One of Xavier's colleagues in this mission of christianising the Hindus was Miguel Vaz, the Vicar General of India appointed by Rome. In consultation… - Francis Xavier

"Some time now elapsed before any other missionary attempted to show himself. The Brahmins, however, did not by airy means improve their position by their strenuous resistance, but, on the contrary, made it worse, for Francis Xavior took occassion on this account to institute in Goa a religious tribunal, after the pattern of the Spanish Inquisition, over which he ruled without opposition, and being aided by the Portuguese arms, he proceeded, with the most frightful saverity, against all those who offered any hinderance to the spread of Christianity, or who also dared to take, the baptised natives back again to their old idol-worship. In this way, then, innumerable Brahmins, and more particularly "the richest among them lost their lives by the executioner’s hands, or, at least, were expelled from their country in order that their property might be seized for the benefit of the society As a matter of course, the effeminate Hindus now pressed forword to have themselves baptised, ‘rather than make acquaintance with the prisons of the Inquisition, or run the risk of being roasted alive over a slow fire !. . . ."the consequence was that Jesuit colleges sprang up in all suitable places, being enriched by the property of the slaughtered and banished heretics. And still more numerous were the churches which were erected, as they no longer hesitated to destroy, with fire and sword, all the heathen temples which they were able to get at, and, indeed, it almost seemed as if the Jesuits had taken for their example the cruel conduct of Charles the great against the Saxons.*" (page 92)

The impatient Xavier, still dissatisfied with the result of his labour wrote to the King of Portugal that the only hope of increasing the number of Christians was by the use of the secular power of the State. As a result of this note, the King issued orders that in Goa and other Portuguese settlements, “all idols shall be sought out and destroyed, and severe penalties shall be laid upon all such as shall dare to make an idol or shall shelter or hide a Brahmin”.

St Xavier had come to the East representing both the Pope ‑ as a Legate ‑ and the King as an inspector of missions. As missionary work was a State enterprise charged to the Crown's revenues in Portugal, this identification of national, interests with religious activity should not be a matter of surprise.