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548 BENEDICT VADAKKEKARA conclusion that the buildings at Joelikote were unavailable 141 • Therefore the Capuchins had better start thinking of opening their Study at Almora, a place considered a veritable sanatorium 1 42 . While the Regular Superior of Simla had no proposals to make because of his extraneousness to the situation, the majority of those who expressed their mind, preferred to retain the Study at Mussoorie and maintain the Capuchin presence in Damaun as a contact point for recruiting vocations. Fr Symphorian of Paris saw the whole problem from another perspective. In his eyes the Novitiate and the Study needed to be urgently reoriented in view of giving origin to a Province of Indian Capuchins. Since it was in the South of the country that vocations abounded, having the Novitiate in Sardhana would only be exposing the candidates to unnecessary hardships. It would be needlessly constraining the young recruits into adapting themselves to totally alien ways of living 143 . Besides, climatically Mussoorie was proving to be hazardous for some. Br Pascal's was a case in point; he had to be moved to the Seminary of Allahabad for his four-year course of theology 144 • The Memorandum was scathing about the Commissary's ineptitude at doing his job and the bulk of the blame for the malfunctioning of the Novitiate and the Study was laid at his door. Hence it would be politic to name a General Visitor, mandated to take appropriate decisions ·on the spot 145 . As Fr John Baptist's term of office would expire soon, Fr Callixtus proposed sub rosa the names of Frs Pius of Lorient, Armand of Vannes and Arsenius of Sant'Agata as 141 AGCap G 68, II, Novizjato e Stud.to, Fr Callixtus, "Damao - Mussoorie: Memorandum, Lettere,..", Mgr Poli to Fr Commissary, Allahabad 30July 1926. 142 AGCap G 68, II, Novizjato e Stud.to, Mgr Poli to Fr Commissary, Allahabad 30 July 1926. 143 AGCap G 68, II, Novizjato eStud.to, Fr Callixtus, ''Damao - Mussoorie: Memorandum, Lettere...": Fr Ferdinand of Paris, Sardhana 14 August 1926: "Il faut cinq jours de voyage pour venir de Mangalore a Sardhana, et Sardhana n'est pas la station la plus au nord de nos missions. Ce qui represente pour ces jeunes gens qui viennent chez nous une veritable expatriation". 144 Cf AGCap G 68, II, Novizjato eStud.to, "Annual meeting of Reg. Superiors for 1926". 1 4 5 AGCap G 68, II, Novizjato e Stud.to, Fr Callixtus, "Damao - Mussoorie: Memorandum, Lettere...": "Fa meraviglia che il M.R.P. Commissario Gen. non abbia saputo risolvere nessuna delle questioni. E molto strano che bisognava scrivere varie volte per sapere il numero e i nomi dei neo-professi, per ottenere un piccolo rendiconto delle spese fatte. Di fatto ha dimostrato poco interesse e poca energia! Sorprende che non vuol resiedere ne a Sardhana ne a Mussoorie; lui prova che tiene poco a cuore la vita comune, le votazioni sui novizi... e lascia far gli altril".