(a) Francis Xavier arrived in Goa in 1542. For the next three years he had been a Christian preacher in India among the pearl-fishers along the East Coast of Southern India as well as in northern areas of the Cape Comorin. His preaching made him immensely popular among the Paravas, Katesars, kadaiyars and Mukkuvars. He had become a missionary of great eminence and respectability among the Pattamkattiyars. Their family-members had been the head of the Fisher Coast.
(b) Many Children were bom of parents (Portuguese sailors and Indian women) who were not legally married at that time. Francis Xavier gave such children instruction about beliefs of the Christian Church. In order to save the Child from the slur of being called ‘an illegitimate child’, he tried to see that the child’s parents united themselves in holy matrimony. Francis Xavier died in 1552. His embalmed body became the object of holy pilgrimages.
