{"pages":{"50":{"imagePath":"H:\\web_projects\\corpus-web\\electron-app\\data\\5e07978430078cb56ea89a104e5a0c0e50b3aa1618e48c486c8af005ae015143\\raw\\pages\\00074-4add411de064f362d56f.webp","width":1170,"height":1680,"segments":[{"text":"50","box":{"x":112,"y":174,"width":38,"height":18}},{"text":"HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA","box":{"x":334,"y":178,"width":470,"height":18}},{"text":"44. ROBERT DE NOBILI'S LETTER TO POPE PAUL V","box":{"x":113,"y":248,"width":905,"height":24}},{"text":"(c. 1619 A.D.)","box":{"x":470,"y":277,"width":195,"height":31}},{"text":"Robert de Nobili, a Jesuit missionary in Madurai, is well known","box":{"x":199,"y":341,"width":768,"height":27}},{"text":"for his experiments in the adaptation of Hindu customs to Christianity.","box":{"x":162,"y":366,"width":806,"height":27}},{"text":"This led to opposition from his co-workers and ecclesiastical autho-","box":{"x":161,"y":390,"width":808,"height":28}},{"text":"rities. Eventually Rome took decisions in favour of his methods.","box":{"x":164,"y":414,"width":803,"height":28}},{"text":"The following is a letter written to Pope Paul V in which he gives an","box":{"x":158,"y":439,"width":809,"height":29}},{"text":"account of his apostolate in Madurai and also mentions the procee-","box":{"x":160,"y":464,"width":808,"height":28}},{"text":"dings of the Goa conference which was convened to consider his","box":{"x":160,"y":489,"width":806,"height":27}},{"text":"experiments in what is today termed; indigenization'. The letter was","box":{"x":158,"y":514,"width":808,"height":28}},{"text":"written in Latin. It was translated into English by Fr. Sauliere. The","box":{"x":157,"y":535,"width":809,"height":29}},{"text":"original copy is kept in the Roman archives of the Society of Jesus:","box":{"x":161,"y":563,"width":801,"height":27}},{"text":"ARSI Goa 51, ff. 286-290. The translation as it appears here was","box":{"x":158,"y":588,"width":806,"height":28}},{"text":"published in the Indian Church History Review, Vol. II, No. 2,","box":{"x":158,"y":613,"width":805,"height":27}},{"text":"(December 1968), pp. 84-96.","box":{"x":155,"y":636,"width":337,"height":27}},{"text":"1. Origin of the Madurai Mission","box":{"x":109,"y":704,"width":463,"height":28}},{"text":"Having heard by word of mouth and chiefly from the Annual","box":{"x":137,"y":749,"width":873,"height":32}},{"text":"Letters of the great progress of the Christian religion in India and","box":{"x":111,"y":777,"width":901,"height":32}},{"text":"the wonderful labours of many of my fellow Jesuits, I decided with","box":{"x":111,"y":805,"width":901,"height":29}},{"text":"the consent of my superiors to hasten to a place where the hope of","box":{"x":113,"y":833,"width":900,"height":35}},{"text":"spreading the faith was so inviting. With the permission of Father","box":{"x":112,"y":858,"width":898,"height":32}},{"text":"General I left Rome in 1603 and after two years spent in travelling","box":{"x":106,"y":888,"width":905,"height":32}},{"text":"I arrived at Goa. Soon after I came to Cochin, and thence to","box":{"x":113,"y":916,"width":897,"height":29}},{"text":"Madura. There I remarked that all the efforts made to bring the","box":{"x":106,"y":944,"width":905,"height":31}},{"text":"heathens to Christ had all been in vain. I left no stone unturned","box":{"x":111,"y":972,"width":900,"height":28}},{"text":"to find a way to bring them from their superstition and the worship","box":{"x":112,"y":998,"width":896,"height":32}},{"text":"of idols to the faith of Christ. But my efforts were fruitless, because","box":{"x":108,"y":1025,"width":901,"height":31}},{"text":"with a sort of barbarous stolidity they turned away from the","box":{"x":106,"y":1052,"width":904,"height":32}},{"text":"manners