In Goa, the Jesuits, led by Francis Xavier, encountered a terrible situation. Moral decadence among the Portuguese was rampant and many baptized people had distanced themselves from their faith. Among other evils, the colonists exercised cruel treatment towards the natives.
Then, the saint undertook the arduous task of stopping the abuses and imparting catechesis to the aborigines. Francis Xavier cared for the sick, many of them with leprosy, taught slaves to read and administered the sacraments.
There were so many conversions among the Paravars, inhabitants of that area, that the saint worked tirelessly, spiritually caring for everyone. Once, Francisco Javier would write a letter to his Jesuit brothers in Europe in which he recounted how he was sometimes left without strength, almost unable to move his arms, due to the number of baptisms he performed in a single day.
At the same time, very much in his style – the saint enjoyed a unique temperament – he had no fear or hesitation in writing to the king of Portugal denouncing the bad behavior of many of his subjects and demanding that the regime towards slaves change. Unfortunately, as in other cases, little was achieved.