A revolutionary apostle who opened up India

John Gallagher SJ looks at the extraordinary life and work of Robert de Nobili — pictured left who helped to pioneer missionary teaching in India.
ROBERTO DE NO131LI was born in Rome 404 years. ago. He was the first of six children in a distinguished and influential family. It was an exciting time. the age of Teresa of Avila. Francis de Sales, Robert Bellarmine, the historian Baronius, Palestrina, and the poet Tasso. schools and seminaries were being opened not only to train leaders of the CounterReformation. but for missionaries to the new countries of Asia and A merica.
When he was 17, Roberto announced that he a, ishied to join the Society of Jesus. His relatives strongly opposed it. They reminded him that he was e.iaremely rich and gifted, that the world lay at his feet. that it 1SL1S his duty to carry on the great family name. Roberto insisted, and two years later joined the Jesuits in Naples. He studied theology under the famous cardinal Robert Bellarmine.
He was greatly interested in India, and asked to go there as a missionary. This was granted. and now a priest, he was sent to Portugal to prepare for his new work. The Portuguese sere all powerful in India. On April 28, 1604. Roberto and 14 other young Jesuits sailed down the Tagus into the Atlantic en route for Goa. The voyage lasted 13 months and was hazardous.
Goa capital of Portuguese Asia, was an attractive and progressive city. Many of the Indians had become Christians, but often in name only. An earls missionary had written to Ignatius Loyola, The people of his country who become Christians do so purely from temporal adv antime, as is inevitable in a land where slavery reigns ... They are baptized whenever they express a wish for the sacrament without any instruction. and May revert to their former paganism."
lid the great Francis Xavier wrote of the corrupt Portuguese officialdom, with its immorality and greed.
To learn Tamil. Roberto went to the Fisher' coast, among the pearl divers. It was a tough' life, living in a thatched hut, on the beach. under a burning sun. He was then sent to Madurai, in the heart of Southern India, to join a Jesuit. Fernandez. who had been there for I} years. Fernandea had had little success. The Indians, with their elaborate caste system, looked upon him with contempt as U ntouchable.
To win the people over to Christ, Roberto decided to adapt himself to the Indian way of life. But it was revolutionary for a Christian priest to 'live like the sannyasis — Indian teachers — head shaven. %searing scant red ochre cloths. speaking in Tamil, living on rice and herbs.
He attended to details, pouring water into his mouth from a distance so as not to sully the pot with saliva. His innate tact and courtesy impressed them. He was accepted by high-caste indians. In 1607. Roberto began a class of religious instruction for the young men who were now regularly visiting him. he baptised his first convert,Alberaand soon others asked for the sacrament. It was an austere life. He wrote to Cardinal Bellarmine: "I am living in a cabin with earthen walls and thatched roof which makes me happier than if it were a rich palace. After rising and saying Mass I admit anyone who wishes to talk with me. My food consists of rice, with herbs and fruit. neither meat nor eggs ever cross my door: This Is necessary, for if the people did not see me do penance they would not receive me as one who can show them the way to heaven. I am often ill."
Roberto began to learn Sanskrit. It would make him more acceptable to the highest Brahmins. It was much more difficult than Tamil, but he had a retentive memory and made quick progress. He was allowed to study the Vedas, an ancient collection of religious writings greatly treasured by the 13rahmins.
"Thus I adapt myself to their ideas just as St Paul adapted himself to the ideas of the Athenians regarding the unknown God ...." he wrote to his Jesuit superior, Fr Laerzio. Thus, like the early Christians, he adapted himself not as regards Catholic teaching, but as regards Indian culture.
But his revolutionary methods were misunderstood by some of his fellow Jesuits and by important ecclesiastics. He wanted his future priests to present the Faith to the Indians in their own Indian language, and to be well trained in Catholic theology but also experts in the Hindu religions.
Pope Gregory XV appointed a commission, which included Cardinal Bellarmine and Peter Lombard, Primate of Ireland, to examine Roberto's life and work.. Alter fierce argument, Roberto was finally vindicated.
The number of converts increased, churches and schools were built, Roberto published Catholic doctrine in Sanskrit. There was violent opposition from some Indian religious leaders. Roberto was imprisoned for over a year. he was worn out, and died on January 16, 1656 at Mylapore, a place reputed to be linked with St Thomas.
His extraordinary life was over. His aim had been to open the door of India to Christ. The last words he wrote were, It is my wish that all I have written in Sanskrit should be in conformity with the mind of our holy mother the Roman Catholic church. I beg that she deign to correct anything erroneous or likely to give Offence which may have escaped me.