Chico Xavier was a popular medium in Brazil´s spiritism movement. In his life he wrote more than 400 books in a process known as Automatic writing. He was born in 1910 and died in 2002. ** Biography Francisco Cândido Xavier (April 2, 1910 - June 30, 2002), was the most popular and prolific medium in 20th century Brazil's Spiritism movement. He was born in the city of Pedro Leopoldo, State of Minas Gerais and is popularly known as "Chico Xavier" (Chico is the Brazilian nickname for Francisco). Throughout his life he wrote more than 400 books, using a process known as psychography, where his hand was said to be guided by spirits that wanted to leave a written message, or sometimes entire books. Xavier's spiritual guide was called Emmanuel. According to the medium's writings, in Roman times Emmanuel had been Senator Publius Lentulus; he had been reincarnated in Spain as Father Damian, and later as a professor at the Sorbonne. Some of his books are considered by Brazilian spiritist followers to be fundamental for the comprehension of the practical and theoretical aspects of Allan Kardec's doctrine. As reported by Xavier, his spiritual guide Emmanuel specifically warned him that if any teaching seemed to be in contradiction with Jesus Christ's or Allan Kardec's teachings, that he should stay with Jesus Christ and Allan Kardec. Chico Xavier kept a simple life, donating all the income from the books he wrote and the donations he received to charity. He provided food to the needy every day in Uberaba, who would form long lines to also get a word with him. He believed that the message of Spiritism belonged to the world. He received a book in English reportedly from US-born spirit authors ("Between Brothers of Other Lands") while on a trip to the US in 1965, and messages in various languages to the effect that every country has a role to play in spreading the Gospel, including Brazil (Brasil, Coração do Mundo, Pátria do Evangelho (Brazil, Heart of the World, Home of the Gospel). These messages contained guidelines directing that the word foreign must be scratched from the dictionary -- "The children of other homelands must be treated as true brothers". His appearances on TV talk shows in the late 1960s and early 1970s helped to establish Kardecist Spiritism as one of the main religions professed in Brazil. At the peak of his activities, it was common for celebrities to visit his home in the city of Uberaba, Minas Gerais, for moral and spiritual advice, or just for talking. For more than 30 years he was seen as a kind of national "guru" whose advice people sought out. He often stressed the point that none of the abilities attributed to him were really his, but that he was only a channel for the work of the spirits; that he was not able to produce any miracle, such as healing people, and he could not contact someone that was dead, unless that person was willing to be contacted. He had many public presentations and on national TV, with live spiritual communication at the request of attendees, who could positively verify the personal or informative details of such communications. He had no concern to prove himself or to submit to scientific experiments, to convince skeptics of his claims. His attitude is common in spiritism, where followers are usually not concerned about proselitism. He claimed in a public TV interview (see first question and answer in the segment national TV) that the very size of his body of work (about a hundred thousand pages), the diversity of their subjects, the large number of supposedly different authors (more than 400, some of them foreign), their different styles and their elevated moral would make it impossible for him to be their author. Chico Xavier's popularity remained unchanged in Brazil throughout his life. Despite his health problems (general weakness as a consequence of old age), he kept working up to his death, on June 30, 2002. His death was marked by a remarkable coincidence, as he died on the same day the Brazilian football (soccer) team won the 2002 World Cup. He had declared in a TV interview, years before, that he wished to die on a very happy day for the country, so that his death would not be remembered with sorrow. ** Notes * A letter channeled by Chico Xavier from a supposed victim of a murder once helped to establish the innocence of the presumed murderer. The case became nationally famous because the case had already been tried and a man was convicted. The letter, among other evidence presented in trial, caused the presumed murderer to be freed.[1] * As told in his biography As Vidas de Chico Xavier (The Lives of Chico Xavier), Xavier, on a trip to the United States, supposedly encountered the spirit of Marilyn Monroe while visiting her grave. According to Xavier, Marilyn revealed to him that while she was suffering from depression at the time of her death, her death was accidental. ** List of Works by Chico Xavier The following is an incomplete (he wrote about 400 books) alphabetical list which includes only some of the titles that are still popular and influential in Brazilian Spiritism: * A Caminho da Luz (Towards the Light) * Ação e Reação (Action and Reaction) * A Vida Continua (And Life Goes On) * Crianças no Além (Children from the Beyond) * Desobsessão (Disobsession) * Entre Dois Mundos (Between Two Worlds) * Há 2000 Anos (2000 Years Ago) * Jesus no Lar (Jesus at Home) * Livro da Esperança (Book of Hope) * Nos Domínios da Mediunidade (In the Realms of Mediunity) * Nosso Lar (Our Home): Translated to English as The Astral City * O Pão Nosso (Our Daily Bread) * Parnaso de Além-Túmulo (Poetry from Beyond the Grave)