"We have is in these parts a class of men among the pagans who are called Brahmins. They keep up the worship of the gods, the superstitious rites of religion, frequenting the temples and taking care of the idols. They are as perverse and wicked a set as can anywhere be found, and I always apply to them the words of the holy David, “From an unholy race and a wicked and crafty man deliver me, O Lord.” They are liars and cheats to the very backbone. Their whole study is how to deceive most cunningly the simplicity and ignorance of the people…All the time I have been here in this country I have only converted one Brahmin…"
Francis Xavier

January 1, 1970