Conversion Of The Heathen: Fr. Robert de Nobili, S.J.

The Jesuits and others communicated some rays of divine truth, though mixed with much error and superstition, to those parts of India which had been possessed by the Portuguese, previous to their expulsion by the Dutch.

The most celebrated of the missions which were established in that remote region was that of Madura, which was undertaken by Robert de Nobili, an Italian Jesuit.

The plan which he adopted for the conversion of the Indians is a singular specimen of that worldly and temporizing policy, which has so justly brought reproach on the missions of his society. He assumed the appearance of a Brahmin, who had come from a far distant country, and by his austerities, and other artifices,

persuaded many native Brahmins to receive him as a member of their order, and to submit to his instructions, By their influence and example, great numbers of the people were induced to become his disciples, and the mission continued in a flourishing condition till the year 1744;

when, with others in the kingdoms of Carnate and Marava, which the Jesuits had established, it was formally suppressed by Benedict the Fourteenth, who expressed his disapprobation of the methods which they had practiced for the conversion of the heathen.

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Robert de Nobili, S.J. (Italian: 1577-1656) was a brilliant member of the Roman nobility who was sent to work in Madurai in India. He quickly learned Tamil and adapted himself to the Indian culture. As a nobleman he was judged the equivalent of an Indian rajah, which enabled him to move about with much more freedom than other missionaries. He convinced the Roman authorities that his many converts should not be forced to abandon the signs of their caste. In 1613 a Portuguese provincial superior, unsympathetic to his methods ordered him to cease baptizing, but this edict was later countermanded by Superior General Aquaviva. The storm did not end there, however, and in 1618 a bishops' conference in Goa again condemned Robert. This decision was overturned by Pope Gregory XV who approved Robert's methods. After 39 years of work among the people of Madurai he witnessed the number of Christians grow from zero to more than 4,000. (Ban, Ham, JLx, Som, Tyl)

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