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506 BENEDICT VADAKKEKARA The Regular Superiors of the five Missions - Fr John Baptist 16 (Agra), Mgr Fortunatus Caumont (Ajmer), Fr Louis of Casola Val Senio (Allahabad), Fr Mark of Zeveneken (Lahore) and Fr Pius Lyons of Mhow (representing Simla as Archbishop Kenealy was ill) - met at Agra on 8-9 February 1921 and the points that the General Procurator had spelt out for deliberation, were take up one after another for consideration. The way the discussion unfolded may be gauged from its minutes: Fr John Baptist had argued that there should be separate Seraphic Schools, or at least some kind of distinction in the same school, for Indians and Europeans. As this idea was not accepted, there was much discussion as to the advisability of throwing together in the same Novitiate Indians of different castes with all their caste prejudices, and Indians and Europeans with their respective eastern and western modes of living. Finally to test the sense of the meeting, Fr Pius Lyons put forward the following proposal, (though personally he was not in favour of it), namely: "That there be separate Novitiate for Indians and Europeans; but that there be a common House of Studies for both." The first part of the proposal was unanimously rejected; and it was agreed to recommend that there be a com– mon Novitiate for candidates in India of all races. If any European candidate ob– jected to this arrangement, he was welcome to seek admission into the Order in Europe. Of course it was recognized that with the hoped-for expansion of the Order it would be advisable to establish other Novitiates in other parts of India 17. After weighing up the various suggestions, the Regular Superiors proposed "the old St John's College building" in Sardhana as the house for "the Novitiate and the School of Philosophy, Science and Church History" and "some other place" "for the School of Dogmatic Theology and other Chairs". The canonical requisite for the familia religiosa was that the Novitiate be constituted of at least six professed friars. It was felt expedient that the presence of so many religious in the Novitiate would also serve for the running of the first stage of the post– novitiate formation, if it could be organized in the same house. Hence the Fraternity was to be made up of: Guardian, Master and Assistant Master of 16 Fr John Baptist Tirinnanzi of Florence (Prov: Tuscany): Regular Superior of Agra in 1920; Commissary General for the Novitiate and the Study in 1922; Titular Bishop of Gaza and Apostolic Vicar of Aden in 1937. John Baptist is the leading protagonist of this phase of the story of the Capuchin Order's beginning in India. 17 AGCap G 68, II, Novizjato e Stud.to, "General Meeting of Regular Superiors... held at Agra on the 8th and 9th February 1921".