Nobili, Robert de

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NOBILI, ROBERT DE

NOBILI, ROBERT DE (1577–1656), Jesuit missionary to India Robert de Nobili was born in 1577 of noble Italian parents with impressive connections to the Vatican. He was intelligent, zealous, and a Jesuit. He arrived in India in 1606 to discover that nothing significant had occurred in the Roman Catholic Church since the days of Francis Xavier. He made the strategic decision of settling in Madura, an influential center of Hinduism. De Nobili believed that Christianity, while retaining its essential core of doctrine, should be divested of its European cultural trappings in order to flourish in India. He assumed the dress and lifestyle of a Brahman sanyasi, learned Sanskrit, and studied the Vedas. Within a couple of years, a number of converts had been baptized. De Nobili did not insist that they break caste, change their dress or even their customs, save idolatry. Thus began the work of the Madura Mission.

Several of de Nobili's colleagues among the Roman Catholic community disapproved of his tactics. In 1610 letters were sent to Rome asserting that de Nobili was corrupting Christianity by compromising on Hindu practices, especially with regard to caste. De Nobili defended his methods as accommodation. In 1619 de Nobili's methods were condemned by a council that met in Goa. The council's decision was that the Brahmans and caste converts might retain their high caste appearance, but that they must forsake Hindu ceremonies.

Armed with Pope Gregory's approval, however, de Nobili wandered from town to town in the style of a Brahman guru. Many among the lower castes converted and were baptized. De Nobili lived extremely simply and sacrificially, often facing considerable humiliation; his health deteriorated and eventually he became totally blind. He died in Mylapore, 16 February 1656.

Many priests remained concerned over what was perceived to be the downright deception on which the work of the Madura Mission was founded. Only a remote resemblence of biblical identity remained among those the mission claimed were Christian. The Vatican commissioned the patriarch of Antioch to visit India in 1703 to conduct an inquiry. Once he understood the situation, he issued a decree that condemned de Nobili's system. At first the Jesuits refused to obey, but when Pope Benedict XIV issued a bull that described the Jesuits as "perverse," "rebellious," and "lost," they had to accept defeat, and in 1759 their order was required to leave India.

Graham Houghton

See alsoChristian Impact on India, History of

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Amaladoss, Anand, ed. Jesuit Presence in Indian History. Anand: Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, 1988.

Firth, C. B. An Introduction to Indian Church History. Chennai: CLS, 1961.

Ogilvie, J. N. An Apostle of India. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1915.

Robinson, Charles. History of Christian Missions. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1915.