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Kardec was born in Lyon, on October 3rd
1804 and died in Paris, on March 31st
1869. Many things have been written about
his personality, including many
biographies about his missionary
accomplishments.
Allan Kardec and his life were well known
before the date of 18th of
April 1857, when the Spirit’s Book was
published, which started the process of
the Spiritist Codification. In this
summary of his biography, we will give you
some information about his unique
personality, some of those already
generally known.
His real name was Hippolyte-Léon-Denizard
Rivail. He was known as “Hippolyte” by his
family, “Professor Rivail” by the society
and as "H-L-D Rivail" in his literature.
Since 18 years old, he was a Science and
Literature teacher, and from 20 years of
age, known as author of didactic books.
His spiritist books were written with the
pseudonym of Allan Kardec. Kardec stood
out in his profession of which he was
educated in Switzerland. He was educated
in the school of one of the world’s best
known teachers from the beginning of the
XIX century and still renowned Master:
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi.
Later on in Paris, he succeed Pestalozzi.
Allan Kardec was 51 when he dedicated
himself to the observation and research of
spirits phenomena without the natural
enthusiasm of people that are immature
and inexperienced. His own reputation of
a cult man was an obstacle for some people
who were against Spiritism. Two years
later, in 1857, he published The Spirit’s
Books. In 1858, the publication of the
famous Spiritist Magazines started and in
1861, Kardec published The Medium’s Book.
In 1864 The Gospel according to Spiritism
was published, followed by Heaven and Hell
in 1865. Finally, in 1868, Genesis
completed the basis of Spiritism.
In charge of the codification of Spiritism,
Allan Kardec counted on three girls who
were the main mediums of The Spirit’s
Book: Caroline Baudin, Julie Baudin and
Ruth Celine Japhet. The first two were
used as a connection of the essence of the
spiritists teachings and the last one was
used for complementary clarification.
After finishing the book containing all
the studies, by the spirits suggestion
Kardec used other mediums not known by the
first group. Between the mediums were
Japhet and Roustan, intuitive medium; Mrs.
Canu, unconscious sleepwalker; Mr. Canu,
medium of incorporation; Mrs. Leclerc,
medium of psychograph; Mrs. Clement,
medium of incorporation and psychograph;
Mrs. De Pleinemaison, medium of
inspiration; Mr. Roger, clairvoyant; and
finally Mrs. Aline Carlotti, medium of
psychograph and incorporation.
Writing about the personality of Professor
Rivail, Dr. Silvino Canuto Abreu affirmed:
“Of more culture than the average man from
his age and time, he inspired respect from
others since he was young. With a
temperament not inclined to fantasy,
without poetic or romantic instinct, he
was totally dedicated to the method, to
the order and to the mental discipline. He
practiced, with written or spoken words,
the precision, the sharpness, the
simplicity inside the pureness, avoiding
redundancies. Short, 1.65m of height, and
presenting delicate structure, although
healthy and resilient, Professor Rivail
had a pale and sagging face and freckled
skin with many lines. He had long and wide
face with thick brown eyebrows, straight
grey hair with almost none on the back of
his head. His hair was parted from the
left to the right. He also had a long grey
beard which covered his neck and chin. His
eyes were small and deep with black bags
under them. His nose was big, with flared
nostrils. His moustache was almost all
white covering a hairy mole. He had a
serious look when he was studying or
magnetizing, but full of charming life
when teaching or lecturing. The most
impressive part of him was the weird and
mysterious look, charming because of the
sweetness of his pupils and severe as he
penetrated the listener’s soul. He looked
at the listener and his eyes wouldn’t move
around unless he was meditating by
himself. The most characteristic of his
personality was his voice, clear and firm,
pleasant and fluent which could switch
from soft to an explosion of eloquence.
His gestures were sober and polite. When
he listened to someone, he put his right
thumb up between two buttons of his
waistcoat, not to show impatience, but the
opposite, to convince of his tolerance and
attention. Talking to disciples or close
friends, he put sometimes his right hand
on the person’s shoulder in a friendly
gesture. He maintained rigorous social
etiquette when around ladies.”
Because of his deep and unlimited love to
the goodness and the truth, Allan Kardec
built to the whole eternity the biggest
monument of wisdom that humanity could
wish, resolving big mysteries of life,
destiny and pain, by the rational thinking
of multiple existences. Everything side by
side with the primary principles of
Christianity.
Son of Catholic parents, Allan Kardec was
raised in the Protestantism, but he didn’t
follow those religions, preferring to stay
in the position of the free thinker and
man of analysis. The strictness of dogma
disturbed him, which kept him away from
the religious concepts. The excessive
symbolism of theologies and orthodoxies,
turned him incompatible with the
principles of a blind and irrational
faith. In this position, he faced a life
of an intellectual man, prudent, someone
of good character and deep knowledge used
to examine the phenomena of
“table-turning”. At this time, the world
was curious about the various psychic
facts that happened everywhere. Later on,
these facts turned into the Doctrine of
consolation that was called Spiritism
having as its founder the Professor of
Lyon.
Spiritism isn’t men’s creation, in fact,
it’s a divine revelation for Humanity to
defend the principles left from Jesus,
which arrived in a time when materialism
gathered together many great intellectual
men from Europe and America. The first
Spiritist society was founded by Allan
Kardec, in Paris, on the 1st of
April 1858. It was called “Parisian
Society of Spiritist Studies”. To this
society, he dedicated himself in order to
make it achieve the noble goals it was
created for.
Allan Kardec was invulnerable to the
possibility of writing under the influence
of partial concepts. A man of rational
character and very strict, he observed the
facts and from these observations he
understood the rules behind them.
The codification of the Spiritist Doctrine
put Allan Kardec in the gallery of the
biggest missionaries and helpers of
Humanity. His achievements are as
extraordinary as the French Revolution.
The French Revolution set man’s rights
within the society, the Spiritist Doctrine
set the connection between man and the
universe including complex subjects such
as death, which hadn’t been resolved by
religions before then. Kardec’s mission,
as said before by the Spirit of Truth, was
hard and dangerous, because it wasn’t only
about codification, but mainly about
shaking and transforming Human kind. His
mission was so tough that, in a note of 1st
of January 1867, Kardec referred to his
friends ingratitude, to hate from enemies,
to calumny and lies from extremists.
However, he didn’t fail in his mission.
Translation
CRISTIANE PARMITER
crisparmiter@gmail.com
Londres (Reino
Unido)
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