Herculano Pires and the Works of Andre Luiz (Part 2)

The arising of the French Spiritist Union

A timely digital publication was published by the Classical Spiritist Authors gathering the speeches and decisions recorded in the Minutes of the meetings held between December 24, 1882 and January 15, 1883, related to the founding of the Union Spirite Française (French Spiritist Union).¹

The presentation is by Alexandre Delanne, Allan Kardec's great friend, who commented: "The principles of our philosophy have been gathered, as you know, into a body of doctrine by our master, who we miss so much, Allan Kardec: it took his genius and the cooperation of the invisible world to spread so much and so quickly, in the masses, our so fair, comforting and so great ideas. His departure from Earth was a very delicate loss for his followers and a great loss in the development of our Doctrine. Since his death, in fact, we have noticed that Spiritism has slowed down”. He mentions as a cause the Franco-Prussian war and the dispersion of the Spiritists, losing the "unity in study".¹ Remarkable speeches were made by Gabriel Delanne and by Leon Denis, this one with a warm appeal to union and concord.

The Statute of the French Spiritist Union defines in its Article 1:

"The Union has the purpose of gathering the French Spiritists, the study of all Spiritist phenomena, and the propagation of the philosophy and morality of Spiritism by all means authorized by law and especially by the publication of a bi-monthly newspaper entitled Le Spiritism, an organ of the French Spiritist Union”. The purpose of the new magazine is to teach "according to the ideas enunciated by Allan Kardec, i.e., in a simple, clear, and especially within the reach of the new followers, who only want to know the customs in the world of the Spirits, the great homeland to which we will return”.¹

Thirteen years after the disincarnating of the Encoder, the publication on the French Spiritist Union registers historical moments about an environment of dissension and concerns with the situation of Spiritism. The founding of this Union was a reaction to the misrepresentations influenced by Leymarie regarding the Anonymous Society for the Continuation of Spiritist Works by Allan Kardec and the Spiritist Magazine.

Of the list of 18 founders we highlight: Alexandre Delanne, Gabriel Delanne, Leon Denis, and Berthe Froppo. There are large numbers of signatures as members of the Union and subscribers to the new magazine. The support of Amelie Boudet, already in the last moments of his physical life, and the commitment of the founders of the French Spiritist Union, show that the genuine friends and followers of Allan Kardec were idealists and faithful to his work.

As a synthesis of the last and complex decades of the nineteenth century, articles of the time, were collected - from the Revue Spirite and Le Spiritisme - in the publication entitled "Influences on Spiritism after Allan Kardec", translated by Rogerio Miguez (2018)⁷. Of particular note were texts by Henri Sausse, Berthe Fropo, Amelie Boudet, Gabriel Delanne, Leon Denis, and Anna Blackwell, who took the lead in defending the Doctrine of Spirits. The translator highlights "according to the reports of Henri Sausse and Berthe Fropo, when they challenged Pierre Leymarie to seek the truth under the seal of a Jury of Honor, it seems that it was not accepted. For whoever is sure of what he says is not afraid to be subject to man’s justice to clarify the facts, if need be, because that of God will be done inexorably, but with mildness and mercy."²

The translator Miguez ponders that "we are by no means meant to judge Pierre Leymarie, for this judgment belongs to God, nevertheless: to inform the movement about ancient discussions of interest to all; demonstrate how there is a consistent doubt about who made changes in theGenesis; to build a part of the History of the Spiritism, highlighting old personages who remained in the obscurity and had great importance in the development and spreading of the Doctrine; and more, to arouse the curiosity of the Spiritists in knowing how many difficulties arose after the disembodiment of Allan Kardec, will always be opportune, healthy and recommended to those looking only for the truth and nothing else".²

