ASIA/INDIA - Jesuit missionary Robert De Nobili, a religious, linguistic and cultural revolutionary

Tuesday, 12 December 2006

New Delhi (Agenzia Fides) - Robert De Nobili, popularly known in Tamil Nadu as a philosophical preacher, was a religious, linguistic and cultural revolutionary said Father M. Devadoss Jesuit Madurai Provincial, when he inaugurated a Seminar on the Jesuit missionary at Madurai to mark the 400th anniversary of De Nobili’s arrival in 1606. “De Nobili indigenised Christianity in a novel way. He is the father of Tamil prose. While Tamil literature remained at the level of poetry until the 17th century, De Nobili introduced prose in the southern Indian language so that even ordinary people could understand the religious truths in a simple way”, said Fr. Devadoss.
De Nobili coined new Tamil words and brought people belonging to call castes under one roof for worship. Born in September 1577 at Montepulciano, Italy, he joined the Society of Jesus in 1597 and was assigned to the Indian mission in 1604. After a short time in Goa and Cochin he was sent to Madurai in 1606 to spread the Gospel. He mastered Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu to converse with the locals in their language. His success as a missionary was seen by the fact that from about 30,000 in 1656 the Christian population grew to over 200,000 in 1706.
Jesuits the world over have been celebrating a triple jubilee this year for the 500th anniversary of the birth of Saint Francis Xavier and Blessed Pedro Fabro and the 450th anniversary of the death of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. In Tamil Nadu, Saint Francis Xavier is considered the founding father of Catholic communities in coastal centres Tirunelveli, Tuticorin and Kanyakumari. These anniversaries were celebrated with joy in the many Jesuit schools of all grades in Tamil Nadu renowned for all-round quality education. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 12/12/2006 righe 26 parole 261)


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