ABSTRACT
While what we described in the previous chapter was happening in Ethiopia, the superiors of the Society in India were not neglecting the good of the sons of the Portuguese and Catholics of this empire, who, they had heard, numbered over 1,000. Indeed, with the {great} zeal that they had to find a remedy for these unsupported Christians, they very diligently tried in every way to find a possible means for fathers to reach them, but they were unable to find a method or route for that because of the Turks’ extreme vigilance ever since the death of the holy father and martyr Abraham. However, since there was nothing that they would not try, they decided to ordain a dark-skinned brother so that he could take a chance dressed as a sailor. But at this time they received letters from the Portuguese in Ethiopia saying that Our Lord had taken Father Francisco Lopez to Himself and that they were left without any support and their children were in obvious danger of adopting {[f. 402v]} <[f. 356v/345v]> the customs of the local people, many of which were contrary to our holy faith. Since no white man could get through, they earnestly requested them to find some priest who was native to India and knew the language well; they thought that if he disguised himself as a sailor on some ship he might be able to conceal himself better and enter Ethiopia without being recognized.
