Louis Mathias

Last updated
Archbishop

Louis Mathias

S.D.B.
Archbishop of Madras and Mylapore (Meliapor)
Bust of Louis Mathias.jpg
Bust of Archbishop Louis Mathias at Santhome Museum
SeeMadras and Mylapore (Meliapor)
Appointed25 March 1935
Installed20 July 1935
Term ended3 August 1965
Predecessor Eugène Mederlet
Successor Anthony Rayappa Arulappa
Orders
Ordination20 July 1913
Consecration10 November 1934
by  Ferdinand Périer
Personal details
Born
Louis Mathias

(1887-07-20)July 20, 1887
Paris, France
DiedAugust 3, 1965(1965-08-03) (aged 78)
Legnand, Italy
Buried San Thome Basilica
DenominationCatholic
MottoAude Et Spera (Dare and Hope)
Coat of arms CoA of Archbishop Louis Mathias.jpg
Ordination history of
Louis Mathias
History
Priestly ordination
Date20 July 1913
PlaceSicily
Episcopal consecration
Principal consecrator Ferdinand Périer
Co-consecrators Alfred-Arthur Le Pailleur Giovanni Battista Anselmo
Date10 November 1934
Episcopal succession
Bishops consecrated by Louis Mathias as principal consecrator
Joseph-Alphonse Baud 1942
Francis Arthur Carvalho 1953
Pablo Mariaselvam 1953
Rajarethinam Arokiasamy Sundaram 1953
David Maryanayagam Swamidoss Pillat 1956

Louis Mathias (born 20 July 1887, Paris, died 3 August 1965, Legnano, Italy) was the first Catholic bishop of Shillong who later became the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madras and Mylapore (1935-1952). He belonged to Salesian congregation and came as a missionary to India.

Contents

Missionary to India

Mathias was head of the Salesian missionary expedition to Assam. Leaving Italy in 1921, he reached Shillong in January 1922. On 12 December 1922 he was nominated Prefect Apostolic of Assam, Bhutan and Manipur. He was also the first Salesian Provincial of India, an office that he held until 1934. [1] On 10 November 1934, he was nominated as the first bishop of the new diocese of Shillong. [2]

It was Mathias who initiated the idea of a Salesian presence in Bombay (Mumbai). The idea was put to him in a letter from an influential Catholic of Bombay, Mr. F.A.C. Rebello, dt. 29 March 1923. The decision was taken in 1927, and the Salesians took over the Immaculate Conception School for Goan boys at Tardeo in 1928. This school was under the Padroado bishop of Daman. Since the Propaganda Archdiocese of Bombay had objected to the entry of the Salesians, this was how Msgr. Mathias circumvented the opposition. [3]

Archbishop of Madras and Mylapore

Mathias was appointed to the see of Madras in 1935. When this archdiocese was united to the former Propaganda diocese of Mylapore, Mathias became the first Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore. [4] He established the Poonamallee Seminary for the archdiocese and for other neighbouring dioceses. He also established the Catholic Centre to administer the more than 150 institutions of the archdiocese. [5] He went on to become one of the leading bishops in India. [6] He was a founding member of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI), and was given charge of Catholic Action and the Press. Together with Archbishop Perier of Calcutta, he was the leading light of the CBCI for many years. [7] His was the idea of setting up the first Catholic medical school, the St. John's Medical College, Bangalore. He was also responsible for initiating a nationwide Catholic magazine, The New Leader (earlier The Catholic Leader), and a review for the clergy in India, The Clergy Monthly, [8] now Vidyajyoti: Journal of Theological Reflection. J. Thekkedath calls Mathias the greatest Salesian of the 20th century in India. [9]

Bibliography

Primary

Secondary

Related Research Articles

Stephen Ferrando was an Italian Roman Catholic priest belonging to the Salesians of Don Bosco. He served in the missions in Asia once he was ordained and was stationed in India where he led a diocese of his own. He also established his religious congregation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madras and Mylapore</span> Roman Catholic archdiocese in Tamil Nadu, India

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madras and Mylapore/Madras and Myliapor is an archdiocese based in the city of Madras, in India. It took also the name of the ancient diocese of Mylapore, now a part of Chennai.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore</span> Roman Catholic archdiocese in Pondicherry and Cuddalore, India

The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore Latin: Pondicherien(sis) et Cuddaloren(sis) is an archdiocese located in the cities of Pondicherry and Cuddalore in India. It is a part of Catholic Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Shillong</span> Roman Catholic archdiocese in Meghalaya, India

The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Shillong is a Roman Catholic archdiocese in the state of Meghalaya, in northeastern India. The Archdiocese of Shillong is the metropolitan diocese of the Province of Shillong, an ecclesiastical province in Northeast India. It serves 342,169 followers in 36 parishes in the districts of East Khasi Hills and Ri Bhoi of Meghalaya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Diocese of Vellore</span> Roman Catholic diocese in Tamil Nadu, India

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Vellore is a diocese located in the city of Vellore in the ecclesiastical province of Madras and Mylapore in India.

