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There are in these parts among the pagans a class of men called Brahmins. They are as perverse and wicked a set as can anywhere be found, and to whom applies the Psalm which says: ‘From an unholy race, and wicked and crafty men, deliver me, Lord.’ If it were not for the Brahmins, we should have all the heathens embracing our faith.

— Francis Xavier

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Source: Letter by Francis Xavier. Quoted by Sita Ram Goel in St. Francis Xavier: The Man and His Mission. Quoted from Ishwar Sharan. The Myth of Saint Thomas and the Mylapore Shiva Temple. Third edition. 2010.
Source quality: Secondhand citation Quoted from another book or article rather than from the original.

More by Francis Xavier

When all are baptized I order all the temples of their false gods to be destroyed and all the idols to be broken in pieces. I can give you no idea of the joy I feel in seeing this done, witnessing the destruction of the idols by the very people who but lately adored them.

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More quotes by Francis Xavier

If it were not for the Brahmins, we should have all the heathens embracing our faith.

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

The second necessity which obtains in India, if those who live there are to be good Christians, is that your highness should introduce the holy Inquisition [...]

Almost from the time of Xavier's actual presence on the Coast, the work of legend-building began, and it came to be firmly believed that he possessed miraculous powers, which extended even to the raising of the dead. Xavier never made such extravagant claims for himself.

By the aid of the vice-regal troops he pulled down the heathen temples in the neighbourhood of Goa, and appropriated their very considerable property for the use and benefit of the new College." (Page 89)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Francis Xavier (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.