SJ, met Stephens upon landing in Goa, and before proceeding to the Madurai Mission, because both used similar terms, such as jnana-snana (bath of knowledge or enlightenment), a term which Stephens used for baptism and which de Nobili seems to have borrowed; the term is still current in Tamil Christian usage.

In 1583, Stephens wrote a letter to his brother noting similarities between Indian languages and Greek and Latin. This letter remained unpublished until 1957.