Benziger, Aloys di S.

BENZIGER, ALOYS di S. MARIA. - Son of the publisher Johann B., born on 31 Jan. 1864 in Einsiedeln; he became a Carmelite at Bruges (1884), was ordained priest in 1888, and departed as a missionary for India (1890), where, after two years of teaching at the seminary of Puthempally, he was made secretary to the apostolic delegate, Msgr. Zaleski, with whom he visited all India. Elected (July 1900) coadjutor to the bishop of Quilon, Msgr. Ossi, he succeeded him in that episcopal see in 1905. Thanks to tireless activity, he succeeded in placing the diocese, by the number of annual conversions, at the head of all the missions of India, providing for the education and increase of the native clergy, erecting churches and schools, and introducing European sisters into secondary schools and hospitals. On 4 July 1931 he obtained permission from the Holy See to resign, and, having been appointed titular archbishop of Antinoe (23 July 1931), he withdrew to the novitiate convent of the native Discalced Carmelites at Trivandrum, where he died on 17 Aug. 1942.