Nobili, Roberto de

Nobili, Roberto de (rōbĕr`tō dā nō`bēlē), 1577–1656, Italian Jesuit missionary. He was ordained in Rome in 1603 after seven years of training in Naples and sailed the following year for India with a group of Portuguese missionaries. For his unconventional adoption of Hindu customs, he was censured by the authorities in 1610 and compelled to petition an inquisition headed by the archbishop of Goa for approval of his methods. Until his work was again permitted (1623), de Nobili wrote many religious books, including Sanskrit translations of Christian writings.