Xavier, Francisco Cândido (Chico) (1910–2002)

Chico Xavier, born 2 April 1910 in Minas Gerais, was a Spiritist medium, widely credited for inspiring the mainstream acceptance of Spiritism in Brazil. An occult religion encompassing a belief in Jesus Christ and reincarnation, based on the writings of the nineteenth-century French researcher Allan Kardec, Spiritism claims an estimated twenty million Brazilian adherents in the early twenty-first century. Chico completed more than 400 published "psychographic" works, despite his elementary-level education and his multiple chronic health problems late in life. He donated all proceeds to charity.

Chico claimed to have been in contact with numerous spirits, to whom he credited all his books. Emmanuel, identified as a reincarnation of a Roman senator, Publius Lentulus, authored a five-volume series offering a first-hand account of the birth of Christianity and the early history of the Catholic Church. André Luiz, pseudonym of a spirit incarnated as a doctor in Rio de Janeiro during the 1930s, wrote another popular series that illustrated his postmortem life in the spiritual world.

In 1959 Chico moved to Uberaba, in Minas Gerais, where he provided free spiritualist sessions to thousands of individuals, including celebrities, religious leaders, and Brazilian presidents. During this period he also made numerous television appearances, and was promoted by his supporters for the Nobel Peace Prize. Adding to his legacy, Chico died on the same day, 30 June 2002, that Brazil won the World Cup.

See alsoSpiritism .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bellos, Alex. "Chico Xavier: Brazil's Leading Medium; His Many Books Were Dictated by the Dead." The Guardian, July 11, 2002. Available from http://books.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,753357,00.html.

Souto Maior, Marcel. As Vidas de Chico Xavier, 2nd edition. São Paulo: Editora Planeta do Brasil, 2003.

Stoll, Sandra Jacqueline. Espiritimo á Brasil. São Paulo: EDUSP, 2003.

Xavier, Francisco C. Nosso Lar: A Spiritual Home. Phoenix, AZ: Allen Kardec Educational Society, 2000.

Xavier, Francisco C., Andre Luiz, and Andrea Dessen. The Messengers. Phoenix, AZ: Allen Kardec Educational Society, 2005.

                                       Lance Murchison