and customs of the Portuguese and refused to put aside","box":{"x":104,"y":1082,"width":907,"height":31}},{"text":"the badges of their ancient nobility.","box":{"x":111,"y":1109,"width":480,"height":29}},{"text":"When I noticed that certain Brahmins were highly praised","box":{"x":150,"y":1163,"width":861,"height":34}},{"text":"because they led lives of great hardship and austerity and were","box":{"x":108,"y":1190,"width":901,"height":32}},{"text":"looked upon as if they had dropped from the sky, I thought that,","box":{"x":109,"y":1219,"width":898,"height":34}},{"text":"if to win popularity among the pagans, and raise themselves in","box":{"x":111,"y":1246,"width":898,"height":32}},{"text":"their esteem, they contrived to keep perpetual chastity and weaken","box":{"x":109,"y":1273,"width":900,"height":34}},{"text":"their bodies by watching, fasting and meditation, I could, to win","box":{"x":108,"y":1301,"width":904,"height":36}},{"text":"them to Christ, conform myself to their mode of life in all such things","box":{"x":106,"y":1330,"width":901,"height":32}},{"text":"which were not repugnant to the holiness of Christian doctrine, for","box":{"x":102,"y":1360,"width":904,"height":31}},{"text":"it seemed to me that with divine help I could do for God's sake,","box":{"x":108,"y":1386,"width":900,"height":31}},{"text":"what they did with wicked cunning to win vain applause and wordly","box":{"x":105,"y":1415,"width":903,"height":34}},{"text":"honours.","box":{"x":102,"y":1442,"width":126,"height":25}},{"text":"Therefore I professed to be an Italian Brahmin who had re-","box":{"x":151,"y":1498,"width":854,"height":29}},{"text":"nounced the world, had studied wisdom at Rome (for a Brahmin","box":{"x":104,"y":1526,"width":903,"height":31}}]},"51":{"imagePath":"H:\\web_projects\\corpus-web\\electron-app\\data\\5e07978430078cb56ea89a104e5a0c0e50b3aa1618e48c486c8af005ae015143\\raw\\pages\\00075-88faaeaa6eeb9a6c3e27.webp","width":1170,"height":1680,"segments":[{"text":"SOURCE MATERIALS","box":{"x":444,"y":158,"width":246,"height":20}},{"text":"51","box":{"x":984,"y":153,"width":38,"height":18}},{"text":"means a wise man) and rejected all the pleasures and comforts of","box":{"x":116,"y":205,"width":911,"height":35}},{"text":"the world.","box":{"x":116,"y":238,"width":139,"height":24}},{"text":"I had already learned Tamil and Sanskrit, which among them","box":{"x":162,"y":289,"width":859,"height":32}},{"text":"holds the same place as the Latin among us, and was pretty well","box":{"x":118,"y":318,"width":907,"height":36}},{"text":"acquainted with their books which, although it is contrary to their","box":{"x":119,"y":345,"width":905,"height":34}},{"text":"customs, they had allowed me to read. In a short time I went","box":{"x":118,"y":372,"width":908,"height":34}},{"text":"through them and found it clearly stated in them that the thread","box":{"x":120,"y":400,"width":907,"height":32}},{"text":"and the long tuft, which are the object of the present controversy,","box":{"x":120,"y":430,"width":904,"height":32}},{"text":"indicated the nobility of their family and not their worship or","box":{"x":123,"y":454,"width":901,"height":35}},{"text":"religion, and that the nobles, specially the Brahmins, the Rajahs","box":{"x":123,"y":484,"width":903,"height":35}},{"text":"and the merchants were thus specially distinguished from the rabble","box":{"x":123,"y":511,"width":904,"height":34}},{"text":"and lower classes. For as they apply their heir laws whether secular","box":{"x":125,"y":538,"width":904,"height":34}},{"text":"or religious to all social actions without any expectation, the way","box":{"x":126,"y":565,"width":904,"height":36}},{"text":"they speak of their thread show that it is a badge of their rank