Manoel Francisco Neto, son of the famous theater and television actress Nair Bello Souza Francisco and Irineu Souza Francisco, was born in Santos on October 11, 1955 and died on December 14, 1975, in the city of São Paulo, at the age of 20, in a car accident.

On June 3, 1977, Manoel sent a long message through the psychography of Chico Xavier, full of detailed information including many names of relatives. The message was psychographed by Chico in 90 half-pages. He also quotes the name of a person whose existence not even his parents remembered, and only a great-aunt could confirm. Other impressive information contained in the message: A conversation Manoel had with his mother, days before his death, which was known only to his parents.

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"Dear Mom, my father, this is the time of the child “Mané” and I need to ask for your blessing. I'm not sure how to write here. The bright room, lots of people, and the boy here, remembering the high school tests. If the memory is not working properly, I already know that I cannot get what I want. But I happen to have good friends, helping me to write this letter.

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Believe you, the speed of writing, the type of letter, belong to them, to Grandma Maria (1) and our friend Dr. Trajano (2), but what I write, what I put in the capricious lines of the pencil It is neither a crib nor breath of other intelligences.

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Mom, it's time to cry with you and say that the feelings are my own, they are from your Manoel, adorned with so many ideas and so stubborn that I went to where rebellion and lack of communication took me. We already know everything. Daddy was stronger in that December that burst with our certainty of a few days of recreation and good conversation with our relatives from Limeira, when you, Mama, made so many plans before us, to see if you were resting from your struggles at work, so I did not find the stone in the way, but found a strong trunk that made my head unable to think.

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Mom and Dad, I did everything to raise the body, but I believe the shock changed the circulation. It is not the time to know if I have broken a major artery or opened blood taps in the intracranial head (we will create a word that helps me to remember), but what is certain is that I was brought here to comfort one another. Getting up I could not, speak much less, I only had the sensation that I fell into a sleep against my own will. And you two believe that I thought about you both in the same way that I thought of God in those moments when I slowly erased myself. So much desire to get out, get some phone and tell you that I was the victim of an accident. Mom, this is all I've been thinking about missing you so much. At that hour I needed your joy and your word to endure the stride, but without knowing how to pray, in silence I asked God to bless us and not let you and my father believe in suicide.

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At times, the “Mané casmurro” that I was, spoke in a world difficult to bear and made some reference that could give the idea that someday I would still force the exit gate of the Earth. But be convinced that the car slid without me being able to control it. The sight was not clearly open to me because there was a thick mist around me, and the unhappy maneuver came so fatal and so violent that the suicide thesis should not come out.

 

All this I understood much later, because at that moment I was thinking about Christmas and our trip to Limeira. I do not know if you remember that I showed a certain indecision between accompanying the family or staying in our house. But all this was just a lie because, deep down, I wanted to go with everyone (3). But I, who sometimes spoke of death, did not know that she was lurking so close to me. I fell unintentionally into a violent sleep, which seemed to me to be in a very deep well, waiting for my release, although I could not shout for help. At last I dreamed, as if in a nightmare they carried me to the hospital and I listened, Mother, your muffled cry.

 

The low voices in the dream were even lower. I smelled medicines and listened to the clatter of instruments as if they were penetrating my brain. The dream was long, a dream in the form of a nightmare, of those we want to wake up without power, but then came a silent sleep, as if everything had finished, the world and me.

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I woke up, I do not know when until today, and I felt at ease, asking for my father's presence to talk. I wanted to prepare with him a way to alleviate the scares at home and always with the idea fixed in the journey of Christmas. That's when my grandmother Maria and another lady, whom she gave the name of D. Maria Angelica de Vasconcellos (4), encouraged me to know the truth. The reality is that I was completely “floating” in cases. I did not know anyone. They introduced me to two masters, who identified themselves as Dr. Trajano de Barros and my great-grandfather Souza (5), and then introduced a friend and paternal priest who told me he knew us all. I had the idea that the group felt sorry for my ignorance but the priest found a way to approach me:  Manoel, Haven’t you heard in your grandfather's house the story of Friar John (6), the one who intended to cure fevers with the juice of limes?

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He asked with a smile so bright and so friendly that my astonishment subsided. If I was seeing Friar Joao de Limeira I was among the dead or among the living of another species and, asking my grandmother Maria about it, with her eyes she answered: "It is true, my son, Ireneu and of Nair’s house is now ours here for you. Death does not exist. You just came back to yours. We missed you too. That broke my heart.. And Mom? She informed me that you and my father with the brothers were with the blessing of God and that I should not rebel against what happened, Mother.

 

There would be no aggressive response from me ... So I cried as if "never again" were the situation where death put us in the midst of those we love most. Emotions aggravated my condition and I was in a fever that lasted a long time. Fever in which I saw you hallucinated in pain, with my father trying to comfort you. Whoever said that death settled everything was very much mistaken. In the hallucinations I heard your thoughts: "What have you done, son? Manoel, tell your mother the truth! Say if you no longer wanted us! ". And I answered by explaining the accident, even if I was tired and downcast as I was, because my father was silent so as not to increase the sadness at home and he would hear his brothers talking at Christmas and New Year's Eve parties, with a few ironic tips from those who do not understand the presence of suffering, in the hours when we most think of God.

