Chico Xavier

Francisco was born at 1:00 BRT on 2 April 1910 to João Cândido Xavier, a lottery ticket vendor, and Maria João de Deus, a Catholic housewife. By 1924, Francisco completed his primary education but did not pursue further schooling. He embarked on a career as a sales clerk. ==Contact with Spiritism==

In May 1927, his sister, Maria Xavier, was having mental disturbances, which many believed were caused by spiritual sources known as obsession (Spiritism). This episode allowed Francisco to support his sister with his mediumship capacities and introduced him to the Spiritism Doctrine as well. Simultaneously, he allegedly received a new message from his mother in which she recommended he accomplish all his duties and thoroughly study the books of Allan Kardec. In June, Francisco founded the Spiritist Center Luiz Gonzaga in a wooden warehouse owned by his brother. In July, under the guidance of a so-called "benevolent spirit", he started to psychograph, writing seventeen pages. Later, Xavier would claim that several deceased Poets had begun to manifest themselves through him, but they only started to identify themselves in 1931. In 1928, he published his first psychographic messages in the newspapers "O Jornal", from Rio de Janeiro, and Almanaque de Notícias, from Portugal. ==First works==

He became widely known in Brazil in 1931, when he published the book Parnassus Beyond the Tomb (), which had 259 poems allegedly composed by 56 deceased Brazilian and Portuguese illustrious poets. That year was marked by the medium's "adulthood" and when he firstly met his spiritual Mentor Emmanuel, "Under a tree, near a water reservoir..." (SOUTO MAIOR, 1995:31). According to Chico his Mentor informed about his mission to psychograph a sequence of thirty books and to achieve such a task he would require 3 mandatory conditions: "discipline, discipline and discipline". Emmanuel instructed him to be loyal to Jesus and Kardec, even if it was against his religious beliefs. Later on, the Medium found out that Emmanuel had been the Roman senator Publius Lentulus, further reborn as a slave who sympathized with Christianity, still in another reincarnation, had been a Jesuit priest Manuel da Nóbrega, involved with the Gospel teachings during the colonial period of Brazil in the 18th century. In 1932, the book Parnaso de Além-Túmulo was published by the Federação Espírita Brasileira - FEB (Brazilian Spiritualist Federation). The compilation of poetry dictated by spirits of Brazilian and Portuguese poets achieved enormous impact in the Brazilian press and in public opinion, and yet caused a strong polemic among those involved with Brazilian literature, whose opinions were divided between recognition and accusations of pastiche. The impact increased even more when it was revealed that the books had been written by a "humble clerk" from a warehouse in the countryside of Minas Gerais (Brazilian state where the medium was born), who had barely finished primary school. It is said that the spirit of his mother advised him not to respond to the criticism. The copyrights of all his books were kindly granted to the FEB. At that period, he started a relationship with Manuel Quintão and Wantuil de Freitas. Still at the same period, an ocular cataract was found, a problem which he had to live with for the rest of his life. The spirits and his mentors, Emmanuel and Bezerra de Menezes, instructed him to be treated with the resources of human medicine and told him not to count on any kind of privileges from the spirits. He kept working as a clerk–typist at the model farm from the Regional Inspectorate of the Department of Livestock Development. He started to perform at Centro Espírita Luís Gonzaga in 1935, helping the ones in need with prescriptions, advice and producing psychographic books. The farm manager and agronomist Rômulo Joviano, also spiritist who attended all the seances at Centro Luiz Gonzaga, where he later became the president., besides giving Francisco a job, he also cooperated with the medium, by allowing him some free time to find the necessary peace to execute his psychographic works, It was in a period that Francisco was using the basement of Joviano's house to perform his psychographic works, when one of his most remarkable books, titled Paulo e Estevão (Paul and Stevan) came out. At the same time, a long refusal of gifts and honours started and lasted all his life, as an example: Fred Figner granted Francisco a huge amount of money in his will, which was promptly granted to FEB, by the medium. As well as notoriety, the criticism from people who tried to discredit him strongly persisted. Chico Xavier said that spiritual foes also tried to involve him in negative fluids and temptations, apart from all living people. Souto Maior (Brazilian journalist) reports an attempt of "lynching by spirits", as well as an episode in which naked girls tried to seduce the medium in his bathtub. Note that, in both episodes, there are common narrative aspects to the other proofs, commonly mentioned in stories of holiness. ==Lawsuit from the widow of Humberto de Campos==

