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526 BENEDICT VADAKKEKARA than anyone else he was conscious of the fact that the Order did not then have the wherewithal to undertake a project like the establishment of a college in Rome; and so he would later publicly admit that his decision to respond positively to the pope's instruction was indeed "audacious" 60 • On 10January 1910 the prefect ofPropaganda Fide issued a decree nominating Fr John Baptist Filippi (Clement ofTerzorio) Administrator of the "Collegium pro Missionibus exteris a S. Laurentio de Brundusio" established on 5 February 1909 in Rome by Propaganda Fide and ofwhich statutes had been approved 61 • On 13 March 1910 the laying of the foundation stone of the new church took place during a sol– emn ceremony officiated by Mgr Mauro Nardi. There is a fairly good description of the "exactissime servato rito Pontificalis Romani" followed and the list of the digni– taries gracing the occasion. A metallic container with gold and silver medals of the reigning Pope Pius X, a parchment scroll with a chronological contextualisation of the event from the perspective ofChurch history, St Francis ofAssisi and the Capu– chin Order too was laid reverently along with the first stone 62 • On 9 July1911 the formal closing day ofthe third academic year of the Interna– tional Seraphic College took place and it was presided over by the general Minister. He recalled the great contentment with which the whole Order responded to the wish ofthe Holy Father, "who ordered the establishment ofa college in Rome, where our young friars from all over the world gather together in order to be trained in piety and in science under the shadow of the Vatican" 63 • He believed that the move on his part to open the college was an audacious one but felt satisfied with the way the Order welcomed it and the fruits it was yielding. He spoke glowingly ofthe good name the Capuchin students had won for themselves and their college. "On you, I do not want to hide it, rests a heavy responsibility vis-a-vis the whole Order, because the Order expects from you an answer to that most serious problem that even among so many consolations always has been tormenting my mind. Is the establishment of the international college an advantage or a disadvantage to the Order? You, young der Schweizer Kapuzinerprovinz seit 1920, in Helvetia Franciscana 29 (2000) 51-93. Spiritual and material collaboration between the Capuchins and their benefactors has been a characteristic of the Capuchin apostolate. 60 De Collegi,o Seraphico Jnternationali durante anno scholastico 1910-1911, in Analecta OFMCap 27 (2011) 225. 61 AGC, FGl, Decretum, dated 10 January 1910, issued by Cardinal Gotti, Prefect of Propaganda Fide. Fr Filippi would exercise this office for 23 years. 62 Chronica Ordinis, in Analecta OFMCap 26 (1910) 110-112. 63 De Collegio Seraphico Internationali durante anno scholastico 1910-1911, 225.