While skeptics choose to remain unmindful to the reality of life after death, the spirit and its progressive march towards perfection, the amount of evidence regarding that matter grows unceasingly.

Within the last hundred and fifty years a great number of intellectuals in various fields of human knowledge, especially in the scientific area, have contributed with important researches in order to help mankind understand its own spiritual reality in a more clear and reasonable way.

To list all of them here would deviate from the main purpose of this work. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning names such as William Crookes, Frederic Wilhelm Myers, Camille Flamarion, Leon Denis, Alfred Russel Wallace, Gabriel Delane, Charles Richet, Arthur Conan Doyle, William James, Sir Olive Lodge, Robert Hare, Gustave Geley, James Hervey Hyslop, William Stainton Moses, Robert Hare, Epes Sargent, Alexandre Aksakof, Robert Dale Owen, Richard Hodgson, Ian Stevenson among many others. It is also opportune to make reference to the extensive evidences comprised in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research in London as well as the American Society for Psychical Research.

The huge amount of evidence in this field discovered by these men through organizations alike, should be enough to lead one to the inevitable conclusion that we are spirits who are here in a journey of learning.

Accordingly, mediumship is the key that will lift up the veil that still lays over the natural link which connects the material and the spiritual worlds. It also holds the secret that will unfold the laws, which at this point is mostly unknown. These laws will make us understand that we all belong to the same and only family that inhabits the universe. This family comprises of all the brotherhood of humanity, incarnate and discarnate, bound in a chain of unavoidable fraternity, under the banner of a true charity and the sovereignty of the same Father – God.

Many devoted men and women throughout the world have contributed significantly to spread the knowledge regarding mediumship. However, only a few of them were able to fulfill the task of being true missionaries in this field, in a sense of not only spreading the messages from the Superior Spirits, but also living accordingly.

Francisco de Paula Candido Xavier, also known as Chico Xavier, lived his life as a true missionary and fulfilled the mission of mediumship according to the most pure and elevated teachings of the Christian precepts:

Love your neighbors and your enemies and give for free what has been received freely.

 Reading the Guardian’s article by Alex Billos (Brazil's leading medium, his many books were dictated by the dead), published in our last Spiritist Messenger, one will realize just how big his work was in the field of mediumship. This fact would make him the greatest medium ever in the history of mankind, because as far as we know, no one else has channeled over four hundred books, which touch almost any subject of human knowledge.

Although our intent is not only emphasizing how big his work was, we would like to share some further information with our readers regarding the capacity of Francisco Cândido Xavier as a medium. Guy Lyon Playfair in his interesting book entitled “The Indefinite Boundary”, while mentioning the series of books known as Nosso Lar,   channeled by the Brazilian medium through the spirit of André Luiz, makes the following assertion:

 “…and most important of all, the series contains a huge mass of information that we cannot possibly expect Chico to have obtained from any normal source. His formal education ended at primary level in 1923, when he was thirteen, and yet the Nosso Lar series  shows clear signs of having been written by somebody with a professional knowledge of medicine, especially anatomy, and far more than the average layman’s familiarity with physics, chemistry, biology, embryology, psychology and the history of evolution. Moreover, the books reveal a complete mastery of the Portuguese language, superior to that of many a Brazilian who has been through a university education.”

 Anyhow, it was the example of a life of humbleness, simplicity and total devotion to his fellow human beings which characterizes him as a true missionary. His entire life was devoted to others and it gives us a slight glimpse of what the real meaning of the word LOVE really is.

 In the aforementioned book, Guy Lyon Playfair bears witness to this aspect of the medium’s life, stating:

 “Chico’s life is a model of Christian humility. He gives all he has, and asks for nothing in return.”

 Guy Lyon Playfair is a journalist who was born in India and educated in London, he lived and worked in Brazil for almost two decades, studied the Spiritist Doctrine and had the opportunity of knowing the medium personally.

In another excellent book entitled “The Flying Cow – Research into Paranormal Phenomena in the World’s most Psychic Country”  he gives us an impressive amount of information regarding the medium, his work and his life. The first chapter of the book is dedicated to Chico Xavier and makes a considerable analysis about some of the interesting books of the series. We would like to share some of this information with our readers.

“Before he left for Uberaba, however, Chico was to produce one of his most impressive books, which seems to have been deliberately planned to confound critics, both as regards its subject matter and the extraordinary way it was put together.

This was Evolution in Two Worlds (Chico’s sixtieth book), and it marked a departure in his routine in that it was the first of a total of seventeen to be automatically written in collaboration with another medium. The second writer was a young doctor and Spiritist called Waldo Vieira, a member of the staff of Uberaba’s dentistry and pharmacy faculty who also ran a free clinic at the centre Chico was to join.

The interesting feature of this collaboration was that Chico, still in Pedro Leopoldo, would receive one chapter while Dr. Vieira would receive the next three days later and 250 miles away. In this way they produced the book’s forty chapters at alternate sessions between January 15th and June 29th, 1958. Only upon completion of his half did Chico get instructions from his guide Emmanuel to contact Dr. Vieira and put the book together. (…) It reveals an immense knowledge of several sciences that no ordinary writer, even a qualified scientist, could have assembled without copious research and note-taking, and despite the wide education gap between the two writers, the unity of style is total. One Chapter frequently begins exactly where the previous one leaves off.” 

