Name Louis Mathias | Died August 3, 1965 | |
15 mai 2013 - Louis Mathias
Louis Mathias (born 20 July 1887, Paris, died 3 August 1965, Legnano, Italy) was a priest of the Society of St Francis de Sales (Salesians of Don Bosco), missionary to India, first Catholic bishop of Shillong, and Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madras and Mylapore (1935-1952).
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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 till 1934. On 10 November 1934, he was nominated as the first bishop of the new diocese of Shillong.
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.
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. 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. He went on to become of the leading bishops in India. 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. 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, now Vidyajyoti: Journal of Theological Reflection. J. Thekkedath calls Mathias the greatest Salesian of the 20th century in India.