Louis Mathias (born 20 July 1887, Paris, died 3 August 1965, Legnano, Italy) was the first Catholic bishop of

Shillong Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a Indian state, state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the list of most populous cities in ...

who later became the Archbishop of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madras and Mylapore The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madras and Mylapore/Madras and Myliapor ( la, Madraspolitan(us) et Meliaporen(sis)) is an archdiocese based in the city of Madras (now ''Chennai''), in India. It took also the name of the ancient diocese of My ...

(1935-1952). He belonged to Salesian congregation and came as a missionary to India.

Missionary to India

Mathias was head of the Salesian missionary expedition to

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

. Leaving Italy in 1921, he reached

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. 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 Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

). 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 The ''Padroado'' (, "patronage") was an arrangement between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Portugal and later the Portuguese Republic, through a series of concordats by which the Holy See delegated the administration of the local churches and gra ...

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 one 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 St. John's Medical College is a private medical college and hospital situated in Bangalore, India. It is part of the St. John's National Academy of Health Sciences run by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India. It was established in 1963. T ...

, 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'', no
Vidyajyoti: Journal of Theological Reflection
J. Thekkedath calls Mathias the greatest Salesian of the 20th century in India.Thekkedath 2:1368.

Gallery

Bibliography

Primary

*''Quarant'anni di Missione in India. Memorie di Sua Eccellenza Monsignor Luigi Mathias.'' Volume I: In Assam 1921–1935. Torino: Elle Di Ci, 1965.

Secondary

*"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. *Paviotti, O. ''The Work of His Hands: The Story of the Archdiocese of Shillong-Guwahati 1934-1984''. Shillong, 1987. *Pianazzi, A. ''Ardisci e Spera. Vita del Vescovo Missionario Luigi Mathias''. Roma: LAS, 1975. *Pianazzi, A. ''Dare and Hope. Life of the Salesian Missionary Bishop Archbishop Louis Mathias, SDB''. Tr. Hugh McGlinchey, SDB. Madras: Salesian Publications, 1979. *Pianazzi, A. ''Don Bosco nell'Assam. La storia di una missione.'' Torino: Elle Di Ci, 1983. *''Souvenir of the Silver Jubilee of the Most Rev. Louis Mathias.'' Madras, 1960. *Casti, Giuseppe. La missione dell'Assam dall'arrivo dei Padri Salesiani alla sua elevazione a diocesi. 1922–1934. Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical Urban University, Roma, 1979. *''A Missionary who Dared and Hoped: Archbishop Louis Mathias (1887-1965)''. Madras: Citadel, 1972. *''Golden Jubilee Souvenir: The Salesians of Don Bosco in India: 1922-1972.'' Shillong, 1972. *Kottupallil, George. "A Historical Survey of the Catholic Church in Northeast India from 1627 to 1969." ''Indian Missiological Review'' 12 (1990) 25–62. *''La missione Salesiana di San Giovanni Bosco, Tezpur, Assam, Giubileo d'Oro, 1888-1938''. Gauhati, 1938. *Thekkedath, Joseph. ''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). Also ch. 15: The Archdiocese of Madras under Mgr Mathias (1935–43); ch. 23: The Archdiocese of Madras under Mgr Mathias (1943–52); and critical estimate of Mgr Mathias, 2:1368-75. *Pianazzi, Archimede. "Salesiani della LIII Spedizione. 1921. Mons. Luigi Mathias." ''Profili di Missionari: Salesiani e Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice.'' Ed. Eugenio Valentini. Rome: LAS, 1975. 452–459.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathias, Louis 1887 births 1965 deaths Salesian bishops Roman Catholic archbishops of Madras and Mylapore Participants in the Second Vatican Council 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in India French Roman Catholic bishops in Asia