DE NOBILI, ROBERTO. – Jesuit, missionary, b. at Montepulciano (Siena) in September 1577; d. at Mailapur (Madras) on 16 January 1656. Having reached India in 1605, he immediately went to Madura, where he carried out his characteristic apostolate for forty years.
In order to reach and convert the Brahmin caste, which shunned missionaries in contact with lower castes, he decided to become a “sanyasi,” that is, to adopt their life, customs, and usages in everything that did not conflict with Christianity. From that moment conversions began; not many in number, but the prejudice that Christianity was a religion only for the Pariahs was dispelled. And just as D. N. adapted himself to the castes, so he endeavoured to have other missionaries (called Pandarasswami) arise who were dedicated exclusively to the lower castes, which he had not been able to approach except in secret. This method gave rise to controversies and hostility on the part of other religious, even Jesuits, who did not spare him the accusation of heresy and philetism (v. MALABAR RITES); indeed, he incurred a condemnation from Rome. After more precise information, however, Cardinal R. Bellarmine recognized the orthodoxy of the method and obtained from Gregory XV the apostolic constitution *Romanae Sedis antistes*, dated 31 January 1623, which allowed D. N. to continue in his way of acting.