St. Bede's is a Higher Secondary School in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India established in 1907 with the goal of providing Catholic education for children of European and Anglo-Indian descent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giuseppe Moja</span>

Giuseppe Moja was a Salesian priest and missionary in India. He is part of the group of pioneers who began the Salesian work in Panjim, Goa, including the Don Bosco High School, Panjim. He also pioneered the Salesian work in Sulcorna, Goa, where there is now a substantial farm and the Don Bosco High School, Sulcorna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conference of Catholic Bishops of India</span> Assembly of Latin Catholic bishops

The Conference of Catholic Bishops of India or CCBI, is the national episcopal conference of the bishops of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in India, functioning in accordance with canon 447. There are 132 Latin Catholic dioceses in the country, and 190 active and retired bishops are the members of the CCBI. This is the largest bishops' conference in Asia and the fourth largest in the world. The CCBI is a member of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences.

Vincenzo Scuderi, born 30 May 1902 in Ramacca near Catania in Sicily, was a Catholic priest belonging to the Society of St Francis de Sales, one of the great members of this Society in India, and pioneer of the Salesian work in Goa, including Don Bosco, Panjim. He died on 22 November 1982 at Catania, Sicily.

José Luis Carreño Etxeandía S. D. B. was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest.

Aurelius Maschio, priest member of the Society of St Francis de Sales, missionary in India, pioneer of the Salesian work in Mumbai, founder of Don Bosco High School (Matunga), was born to Giuseppe Maschio and Orsolina Della Cia on 12 February 1909 at Vazzola, Treviso, Italy. He is considered the patriarch of the Salesian Province of Mumbai. Archived 2008-05-17 at the Wayback Machine He died on 9 September 1996 at Mumbai.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of Our Lady of Dolours, Wadala</span>

The Church of Our Lady of Dolours, Wadala is a Roman Catholic church in Mumbai, India built in 1853. The parish of Our Lady of Dolours with its school, St. Joseph's was entrusted to the Salesians in 1948, about the same time as the Salesians settled in Matunga. The school was co-ed until the Salesian Sisters came into the Wadala Village with the Auxilium Convent for girls. The centerpiece of the church is a statue of the Pieta.

Thomas Menamparampil SDB is the retired archbishop of Guwahati. He served as the bishop of Dibrugarh for 11 years and the Archbishop of Guwahati for 20 years before his retirement on 18 January 2012. He served as the apostolic administrator of Diocese of Jowai appointed by Pope Francis from 3 February 2014 to 15 October 2016.

Jesu Pudumai Doss, M.J. is a Catholic priest and a religious, specifically a Salesian of Don Bosco, from Chennai, India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malayappan Chinnappa</span>


Aesu Malayappan Chinnappa or A. M. Chinnappa is the Archbishop Emeritus of Madras-Mylapore and the Founder of the Society of God's Reign. He was formerly Bishop of Vellore.

Archbishop Dominic Jala, S.D.B. was the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Shillong and the Apostolic Administrator of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nongstoin, India.

Oreste Marengo was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate and professed member from the Salesians of Don Bosco. He served as the Bishop of Diburugarh from 1951 until his transferral in 1964 to Tezpur where he served until 1969. From that point until 1979 he served as the apostolic administrator for the new Tura see. He was dedicated since his childhood to joining the missions and in his late adolescence was permitted to go to the missions in India. Marengo often trekked on foot to remote villages where he evangelized to the people and provided for their educational needs as best he could. He was reluctant to accept his episcopal nomination but did not cease his catechizing and evangelizing in his dioceses. His time spent in India saw him learn prior to his ordination under Stefano Ferrando and the Costantino Vendrame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francesco Convertini</span> Venerable

Francesco Convertini, SDB was an Italian Catholic priest and member of the Salesians of Don Bosco. He served in the missions in India since arriving there in the mid-1920s and dedicated his apostolate to tending to children suffering from malnutrition and fostering interreligious dialogue and tolerance. He also dedicated himself to preserving the environmental protection of local communities in waste-ridden areas and travelled to various communities to bring forth the Gospel message to all people.

Constantine Vendrame, also known as the "Apostle of Shillong" was a Salesian missionary from Italy who worked for the welfare of Khasis, in North East, India.

References

  1. Joseph Thekkedath, SDB. A History of the Salesians of Don Bosco in India: from the beginning up to 1951-52. vols. 1 and 2. Bangalore: Kristu Jyoti Publications, 2005. Section II: Salesians in North-East India under the Leadership of Mgr Louis Mathias (1922-35).
  2. "Archbishop Louis Mathias." The Memory of the Salesian Province of Bombay 1928-1998. Ed. Peter Gonsalves (Matunga, Bombay: Province Information Office, Don Bosco Provincial House, 1998) 56
  3. Thekkedath 1:262-267. "Archbishop Louis Mathias" 56.
  4. Thekkedath 2:778-782.
  5. Thekkedath 2:776-778.
  6. "Archbishop Louis Mathias" 56.
  7. Thekkedath 2:765.
  8. Thekkedath 2:461-462.
  9. Thekkedath 2:1368.