or","box":{"x":126,"y":594,"width":904,"height":35}},{"text":"family but not of their religion. Not only can this opinion be","box":{"x":126,"y":622,"width":905,"height":35}},{"text":"read in their books and codices, which the Brahmins read cons-","box":{"x":126,"y":651,"width":904,"height":32}},{"text":"tantly, but I know that it is so deeply ingrained in their soul and","box":{"x":126,"y":678,"width":905,"height":35}},{"text":"stamped in their minds that merely raising a doubt it looks","box":{"x":125,"y":705,"width":905,"height":35}},{"text":"ridiculous","box":{"x":127,"y":741,"width":130,"height":25}},{"text":"I may add further that the Indians who live in Portuguese","box":{"x":172,"y":789,"width":862,"height":34}},{"text":"territory dress and live in Portuguese style and run no risk of loosing","box":{"x":127,"y":819,"width":910,"height":34}},{"text":"their status as is the case with the neophytes who are subject to","box":{"x":127,"y":845,"width":907,"height":34}},{"text":"Hindu Princes. If the latter were to lay aside the traditional","box":{"x":125,"y":873,"width":912,"height":32}},{"text":"emblems of their family and caste, they would by the very fact be","box":{"x":127,"y":902,"width":910,"height":32}},{"text":"completely cut off from their friends, relations, and castemen,","box":{"x":129,"y":929,"width":910,"height":35}},{"text":"until broken down by tribulations and miseries of all kind they","box":{"x":130,"y":956,"width":908,"height":34}},{"text":"would be driven to seek shelter in some faroff places, where unknown","box":{"x":130,"y":985,"width":908,"height":34}},{"text":"to all men they might hide their shame. If on the other hand they","box":{"x":130,"y":1014,"width":908,"height":35}},{"text":"shrink from exile, they must resort to ignoble dens and spend their","box":{"x":132,"y":1042,"width":907,"height":32}},{"text":"wretched life without the least consolation, for if they come out","box":{"x":130,"y":1070,"width":910,"height":32}},{"text":"in the open, they are exposed to so many affronts and insults","box":{"x":133,"y":1097,"width":905,"height":36}},{"text":"that they are compelled to hide themselves in ill-famed quarters,","box":{"x":129,"y":1124,"width":911,"height":36}},{"text":"there to endure endless sufferings","box":{"x":129,"y":1157,"width":452,"height":31}},{"text":"My efforts were not in vain. By God's grace in two years","box":{"x":176,"y":1209,"width":864,"height":35}},{"text":"nearly two hundred persons embraced the faith of Christ. At the","box":{"x":132,"y":1237,"width":910,"height":35}},{"text":"sight of the present and the prospect of the future harvest our joy","box":{"x":134,"y":1266,"width":907,"height":32}},{"text":"was very great, but it was soon damped by unexpected rumours.","box":{"x":133,"y":1294,"width":908,"height":32}},{"text":"Among our Fathers there was no agreement regarding this new","box":{"x":129,"y":1322,"width":914,"height":34}},{"text":"method; some did not approve this mode of life, nor the wearing","box":{"x":133,"y":1348,"width":911,"height":34}},{"text":"of the thread. Shortly after a superior, moved no doubt by a well","box":{"x":137,"y":1374,"width":905,"height":35}},{"text":"meaning zeal-(as we must in justice believe)-forbade me to carry","box":{"x":136,"y":1403,"width":907,"height":36}},{"text":"on with my work and baptize neophytes, until that question of","box":{"x":137,"y":1432,"width":911,"height":35}},{"text":"the thread was more closely examined. Not only this order affected","box":{"x":136,"y":1460,"width":907,"height":34}},{"text":"all the neophytes, but many others who desired to embrace the","box":{"x":137,"y":1486,"width":908,"height":38}},{"text":"Christian religion. That is why the Archbishop of Cranganore","box":{"x":137,"y":1516,"width":910,"height":35}}]}}}