Good lyric rhyme expels profane immodest songs

He composed and transcribed a number of instructions, adapted to the capacities of all ages and all ranks, translating them into the languages of the countries he converted. They were read in public several times a week, that they might be well impressed in the memory of the hearers. He drew up an epitome of the principal events occurring since the fall of Adam till the preaching of the apostles; and, that this might be more interesting to the children and the peasantry, he threw it into rhyme, when it was learned and sung with delight. Experience taught him the advantage of versifying his written instructions. The Indians have a quick ear for melody and poetry. The plan, too, proved doubly useful; for, besides imparting a knowledge of the principal mysteries of religion, it also expelled the profane, immodest songs to which the people had previously been much addicted. All along the coasts of Malabar and the Fishery, and in the Moluccas, we are assured that, night and day, men, women, and children might be heard singing the Our Father the Hail Mary, the Creed, the Commandments, and the chief mysteries of faith, all reduced to hymns by the holy father.

The Life of St. Francis Xavier