne ho uno che aspetta ansiosamente da un pezzo". Fr General Archivist to Fr Commissary, Rome 28 September 1925: "Perche si possano accettare come novizi, detti giovani dovono essere muniti de! nulla osta de! loro Ordinario per il loro passaggio al rito latino. Ella, avutolo, lo trasmettera a noi, che lo uniremo alla domanda da farsi volta per volta alla S.C. per le Chiese Orientali. Questa, generalmente concede il cosi detto 'accomodamento', in forza de! quale il novizio puo adattarsi al rito latino durante il periodo di prova; terminato questo, prima di ammettere il novizio alla Professione, dovremo domandare alla stessa S.C. il 'passaggio' dal rito orientale a quello latino. In questo secondo momento non occorre nulla piu dall'Ordinario, il quale gia deve aver dato il suo consenso quando fu interpellato per la accettazione de! novizio al noviziato". 117 C£ APCapTusc, Missione Indostan, "'Status Personalis' of Sardhana Novitiate". It was on 22 December 1932 that the first member of the Syro-Malabar Church made his religious profession in the Capuchin Order. Thus Fr Athanasius (Thomas Cheruvil) blazed a trail for the creation of today's four-hundred strong St Joseph Capuchin Province of the Syro-Malabar Church. 118 AGCap G 68, II, Noviziato e Studto, Fr Commissary to Fr General, Mussoorie 20 Feb– ruary 1926: "Riguardo ad assegnare altri candidati ai differenti Superiori delle nostre Missioni, questi in generale affermano che non si possono assumere ulteriori spese col mantenere altri oltre quelli che gia mantengono".