 

But getting better, I began to fear for you, Mother. Your joy seemed dead, your heart gave the idea of a cold, starless night. You wondered if it would be worth it to stay on earth without your “Mane Casmurro”. And so much love flowed from your heart to mine, although the distances of space that do not exist for those who love each other, who, the stubborn one, have always leaned towards the idea of God and began to ask for your joy and for your life . Dad and our family could not be without you and you could not come before the appointed time. I asked and asked so much that a friend appeared with Grandma Maria and identified himself as Oduvaldo (7). It was our friend Oduvaldo Viana who said to me: "You can rest easy, Nair is braver than you think and we are going to organize the play where I have always wanted to see your mother show the talent that I know.

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After a while, I came to see her in the mirror of my vision occupied with the theater and Oduvaldo with many friends helping her. Mom, I knew this would work, because you were always the queen of the job. The work never scared you and it was with many tears of joy that I was taken to embrace you on your return to the stage of peace and joy. The work diminished our suffering, Dad was calmer to see you more serene and all the family revived.

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Forgive me if I've gotten so far. I have no pretensions to synthesize. This is for writers who carve out words and phrases, as goldsmiths do with precious stones. Here, Mother, it is only the son's heart to reassure them. I am fine. I'm on other tracks and now less introverted. I am learning that science in which you and my father have always wanted me well formed, the science of dialogue. I am learning to leave myself and to listen to the right answer. I think I got what I wanted: to rest my father and my mother about the accident that I was a victim of (8).

 

Daddy has great studies about the life of the soul. When you, Mother, if you can do the same, that will be very good. I would have come here more prepared if I had any preparation on my new subjects.

Hugs to everybody, beginning with Aparecida (9) and continuing to the brothers. Tell mommy to them that I am better and with good grades of renewal. I wish you all a long and very happy life. Thank you, Mom, for your charity gestures thinking of me. This thanks goes to my dad. My greetings to your and our fellow workers, especially those who have come with you here. An embrace for everyone from São Paulo to Limeira and vice versa. Now, I ask you to bless me with joy. Mama, I believe that you and I have grown tired of crying. Put your joy in our life as always. Always be our Nair Bello, that we were attentive in everything good and beautiful that your art produces. My hug to you and to my father, with a kiss from the son more and more thankful and always more son of you two by the heart and with all the heart from “Mané”. Manoel Francisco Neto.

 

Notes and information:

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1. Grandmother Maria: Maria da Piedade Francisco, his paternal great-grandmother, born in Portugal and died in Limeira in December 1955, a month after Manoel was born. Dr.

2. Trajano de Barros Camargo: citizen of the city of Limeira, where he founded the first existing industry there. The main street and the Industrial school of Limeira take his name.

3. Manoel refers to a conversation he had with his mother days before his death, where he told her that he did not want to accompany the family on their trip to Limeira, as they always did on Christmas. Only his parents knew about this conversation.

4. Maria Angelica de Vasconcellos: No one in the family remembered this name, not even Manoel’s parents, but a great-aunt remembered that she was a deceased lady who lived in the city of Limeira Many years ago, having been married to a certain Captain Vasconcellos.

5. Great-grandfather Souza: Cândido Soares de Souza, great-grandfather for his paternal side, died in Limeira in 1939, a city where he always lived.

6. Friar John: From the indications of the message, this must be Friar “John of the Mercy” that, according to the history of the founding of Limeira city, gave birth to his name. Accompanying a caravan in 1781, Friar John made took with him a large quantity of limes, since at the time it was common for these fruits to preserve those who sucked them from the malignant fevers. However, when Friar John reached the place “Morro Azul" ranch, he suffered a violent fever attack that killed him. The religious was buried along with the rest of the limes. Some time later, near the cross, a lime tree was born, and the landing was renamed Limeira ranch.

7. Oduvaldo: This must be Oduvaldo Viana Filho, theatrical author who died at the age of 36, in Rio de Janeiro, leaving countless plays, including "Alegro Desbum". While still alive, one afternoon at Cidinha Campos' house in Rio, he invited Nair Bello (Manoel’s mother) to take one of the roles on this play, which he had just written. At the time, Nair did not accept the invitation and the play was launched in Rio with another interpreter. Two months after the disappearance of her son, under a great depression and manifest desire to abandon her artistic life, Nair was approached by director José Renato, who invited her to play the same role that Oduvaldo had destined her. Nair accepted the invitation and "Alegro Desbum" was released in March 1976, having remained in the show for 14 months.

8. Manoel refers to his concern to keep his family members away from the possible hypothesis that he could have committed suicide. This concern was justified by a series of coincidences one month before the accident. In a few days, in November, Manoel quit the school and his job and broke the engagement he had with a young woman from Rio de Janeiro. Later, his relatives added up to his strange behavior, looking as if he was preparing to undo all the bonds he had on earth, except the family.

9. Aparecida: Maria Aparecida Souza Francisco, Manoel’s sister, also quoted in the message

 

In an interview, Nair Bello said that there is no more difficult time for a mother than losing a child and that receiving the message from Manoel, psychographed by Chico, helped her continue living.

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