The author goes on by describing the role of some of the books in the André Luiz Collection, mentioning particularities regarding other books of the series such as And Life Goes On; Brazil, Heart of the World, Fatherland of the Gospel; and Mechanisms of Mediumship. In his analysis regarding some of the books of the series, he states:

“Tantalizing as such scraps of parascientific information from the other side may be, they are nothing compared to what is to be found in the last two books in the Our Home (Nosso Lar) series. These are Evolution in Two Worlds (1950) and Mechanisms of Medimship (1960), and they contain a mass of technical information on the functioning of both physical and spiritual worlds the like of which has never been received from any source, normal or otherwise, in the history of literature.”

“Mechanisms covers much of the ground mapped out by Kardec in his The Mediums’ Book, which I assume anyone seriously interested in the subject will already have read. It goes much deeper, however, into the actual workings of mediumship, as its title implies, while making it clear that the ultimate mystery of life is just as mysterious to the spirits as it is to us.”

And he follows in his assertions:

“The Our Home collection is the most complete study ever written on the workings of the spirit world. Had it now been written by a supposed spirit, I suspect it would by now be regarded everywhere as a classic. This applies to a fair amount of Chico’s other books as well, especially the poetry and historical novels, for what is most surprising of all about his oeuvre is not so much its quantity as its overall high quality.”

In the work of his divine mission of mediumship, Francisco Candido Xavier’s greatest concern was always to serve his fellow human beings and to help them in order to bear their trials with courage and abnegation. This is what makes him a true missionary, a champion of this noble mission of mediumship, which will play the biggest role in the transformation of our world for years to come. Much is yet to be understood regarding this divine gift that is given to all, despite their social, racial or religious condition.

Another prominent Brazilian medium, Divaldo Pereira Franco, delivered an emphatic hail of gratitude to Chico Xavier’s loyalty to the Spiritist Doctrine’s major precept regarding the practice of medimship, saying:

“His abnegation in the practice of the mediumship, who never commercialized under any pretext, transformed in a safer pattern of moral behavior for anyone that is affected with the spiritual interchange.” 

 Chico Xavier endured many trials in his life of absolute devotion to the practice of his mission as a medium. The first and most devastating one was the orphanage.  His mother died when he was five years old and he was left to have a heartfelt and suffering childhood. At the age of eleven he was already working in a textile factory due to the fact that his income would play an important role in the maintenance of a family of nine children.

It would take too long to describe the type of trials that he went through, but he always persisted renitent in his mission. His family had trouble comprehending him, for he refused to use his mediumship for earthly gains. He was often persecuted by the pulpit, and attacked by those who felt troubled by his devotion to help the needy.

Rather than being upset, he would always wave to those who tried to harm him with a warm message of forgiveness and comfort and invite them to join him in his fight against prejudice and ignorance.  He would wisely and patiently listen to whatever was delivered to him with an unimaginable peace characteristic of those who have their conscience at ease.

"He who has no reason to criticize me deserves no response; whoever does have it, is being truthful, and we are powerless to go against the truth. This is what Emmanuel has been teaching me. For this reason, during my entire life I have tried to listen in silence to the truths and lies that have been said about myself."

Guy Lyon Playfair is emphatic in registering the medium’s absolute lack of interest in profiting from mediumship, which is unanimously recognized by all.

“Yet despite his enormous popularity and record-breaking sales, Francisco Candido Xavier is a poor man. He has never sought nor receive a single payment for anything he has written.”

“Despite the publicity he has attracted throughout his career, though he has never sought any, Chico is a man of almost pathological modesty and humility. He only took up writing in the first place at the insistence of others, he had no thought of publishing at first, and when his first book became a cause célèbre he not only refused to change his daily routine but flatly refused any payment, as he has done ever since.

“The books that pass through my hands”, he has always insisted, “belong to the Spiritual Instructors and Benefactors, and not to me”

“Chico does not enjoy the reputation and affection he has won because of the books he has helped write so much as because of the kind of person he is. Impressive as his literary work is, it is nothing compared to what he has been achieved as a human being.

His entire life story has been one of rejection of material desire and personal ambition, and it is worth noting that he had very considerable wealth and influence within his grasp but voluntarily renounced his claim to it at the very start of his career. It must be much harder to turn your back on power and fortune when you actually have a good chance of winning both, as he had.” 

 Due to the magnitude of the work of the medium Francisco Candido Xavier and his mission, it would be difficult to register much of his accomplishments in this short writing. The medium, his achievements and his mission will undoubtedly be the subject of many inquires and speculation for years to come.

 In conclusion, we would like to call the reader’s attention to a very important point, which constitutes the main objective of this article.

 Since the beginning of his mission his main spirit mentor, Emmanuel, taught him to be loyal to Jesus Christ and to the Spiritist Doctrine, codified by Allan Kardec. This spirit mentor who would follow the medium and give him guidance throughout his entire life was so strict in his warnings that he once stated:

 “If one day I provide you with counsel that is not in conformity with Jesus and Kardec, stay with them and forget me.”

The life and the achievements of Francisco de Paula Candido Xavier through his missionary task as a medium ought to be a safer pattern of moral behavior for anyone, and especially for those who are committed to the sacred duty of mediumship.