During 1930s, the publishing of the romances attributed to Emmanuel and the book Brasil, Coração do Mundo, Pátria do Evangelho, attributed to the spirit of Humberto de Campos, were highlighted; in which the story of Brazil is interpreted in a mythical and theological way. As a consequence, the last book mentioned here brought him a lawsuit from the widow of Humberto de Campos, who pleaded for the psychographed books copyrights, in case the legitimacy of the famous author from Maranhão (A state of Brazil) was proven. The medium's defense was supported by the FEB, further resulting in the classic A Psicografia Perante os Tribunais, (the psychography in the view of court) written by the lawyer Miguel Timponi. along the trial, the judge decided that book copyrights refer to books recognized while the author is alive; since it would be impossible for the court to prove the existence of mediunity. Even so, in order to avoid problems in the future, the spiritual writer's name was substituted by the nickname "Irmão X" (Brother X). At that time, Francisco was hired by the federal public service as a helper at the Ministério da Agricultura (Ministry of Agriculture). It is important to highlight that, throughout his career as a public worker, there is no record of any absence from work. ==Nosso Lar==

In 1943, one of the most popular books in Brazilian spiritist literature was published, the novel titled Nosso Lar, the best seller and most disclosed from the medium's extensive psychographic writings, which became a movie of the same name in 2010. This is the first book from a series whose authorship is attributed to the spirit of André Luis. During that time, the fame of Chico Xavier (Francisco's nickname) was increasing, and more and more people looked for him in search of healing and messages, transforming the small town of Pedro Leopoldo into an informal centre of pilgrimage. Francisco's former boss José Felizardo died very poor, the medium then strived to get him a decent funeral. He went around the town asking for donations, knocking on everyone's door to collect money for the burial. According to Francisco's biographer Ubiratan Machado, "...even a blind homeless man donated the donations he had collected that day". (MACHADO, 1996:53). ==The Amauri Pena Case==

In 1958, the medium was involved in a controversial case due to the accusations coming from his nephew, Amauri Pena, son of Francisco's sister. The nephew was psychographic Medium and announced to the press to be a fraud, a very capable impostor, extending his declaration to his uncle Xavier. Chico denied any wrongdoing and any proximity or involvement with the nephew. Later remorseful by the damage he caused to his uncle's reputation, he asked for forgiveness and dropped all the accusations he previously made. Amauri was then hospitalized in a mental hospital in São Paulo, where he eventually died at age 27. ==Coverage on the O Cruzeiro magazine==

In 1944, journalist David Nasser and photographer Jean Manzon went to Pedro Leopoldo to write a report on Xavier for the Rio de Janeiro-based magazine O Cruzeiro, that Xavier's followers deem to have shown him in an unflattering light. At first, they tried to reach Xavier at the Fazenda Modelo, the State-run farm where he was employed as a typist for most of his life, but the farm's director denied them access, saying that Xavier was tired and needed rest. According to the report, they met with Xavier, never telling him for whom they were working, as he returned from the farm accompanied by a gentleman from Rio who would come to spend weeks at a time with Xavier. The man described Xavier as "[...] a cultured lad. He discusses many subjects, reads a little English and French." and as "a voracious reader" who would have gone through a copy of Man, the Unknown given to him in under five hours. Photos in the story show Xavier's home library with piles of books, with him reading and taking notes. ==Partnership with Waldo Vieira==