In 1889 Paris hosts the 2^nd Spiritist and Spiritualist Congress³, the year following the pioneering event held in Barcelona. The publication of the Minutes of the Congress of Paris register that it gathered "the principal spiritualist schools: the Kardecists, the followers of Swedenborg, the Theosophists, the Kabbalists and the Rosicrucians". There were many celebrities present. The inaugural session was presided over by J. Lermina, assisted by the philosopher Charles Fauvety, the Duchess of Pomar, Marcus de Veze and Eugene Nus. The rapporteur of the works was Dr. Encausse (Papus), an occultist, leader of the hermetic magazine The initiation. There were commissions on spiritualism in general, philosophy and social issues, occultism, propaganda. The latter was presided over by Leon Denis, who soon aroused the attention of the congressmen and his first speech was interrupted by applause and he already revealed himself as a leader.^{3, 4}

In this Congress there were strong disagreements on certain points of the Spiritist Doctrine, including with Leymarie interferences. During the discussions Denis appeared as the safest defender of the Kardecist thesis. The president of the Congress had accepted this thesis with restraint, considering it only a hypothesis of transition between the Christian concept and the one of the future. Contrary to the president, referring to the small dissident schools which had criticized Allan Kardec's work, Denis said: "It has been strived, he said, to divulge in France a Spiritism called positivist, a dry and cold doctrine having nothing in common with Kardecism. [...] Allan Kardec has been, they say, very cautious and gave reason in his work for the mystical and catholic ideas. It is not accurate. The Master defended Christianity rather than Catholicism. Allan Kardec kept the gospel morality because it is not only the morality of a religion, of a people, of a race, but because it is a superior, eternal morality that it rebuilt and will rebuild both earthly societies and societies of space”.⁴

The Revue Spirite reports the launching of the Genesis in 2018, according to the first edition of 1868, and comments: "On this occasion, several Spiritist researchers from all over the world (Uruguay, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, United States and France) worked on the subject, sometimes independently of each other, and all of them have established that there is a legitimate doubt about the present edition of the Genesis, which is in conformity with the 5th edition published in 1872, after the disembodiment of Allan Kardec"⁵ (free translation of the author). And it states: "The Genesis, elaborated by Le Mouvement Spirite Francophone, elaborated according to the texts of the first four editions, published during the life of the author"; i.e. the editions made by Allan Kardec in 1868. This Francophone magazine transcribes a chapter of the book of Simoni Privato Goidanich's⁶ into French. The Revue Spirite is a continuation of the Magazine founded by Allan Kardec in 1858, being an official organ of the International Spiritist Council edited by Le Mouvement Spirite Francophone.

In the "Editor's Note" of the new French edition of The Genesis, it is commented that "the analysis of the changes shows that numerous passages were suppressed in the 5th edition, others were altered..." ⁷

Some facts referring to the 20 years after the disembodiment of Allan Kardec already point to complex moments lived by Spiritism in France and its repercussions in several countries, and which should deserve some reflection in our days.

References:

1) Foundation of the French Spiritist Union. Translated by Ferreira Filho, Abilio.  Digital Publisher Classic Spiritist Authors, 2018: click this link-1

2) Influences on Spiritism after Allan Kardec - Articles from Revue Spirite and Le Spiritisme. Translated by Miguez Rogerio, Digital Publisher Classic Spiritist Authors, 2018: click this link-2

3) Compte rendu du Congres Spirite et Spiritualiste International. Paris: Librairie Spirite. 1890. p. 454: click this link-3

4) Luce, Gaston. Translated by Maillet, Miguel. Life and work of Leon Denis. Sao Paulo: Edicel. 1968. P. 240.

5) Nouvelle edition de la Genese selon le Spiritisme. Revue Spirite. 161e année. 1st quarter 2018. pp. 36-42.

6) Goidanich, Simoni Privato. The legacy of Allan Kardec. 1^st ed. Sao Paulo: USE. 2018. p. 446.

7) Kardec, Allan. The Genesis, miracles and predictions according to Spiritism. 1^st

Edition. Le Mouvement Spirite Francophone. 2018. P. 368.

Antonio Cesar Perri de Carvalho was president of FEB (Brazilian Spiritist Federation) and member of the Executive Committee of the International Spiritist Council.

Translation:
Eleni Frangatos - eleni.moreira@uol.com.br