Simla

From the Catholic Encyclopedia

Archdiocese in India, a new creation of Pius X by a Decree dated 13 September, 1910 formed by dividing off certain portions of the Archdiocese of Agra and of the Diocese of Lahore. By this arrangement the following places fall within the territory of the new archdiocese: Simla, the metropolitan city, where the Church of Sts. Michael and Joseph has been adopted as the pro-cathedral, Ambala, Higsar, Karmal, Patiala, Nabha, Sind, Loharu and Maler Kotla, taken from the Archdiocese of Agra, and Mandi, Suket, Kulu, Labul and Spiti, taken from the Diocese of Lahore. As yet the appointment of suffragans has been reserved to the future by the Holy See. As the two more ancient dioceses are confided respectively to the Italian and Belgian Franciscans of the Capuchin Reform, so the new archdiocese has been given to the care of the same Fathers of the English province. The first archbishop appointed is the Most Rev. Anselm E. J. Kenealy who, as Father Anselm, O.S.F.C., was well known in England as a lector in logic and metaphysics, guardian of Crawley monastery in Sussex, a member of the Oxford Union Society, and provincial of the English province, before being called to Rome as definitor general of the order. Consecrated on 1 Jan., 1911, at Rome by Cardinal Gotti, assisted by the Archbishop of Westminster and Archbishop Jacquet, after visiting England to select some Fathers of the English province to accompany him, he sailed for India on 18 April, and was welcomed with an imposing public reception on his arrival at Simla on 8 May.

The stations with resident clergy are: Simla, Amballa, Dagshai, Casauli, and Subathu. The stations visited are: Jutogh, Solon, stations on the Kalka Simla railway and Kalka, Karnal, Patiala, Rajpura, Sirsa, and Gind. The principal educational establishments in the new archdiocese are at Simla and Amballa. At Simla the Nuns of Jesus and Mary (established in 1864) have some of the best schools in India for orphans, boarders, and the training of teachers. The Loreto Nuns at Tara Hall, Simla (established in 1895), have also first-class schools for boarders and day-scholars. There is a private school for boys under the care of the Capuchin Fathers at Simla.

ERNEST R. HULL