Brazil is a true barn of psychographers mediums. We could cite here several names of serious mediums such as Divaldo Pereira Franco, Carlos Baccelli, Celso de Almeida Afonso and many others. But we will use as source of our studies the one that is considered as the greatest mediumistic phenomenon of all time: Francisco Cândido Xavier, or simply "Chico Xavier".

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The work of Chico is simply colossal and impressive, and it is difficult to even summarize it. He psychographed for seven decades, uninterrupted. More than 400 books have been released by him, which have sold more than 45 million copies, whose copyright have all been donated. Chico psychographed thousands of messages, many in languages he did not even know. In the messages received, there were details that only the family of the deceased person knew, such as events, names, nicknames, etc. No fraud has ever been proven.

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In my research on Reincarnation and the continuity of life after death, I visited the city of Pedro Leopoldo, where Chico was born, and Uberaba, a city where the medium lived from 1959 until his death in 2002. In both cities, I talked to People who lived with Chico for decades and I could see in their reports the authenticity and greatness of the medium’s work.

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By the time Chico psychographed, thousands of people who had lost loved ones used to travel to Uberaba, many from thousands of miles away, on a tiresome car or bus trip, hoping to get a message. People from all religions, many of whom did not believe in the possibility of continuity of life after death, but were convinced about the authenticity of the messages received, not only by the details mentioned in them, but also by the peculiar language of the loved ones who were in another spiritual dimension.

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Chico was, since the beginning of his mediumistic work, relentlessly persecuted by skeptics and people connected with other religions, who, not accepting such communications, and failing to explain them, malignantly spread slander, saying that he had "assistants" who verified, before the psychic session where the messages would be received, along with the relatives of the deceased person, the personal details that would then be supposedly "added" to the messages.

 

However, such accusation can easily be denied simply because of the logistic unfeasibility of it. Considering the immense amount of people who came to Chico's psychographic sessions, it would take dozens of "assistants", with "paper and pen" in hand, to consult the hundreds of people who crowded before the beginning of the sessions, noting the person’s name and all details related to it. Then this information would have to be passed on to the medium and he would have to "memorize" every detail of each person to be inserted into each message. However, Chico's psychography sessions were long, so he would need to have an extraordinary memory to accomplish such a feat, not to mention the speed with which the messages were psychographed, which would make such a process completely unfeasible.

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According to the medium Carlos Baccelli, who lived with Chico for 25 years, he psychographed about 7 to 10 letters per session, which were performed 3 times a week, totaling approximately 100 messages a month! If we look at the amount of specific details contained in so many messages, such as names, nicknames, dates and specific information to each case, and that at the time there was no internet to "search" for such information, other than the fact that much information was exclusive knowledge of the family or even the family did not have it, then we will come to the conclusion of the unfeasibility of any farce.

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On the other hand, if we analyze how Chico was, for decades, rigidly monitored by people who were eager to find the slightest fault, so that they could discredit all his work, if there had been any fraudulent scheme, it would certainly have been discovered and widely publicized. But this has never happened, to the sadness of those who simply want to fight a truth that cannot be hidden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first book psychographed by Chico Xavier was “Parnaso de além túmulo” ("Parnassus of Beyond Tomb"), in 1932. In its first edition, this book had a set of 60 poems attributed to 14 deceased poets: Augusto dos Anjos, Auta de Souza, Bittencourt Sampaio, Casimiro de Abreu, Casimiro Cunha, Castro Alves, Cruz and Sousa, Pedro de Alcântara and Sousa Caldas -; Four Portuguese - Antero de Quental, Guerra Junqueiro, João de Deus and Júlio Diniz - and an anonymous poet named as  "unknown".

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At each edition, however, the book was incorporating new compositions and new poets, until in its 6th edition in 1955, it stabilized with 259 poems attributed to 56 authors who manifested through the medium, with their own characteristics and styles, some unmistakable.

