BCCCAP00000000000000000001717

226 BENEDICT VADAKKEKARA The letter transferring Fr Louis from India was sent to Mgr Jacopi, the Lector's immediate superior, and it unloosed immediate. reverbera– tions. In his reply to Mgr Jacopi's letter that reached him on 20 Janu– ary 1887, Fr Louis flatly denied having "precipitated the preparations for the parting". But he expressed his surprise that Fr Julius of Akttri should write to him from Agra on the same day enquiring if he were really leaving the Mission. That the Bishop himself was circulating the news added insult to injury 82 • The incident about the insolence dis– played in Mgr Jacopi's regard too ~as raked up again. Since Mgr Jacopi "did not recall" the tendering of the apology, the Lector quoted from their correspondence to remind his interlocutor of the event. The Bishop faulted him for not having withdrawn his resignation letter sent to Fr General. But Fr Louis had presumed that the whole chapter had been closed with Mgr Jacopi's declaration that he was "fully satisfied" 83 • Though the Obedience did not come as "a bolt from the blue", Fr Louis had not been expecting it. Fr General's letter that had rea– ched him in August gave him the impression that he had to terminate the course. He attributed the sudden change of mind in Rome to some sinister moves from Agra. Though the Bishop did not express his desire to meet him, he would go to Agra to receive Mgr Jacopi's blessing 84 • But the Bishop retorted that the resignation, as long as it had not been retracted, remained effective; if he had desired to bring the course to its conclusion, he himself should have made that clear to Fr Gen– eral 85 • Mgr Jacopi could not play the underdog in this war ·of words. 82 Cf. APCapTusc, Missione Indostan, Incarto I, Fr Louis to Mgr Jacopi, Mussoorie 20 January 1887. 83 APCapTusc, Missione Indostan, Incarto I, Fr Louis to Mgr Jacopi, Mussoorie 20 January 1887: "lo dopa non ho fatto piu passi, credendo a quell'osculo pacis. Casa e avvenuto dunque in questo tempo?" Mgr Jacopi linked the Lector's decision to quit with Fr Doogan's giving the teacher sack. APCapTusc, Missione Indostan, Incarto I, Fr Angelo o{ Visso to Fr Louis, Sardhana 11 August 1986: " ... mi dispiace sentire che ha risoluto di lasciar l'India quantunque io ne avea inteso parlare, ma credevo che fosse una ciarla! Ora pero mi sono accertato dal suo divisamento che credo essere inopportuno! lo non ne so le ragioni, eccetto quel che mi scrisse Monsignore, cioe circa l'affare del Collegio e Maestri". 84 3Cf. APCapTusc, Missione Indostan, Incarto I, Fr Louis to Mgr Jacopi, Mussoo– rie 15 January 1887. 85 Cf. APCapTusc, Missione Indostan, Incarto I, Fr Raphael to Mgr Louis, Agra 18 January 1887.