At that time, Chico Xavier met the young student of Medicine and medium Waldo Vieira; together they psychographed several books, until their abruption some years later. In 1959, Francisco moved to Uberaba, where he lived until the end of his days. He continued psychographing several books, approaching topics that were priorities in the 60's; such as sex, drugs, youth issues, technology, space travels, among others. Uberaba then became an informal centre of pilgrimage, with thousands of people arriving every day, people hoping to make contact with deceased relatives. At that time, books of "messages" became popular; letters dictated by spirits of regular people to their family members, proceeding as well with constant campaigns of food and clothing distribution to the poor people around the town. On 22 May 1965, Chico Xavier and Waldo Vieira travelled to the US in order to disclose spiritism abroad; with the help of Salim Salomão Haddad, president of Christian Spirit Center, and his wife Phillis, they studied English and launched the book titled The World of The Spirits (Ideal Espírita; Portuguese version). ==Interviews on the television show Pinga-Fogo==

At the beginning of 1970, Chico took part in the popular nationwide interview TV program called "Pinga-Fogo" (Dripping Fire), which reached extremely high levels of audience throughout the country. In his first appearance on the program Pinga-Fogo, journalist and philosopher João de Scantimburgo focused on the authenticity of Xavier's psychographic writing. João de Scantimburgo expressed skepticism about Xavier's prolific output and his ability to convincingly mimic the styles of diverse authors like Humberto de Campos and Guerra Junqueiro. He suggested that Xavier's subconscious, rather than spirits, might be responsible for these literary feats. Xavier, demonstrating his characteristic humility and politeness, countered this by maintaining that he serves merely as a channel for spirit authors, emphasising that they dictate the content while he transcribes it. He acknowledged potential unconscious influences but credited his spirit guide, Emmanuel, for stylistic guidance and refinement. The conversation also touched upon the possibility of historical Catholic saints, such as St. Bridget of Sweden and St. Clare of Montefalco, possessing mediumistic abilities. ==The 1980s and the 1990s==

At that time, his fame extended to other parts of the world, with several books translated into other languages, as well as adaptations for soap opera versions. By the end of 1990, the medium had already psychographed more than four hundred books. At that time, it was estimated that approximately fifty million spiritist books were circulating in Brazil, of which fifteen million of them were attributed to Chico Xavier and twelve million to Kardec (SANTOS, 1997:89). In 1994, the American tabloid National Examiner published an article saying, "Ghost writers make novelist a millionaire" The article was vaunted in Brazil by the extinct news magazine; revista Manchete, titled as Secretary of Ghosts, where it said that, according to National Examiner information; the Brazilian medium had made twenty million dollars as a "Secretary of Ghosts". The Manchete magazine proceeded saying: "According to the newspapers, he is the first one to have admitted that the 380 books he had produced were by 'ghost-writers', "literally ghosts'", concluding that Chico simply transcribes psychographed books through more than 500 deceased and buried writers and poets. The medium; did not respond to the attacks, but the FEB, publisher of most of Chico's books; through its then president Juvanir Borges de Souza sent a letter to the magazine; informing them that; all copyrights and remuneration from Francisco Cândido Xavier's books had been granted to charity; and that the same procedure was being performed with other publishers as well, yet; emphasizing that "the copyrights are granted absolutely for free, in order to make the books affordable enough, and as well contribute to the disclosure of the Spiritist Doctrine". The same president of the FEB, on 4 October, during the first Worldwide Spiritist Congress, presented a "vote of recognition and appreciation to the medium Francisco Cândido Xavier", approved by the FEB National Federative Council, under a proposal presented by the president of Federação Espírita do Estado de Sergipe. (Spiritist Federation from the state of Sergipe) In the document, the entities representing the spiritism in Brazil devoted their gratitude and respect for the medium "for his intense and extended works, for the example of life dedicated to studies and fraternity, disclosure and practices of spiritism, for the spiritual and material guidelines, assistance and help to the neighbor". In his last few years alive, Chico Xavier was at the Hélio Angiotti Hospital in Uberaba. On 30 June 2001, exactly one year before he died, a mysterious light was captured by a TV Ideal reporter, which reached Chico Xavier's room. The case was revisited upon his death and subsequent anniversaries. ==Death==

