Obituary: Chico Xavier Essay, Research Paper

Chico XavierOn the day last month that the Brazilian football team won its fifth World Cup, one of the country’s most famous religious leaders, Chico Xavier, died aged 92, of heart problems. Xavier had prophesied that he would die on a “day of celebration”, so that the immense grief would be lessened by national happiness. His prediction had been taken seriously. Xavier was Brazil’s most respected medium, a position of great moral authority in a country where an estimated 20 million people believe in spiritism – a type of Catholicism based on telepathic communication with souls of the dead. Brazil has the world’s largest spiritist population, and, in a career spanning 75 years, Xavier became its most important figure. The information he communicated from beyond the grave was often regarded as fact. Once, in 1979, a man accused of murdering his best friend was set free because the judge accepted a witness statement from the dead friend which he had communicated telepathically via Xavier. The victim, said his friend, was innocent; he went on to reveal the identity of the real murderer. Xavier was born into a poor family of nine brothers and sisters, in the suburbs of Belo Horizonte. By the age of four, he was hearing voices and having visions. His family thought he was possessed by the devil, and the local priest ordered him to say a thousand Ave-Marias, and to pay an additional penance of walking with a 15kg stone on his head. But the voices continued and, as a teenager, Xavier began to study the teachings of Allan Kardec, a Frenchman whose spiritist ideas had already taken hold in Brazil. Xavier dedicated his life to using his aptitude as a medium to bring comfort to as many people as possible. Even though barely educated, he published more than 400 books – the spirits of dead people dictated the texts to him telepathically. Poetry From Beyond The Grave (1932), for example, contained 259 poems revealed to Xavier by 56 dead Brazilian poets, including some famous ones. Several people tried to prove he was a fraud, but no one succeeded. The widow of one of the poets even tried to sue him for royalties, but the court ruled in Xavier’s favour, judging that “the [poet] is dead, and the dead have no rights.” The final word on the matter was given by the highbrow newspaper Estado de Sao Paulo. It observed that if the poems were not actually written by the dead poets, then, at the very least, Xavier should be sitting in the Brazilian academy of letters. Even though the content of most of his other books was religious, Xavier also transcribed from the spirit world novels and works of philosophy and science. His books sold an estimated 25 million copies, the profits of which were all channelled into charity work. As a fingerprint expert with the Brazilian agriculture ministry, Xavier lived on meagre wages before drawing his state pension. In 1959, he moved to the city of Uberaba, where he gave public telepathy sessions. His home became a pilgrimage site, and hundreds of thousands of Brazilians visited him, hoping to speak to someone in the spirit world. Celebrities often dropped in to see the medium, who always looked distinctive, with thick-lens glasses and a cap. He never charged for attending on the public. In 1981 and 1982, he was nominated for the Nobel peace prize. In recent years, Xavier’s health began to deteriorate, although he never gave up meeting those who had travelled to see him. Among those who paid tribute to him were the Brazilian president and Islamic, Jewish and Christian religious leaders. For the two days of his wake, about 2,500 people an hour passed by his coffin. Xavier’s spiritual guide – his link with the spirit world – was called Emmanuel. According to the medium’s writings, in Roman times Emmanuel had been Senator Publius Sentulus; he had been reincarnated in Spain as Father Damian, and later as a professor at the Sorbonne. Spiritists believe that Emmanuel is already being reincarnated into another Brazilian, to continue the spiritist mission. · Francisco “Chico” de Paula Candido Xavier, medium, born April 2 1910; died June 30 2002