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Again, avid critics hastened to contest that the poems had actually been written by the spirits of the poets. And as it always does, criticisms are presented in a "simplistic" and malicious way. Their claim was that Chico had read many books and possessed a "prodigious memory" and, thus, was able to "imitate" the style of the poets. However, if we consider that, at the time of the release of "Parnaso de além túmulo", Chico, who was an extremely simple and humble person, was only 21 years old and had not even finished high school, we will see that it would be utterly impossible to assign such literary work to himself.

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Nevertheless, even supposing that Chico really had the ability to create poems of that level, perfectly imitating the style of the main Brazilian poets, and such work were the fruit of his own creation, surely he himself would have to be considered as one of the greatest poets of Brazil, if not the greatest of all, because he would have the mastery of the style of all the best poets of Brazilian history!

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The researcher Alexandre Caroli Rocha, PhD in theory and literary history from the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), analyzed in his master's degree the first book published by the medium, “Parnaso de além túmulo”.

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His study considered the stylistic, formal and interpretive aspects of the poems and concluded that the anthology was not a product of simple literary imitation. Rocha discovered, for example, that  Guerra Junqueiro (1850-1923), one of the dead authors, signed the continuation of an unfinished poem in life. There was no sign that Chico had had access to the poem before psychographing his sequel.

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In his doctorate, Rocha concluded that Chico perfectly reproduced the style of the popular writer Humberto de Campos (1886-1934). In the texts that came from the tip of his pencil there was, according to Rocha, an intricate and sophisticated style, detectable only by those who know well how Humberto de Campos works. Many of the texts attributed to Campos contained information that was out of the public domain. Closed in a secret diary, such information was only revealed 20 years after the death of Campos and the beginning of Chico's mediumistic production.

 

 Talking to someone who knew Chico

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In 2013 and 2015 I had the opportunity to visit Pedro Leopoldo city, where Chico was born, where I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Hélcio Marques, curator of a house where Chico lived for many years and today has been transformed in a space to his memory. Hélcio welcomes all who visit the house with great affection and, during my visit, we talked about his history with Chico Xavier.

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Chico had helped Helcio's family since he was very small, fatherless and with many brothers. Chico helped his family for eleven years, bringing food and money to his mother, just as he did to all the widows of Pedro Leopoldo city who were in need.

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Helcio had a disease called asthmatic bronchitis. This disease prevented him from being a normal child. He could not play football with other boys and his food was very restricted. He was an altar boy from 8 to 17 years old and was preparing to become a Catholic Church priest, until one day Chico, who had just arrived from Uberaba for a visit to Pedro Leopoldo, called him. Helcio found it strange because he was a Catholic and he had even his bags packed and ticket purchased to join the Order of the Benedictines.

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Upon reaching Chico's house, they sat next to each other, and Chico placed his left hand on his left shoulder and his right hand on his chest. His left hand dripped with ether and, the right hand, scent of roses. According to Helcio, his shirt got all soaked. From that moment on, he was completely cured of the disease.

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Then the medium said that he had been a priest in five previous lives and, in this incarnation, he should be different. Hélcio was then undecided about which way to go and, after thinking for three days, he took a decision to follow the Spiritist Doctrine, where he remains until today.

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In Pedro Leopoldo or Uberaba, it is possible to find many people who knew the medium, and each one of them has a beautiful story to tell about the invaluable legacy left by Chico Xavier.

 

Conclusion

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Chico Xavier's undeniable example of moral, during his 75 years of uninterrupted work as a medium, represents an invincible challenge to his critics. Although he could have enjoyed a life of comfort and luxury, Chico preferred to donate all the copyrights of the published books for the benefit of the needy, and lived to the age of 92 a life of simplicity and humility.

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Always practicing charity, he never accumulated wealth, never criticized or judged other religions or those who persecuted him fiercely. He was one of the greatest examples of the practice of Christianity in history! The work left by him represents one of the greatest evidences of the existence of the afterlife and the possibility of communicating with the spirits of those who inhabit the spiritual plane.

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