Chico Xavier died from cardiorespiratory arrest at 19:30 BRT on 30 June 2002, at the venerable age of 92. His friends and family shared that Chico had expressed a unique wish to God regarding the timing of his death. He hoped to die on a day when the people of Brazil were immersed in happiness and national celebration, believing that this would lessen the sadness of his departure. Remarkably, his death coincided with a significant national event: it occurred on the very day Brazil celebrated its victory in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Chico Xavier's death took place approximately nine hours after the final match between Brazil and Germany, aligning poignantly with his wish. ==Biographic movie==

In April 2010, the date Chico Xavier would turn 100 years old, the film "Chico Xavier" was released. It is based on the biography titled "As Vidas de Chico Xavier" (The lives of Chico Xavier), by journalist Marcel Souto Maior, and it was directed and produced by filmmaker Daniel Filho. Chico Xavier is portrayed by actors Matheus Costa, Ângelo Antônio and Nelson Xavier, respectively, during three phases of his life: from 1918 to 1922, 1931 to 1959 and 1969 to 1975. ==Skeptical reception==

In 2010, Kentaro Mori published an article in the Skeptical Inquirer which accused Xavier of fraud. According to Mori, Xavier's close associate Waldo Vieira stated that the staff at Xavier's Spiritist Center in Brazil would help him by gathering information about his clients and faking psychic letters. He was also accused of using perfume in the séance room, which was a common Spiritualist trick to pretend the scent was of supernatural origin. Xavier was associated with the spiritist medium Otília Diogo, who fraudulently pretended to be a spirit by covering herself in white sheets, with a photo of Xavier and a sheeted Diogo being taken in 1964. The skeptic Karen Stollznow has also accused Xavier of hot reading. ==Psychographic works==

.|Chico Xavier psychographing Emmanuel Chico Xavier wrote most of 450 allegedly psychographic books. He never admitted to being the author of any of his books. He affirmed he would only reproduce whatever the spirits dictated to him. This is the reason why he would never accept the money attained from selling his books. He sold more than 50 million copies in Portuguese; with translations in English, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto, French, German, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Mandarin, Swedish, Braille, and other languages. He also transcribed around ten thousand letters allegedly from the dead to their families. The letters were declared legitimate by many people, and some of the letters were used as evidence in four criminal trials. Chico Xavier granted all the copyrights to a charity institution since the first book. His works are published by the Centro Espírita União, by the Casa Editora O Clarim, by Edicel, by the Federação Espírita Brasileira, by the Federação Espírita do Estado de São Paulo, by the Federação Espírita do Rio Grande do Sul, by the Fundação Marieta Gaio, by the Grupo Espírita Emmanuel s/c Editora, by the Comunhão Espírita Cristã, by the Instituto de Difusão Espírita, by the Instituto de Divulgação Espírita André Luiz, by the Livraria Allan Kardec Editora, by the Editora Pensamento, by the Editora Vinha de Luz and by the União Espírita Mineira. Even though he hadn't finished primary high school, he would write around six books a year, among romances, tales, philosophy, rehearsals, apologues, chronics, poems, etc. He is the most read author from Latin America (note: year of 2010). His first books, Parnaso de Além-Túmulo, containing 256 poems attributed to deceased poets, among them, two being the Portuguese João de Deus, Antero de Quental and Guerra Junqueiro and the Brazilians Olavo Bilac, Cruz e Sousa and Augusto dos Anjos, was published for the first time in 1932; the book caused strong admiration and controversy among the literary circle from that time. Among other books, Nosso Lar was the one with the largest circulation, it was first published in 1944, which sold more than two million copies, attributed to the spirit of André Luiz, it was the first volume out of a collection composed by seventeen books, all of them psychographed by Chico Xavier, some of them in partnership with medium Doctor Waldo Vieira. Through the decades, Chico produced thousands of psychographed letters for desperate parents and mothers who came to him in order to receive messages from their deceased sons and daughters. According to a survey from 1990, performed by the Spiritist Medical Association of São Paulo, the letters always contained much information that was somehow familiar to the readers for whom the letters were intended, and 35 per cent of them carried an identical signature to the signature of the deceased. One electroencephalogram study conducted during a mediumnistic trance by Dr. Elias Barbosa, Chico Xavier's family doctor, was reported by "Revista Planeta", a popular news magazine, in June 1973. It was suggested that Chico presented common characteristics of epilepsy, even though he was never epileptic, with claims that his brain activity was somehow "paranormal". Many years later, in February 2010, Dr. Guilherme Gustavo Riccioppo Rodrigues reviewed Barbosa's EEG study and found "no evidence to suggest clinical abnormality, let alone to support the idea that his brain is paranormal". A 2014 study published by parapsychologists in the journal Explore investigated the accuracy of information contained in 13 letters allegedly written by Chico Xavier through psychography (automatic writing) between 1974 and 1979, and claimed that Xavier made 99 accurate claims that he could not have made without supernatural means. The paper was criticized by skeptics and citizen science journalists. , in Galileu magazine and Maurício Tuffani, in the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, who questioned the credibility of results and suggested that the support for Xavier's authenticity as the result of methodological flaws. They also criticized the article because of the low impact factor of the Explore journal. Tuffani published a subsequent response from the parapsychologist , one of the authors of the article, but did not retract their criticisms. ==Tributes==

