HffAT.AHAfc
660
TUrAt.AHAl^
such as had no religious meaning. The latter point,
the crux of the question, he elucidated by numerous
quotations from the authoritative Sanskrit law-books
of the Hindus. Moreover, he procured affidavits of
one hundred and eight Brahmins, from among the
most learned in Madura, all endorsing his interoreta-
tion of the native practices. Ho acknowledgea that
the infidels used to associate those practices with
superstitious ceremonies; but, he observed, "these
ceremonies belong to the mode, not to the substance
of the practices; the same difficulty may be raised
about eating, drinking, marriage, etc., for the hea-
thens mix their ceremonies with all their actions. It
suffices to do away with the superstitious ceremonies,
as the Christians do. As to schism, he denied hav-
ing caused any such thing: "he hod founded a new
Christianity, which never could have been brought
together with the older: the separation of the churches
hi^ been approved by the Archbishop of Cranganore;
and it precluded neither unity of faith nor Christian
charity, for his neophytes used to greet kindly those
of F. Femandes. Even on the coast there are dif-
ferent churches for different castes, and in Europe the
places in the churches are not common for all." No-
bili's apology was effectually seconded by the Arch-
bishop of Cranganore, who, as he had encouraged the
first steps of the missionary, continued to stand
firmly by his side, and pleaded his cause warmly at
Goa before the archbishop, as well as at Rome.
Thus the learned and zealous primate of India, Alexis
de Menezes, though a synod held by him had pro-
hibited the Brahmin cord, was won over to the cause
of Nobili. And his successor, Christopher de Sa, hav-
ing thought fit to take a contrary course, remained
almost the only opponent in India.
At Rome the explanations of Nobili, of the Arch- bishop of Cranganore^ and of the chief Inquisitor of Goa brought about a similar effect. In 1614 and 1615 Cardinal Bellarmine and the General of the Society wrote a^ain to the missionary, declaring themselves fully satisfied. At last, after the usual mature exam- ination by the Holy See, on 31 Janua^, 1623, Greg- ory XV, by his Apostolic Letter, "Roman® Sedis Antistes, decided the question provisionally in favour of Father de Nobili. Accordingly, the co- dkumbif the cord, the sandal, and the baths were per- mitted to the Indian Christians, "until the Holy See provide otherwise"; only certain conditions are pre- scribed, in order that all superstitious admixture and all occasion of scandal may be averted. As to the separation of the castes, the pope confines himself to
- ' earnestly entreating and beseeching (etiam cUmie
eiiam oblestamur et obsecramiia) the nobles not to de- spise the lower people, especially in the churches, by hearing the Divine word and receiving the sacraments apart from them". Indeed, a strict order to this effect would have been tantamount to sentencing the new-bom Christianity of Madura to death. The pope understood, no doubt, that the customs connected with the distinction of castes, being so deeply rooted in the ideas and habits of all Hindus, did not admit an abrupt suppression , even among the Christians. They were to be dealt with by the Church, as had been slavery, serfdom, and the hke institutions of past times. The Church never attacked directly those in- veterate customs; but she inculcated meekness, hu- mility, charity, love of the Saviour who suffered and §ave His life for all, and by this method slavery, scrf- om, and other social abuses were slowly eradicated.
While imitating this wise indulgence to the feeble- ness of new converts, Father de Nobili took much care to inspire his disciples with the feelings becoming true Christians towards their humbler brethren. At the very outset of liis preaching, he insisted on making all understand that " religion was by no naeans dependent on caste; indeed it must be one for all, the true God being one for all; although Pie added] unity of religion
destroys not the civil distinction of the castes nor the
lawful privileges of the nobles ". Explaining then the
commandment of charity, he inculcated that it ex-
tended to the pariahs as well as others, and he ex-
empted nobody from the duties it imposes; but he
mi^t rightly tell his neophytes that, for example,
visiting pariahs or other ^ople of low caste at their
houses, treating them fannliarly, even kneeling or sit-
ting by them in the church, concerned pe^ection
ratner than the precept of charity, and that accord-
ingly such actions could be omitted without any
fault, at least where they involved so grave a detri-
ment as degradation from the higher caste. Of this
principle the missionaries had a n^ht to m^e use for
themselves. Indeed charity required more from the
pastors of souls than from others; yet not in such a
way that they should endanger the salvation of the
many to relieve the needs of the few. Therefore
Nobili, at the beginning of his apostolate, avoided
all public intercourse with the lower castas; but he
failed not to minister secretly even to pariahs. In the
year 1638, there were at Tiruchirapalu (Trichinopoly)
several hundred Christian pariahs, who had b^n se-
cretly taught and baptized oy the companions of No-
bili. About this time he devised a means of assisting
more directly the lower castes, without ruining the
work begun among the higher.
Besides the Brahmin samassy, there was another grade of Hindu ascetics, called pandcaranij enjoying less consideration than the Brahmins, but who were allowed to deal publicly with all castes, and even hold intercourse witn the pariahs. They were not ex- cluded from relations with the higher castes. On the^ advice of Nobili, the superiors of the mission with the' Archbishop of Cranganore resolved that henceforward there should be two classes of missionaries, the Brah- min and the pandaram. Father Balthasar da Costa was the first, in 1540, who took the name and habit of pandaram, imder which he effected a large number of conversions, of others as well as of pariahs: Nobili had then three Jesuit companions. After the com- forting decision of Rome, he had hastened to extend his preaching beyond the town of Madura, and the Gospel spread by degrees over the whole interior of South India. In 1646, exhausted by forty-two years of toiling and suffering, he was constrained to retire, first to Jafnapatam in Ceylon, then to Mylapore, where he died 16 January, 1656. He left his mission in full progress. To give some idea of its develop- ment, we note that the superiors, writing to the gen- eral of the Society, about the middle and during the second half of the seventeenth century, record an an- nual average of five thousand conversions, the number never being less than three thousand a year even when the missioners* work was most hinderecf by persecution. At the end of the seventeenth century, the total num- ber of Christians in the mission founcied by Nobili and still named Madura mission, though embracing, besides Madura, Mysore. Marava, Tanjore, Gingi, etc., is de- scribed as exceeding 150,000. Yet the number of the missionaries never went beyond seven, assisted how- ever by many native catechists.
The Madura mission belonged to the Portuguese assistance of the Society of Jesus, but it was supplied with men from all provinces of the Order. Thus, for example. Father Beschi (c. 1710-1746), who won so high a renown among the Hindus, heathen and Chris- tian, by his writings in Tamil, was an Italian, as the founder of the mission had been. In the last quarter of the seventeenth century, the French Father John Venantius Bouchet worked for twelve years in Ma- dura, chiefly at Trichinopoly, during which time he baptized about 20,000 infidels. And it is to be noted that the cat<»chumens, in these partes of India, were ad- mitted to baptism only after a long and careful prepa- ration. Indeed the missionary accounts of the time bear frequent witness to the very commendable
