Our interviewee this week is Dalva Silva Souza (photo). She was born in the city of Volta Redonda, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, where she has been deeply involved in the evangelisation of children and young people. Since 1982 she has lived in Vitória, capital of the state of Espírito Santo, where she´s involved with the work of the local spiritist federation and the group Comunidade Espírita Esperança. Dalva Silva Souza is the author and co-author of several spiritist books, on issues such as healing, marital problems and a guide for parents and teachers of teenagers. She had close contact with the

well respected spiritist researcher, Lamartine Palhano Júnior.

O Consolador: Please summarise for our readers the achievements of Lamartine Palhano, his biography, his professional career and his work with Spiritism. 

Lamartine Palhano Júnior was one of the most brilliant researchers on Spiritism in Brazil. He was born in Minas Gerais, in the town of Coronel Fabriciano, on 15 December, 1946, but moved still as a child to the city of Vitória. He was passionate about the Doctrine. In 1964, at the young age of 18, he was already playing an active role at the Spiritist Federation in the state of Espírito Santo. He had a very productive academic life. He had a degree in Pharmacy, a master´s degree in Bacteriology and a PhD in Science at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He produced important articles on tuberculosis and published extensivelly on international science magazines. He was a lecturer on Microbiology and Pathology at universities in the state of Espírito Santo. 

O Consolador: How did you meet him? 

I met him soon after I moved to Espírito Santo, in 1982, at the Sunday meetings of Casa Espírita Critã, in Vila Velha. We became friends a few years later, in 1988, when he went to a different spiritist centre in the city of Vitória to launch his book, “The Truth of Nostradamus”. At the occasion, he invited me to join a research in an area I was working with. He told me he was selecting poems dictated by “dead” artists and sending them to several mediums, in order to compare those works with texts written before they disincarnated. His intention was to prove the survival of the soul. I became very excited about the task and we began to work together, in that and other projects. That particular study was later published, it became the book “The Imortality of the Dead Poets”. 

O Consolador: What books did he publish, how many? 

It´s difficult to list all his books, as they were so many. Palhano produced a wide range of books, for a number of different readers. He catered for the young, the experienced and mature reader, for the researcher. He published books on subjects as diverse as Nostradamus, the ghost of Hydesville, John the Baptist, on prayers, time travelling. I´m very proud to say that I took part in the research for three of his books: the one I mentioned about poetry, another on Healing (Magnetismo Curador) and called Spiritism, the Natural Religion. Some were published by Lachâtre, other by CELD. 

O Consolador:  Where drove him to write so many books? 

Palhano was very enthusiastic about studying continuously, about sharing knowledge. I think that´s the motivation behind the books he wrote, the will to share all that he learned from his research. He founded two institutions that became a reference for the research of Spiritism in Brazil (FESPE and CIPES). In all those years we worked together, I could experience the strength of his idealism and his love of the Doctrine. He used to say that “Spiritism has been for me a flag pointing to the sky, but with its mast firmly stuck to the Earth.” 

O Consolador: What are in your view his most relevant books? 

It´s difficult to pick on particular book or even to highlight a particular area of knowledge from his extensive bibliography and wide range of interests. He worked in so many areas – courses, campaigns, research, the doctrination of young people. In other words, he was an enthusiastic worker, dealing with the subjects that really interested him. 

O Consolador: How was the spiritist group he worked with? 

FESPE (Espírito Santo State Foundation of Spiritist Research) was a unique spiritist organisation. It wasn´t a proper spiritist group or an institute, it was a body dedicated solely to resarching Spiritism and taking its message to the wider public. It was an organisation which nurtured and encouraged the development of spiritist ideas. Among those who took part in FESPE´s activities from its foundation were Walace Fernado Archanjo, Hélio Bergo and others. FESPE manage to produce a great deal in the few years it was active. It even went beyong the borders of Brazil, when the researche Maria do Carmo Schneider presented her work at the World Spiritist Congress in Madrid, in 1992. Her paper analysed the poems of Victor Hugo and talked also about the concept of Spiritism as a natural religion, a work which began with the research carried out by Palhano and me.  

O Consolador: What was the strongest point of his research? 

The consistency with the theoretical base of the Spiritist Doctrine and the Pentateuch of Kardec, the five core works of the Doctrine. 

O Consolador: Tell us something about his personal life... 

Palhano went through a very hard time when he got cancer and had to undergo a very invasive treatment. But the pain didn´t affect his mood, it didn´t stop him either. On the contrary. At that time, he came up with the idea of setting up the research group, gathering around him people with same passion for research and Spiritism. 

O Consolador: Of all the research he carried out, which one would you like to mention? 

The work that came out ot the mediunic laboratory he set up. He wrote several books on the issue. 

O Consolador: What would you like to add? 

This great companion, whose departure to the Spiritual World took place in the year 2000, is deeply missed. He left a huge gap, but Palhano remains among us. Not only in the extensive biography he left, but also in his frequent messages through different mediums. He let us know that he continues to work, but in another stage and in another dimmension, without the constraints and challenges he had to face when he was incarnated. 

O Consolador: What are your final words? 

It would be very important for all of us to rescue the memory of those who dedicated their lives to Spiritism, like Palhano, so we can continue to brandish the flag they carried with such bravery. That would be an important contribution towards the spiritual renewal of the human being, the ultimate goal of Spiritism.