In 1981, appointed for the Nobel Peace Prize, when his name gathered 2 million signatures for submission. However, the Nobel Peace Prize 1981 was awarded to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In 1999, the Government of the State of Minas Gerais established the "Commendation of Peace Chico Xavier", an award which is annually awarded to individuals or legal entities who work for peace and social well-being. In 2000, Chico was elected the "Mineiro" from the 20th century, In 2006, he was elected the "History's greatest Brazilian", in a contest performed by Época magazine. In 2010, his centenary was marked by numerous celebrations in Brazil, like two feature films and a special postage stamp. The city of Uberaba (Town where Chico lived) recently started the construction of a memorial in his honor. In 2012, on the TV show "O Maior Brasileiro de Todos os Tempos" (The greatest Brazilian of all times), broadcast by SBT (Brazilian Television Channel), he was elected by popular votes, as one of the 12 greatest Brazilian citizens of all times; this way; he went on to the next step (2 August 2012), disputing against Dulce de Souza Lopes Pontes (a religious sister) on a knockout stage, he was elected by 50.5% of the votes. In the semifinal of the program, he disputed against Ayrton Senna, (Brazilian Formula 1 racer), receiving 63.8% of the votes. At the end of the program, Chico competed against Alberto Santos-Dumont (founder of the aviation in Brazil) and Princess Isabel (responsible for the abolition of slavery in Brazil); but, he had been the one elected to become "the greatest Brazilian of all times" with 71.4% of the votes. In 2016, the Chico Xavier Memorial was inaugurated in Uberaba, built in collaboration between the Chico Xavier Institute and the city hall. On 29 October 2020, a life-size bronze statue of Xavier was inaugurated at Praça Rui Barbosa, in Uberaba. It was made by visual artist Vânia Braga. Through the Federal Law No. 14.201 of 2021, Francisco Candido Xavier had his name inscribed in Livro dos Heróis e Heroínas da Pátria (the Book of Heroes and Heroines of the Fatherland), a document that preserves the names of figures who marked the history of Brazil and is found in the Tancredo Neves Pantheon of the Fatherland and Freedom, in Brasilia. ==Main psychographies==