Francisco Cândido Xavier (2 April 1910 – 30 June 2002), born Francisco de Paula Cândido () and commonly known as Chico Xavier (), was a Brazilian philanthropist and spiritist medium. Over a period of 60 years, he wrote over 490 books and several thousand letters claiming to use a process known as "psychography". Books based on old letters and manuscripts were published posthumously, bringing the total number of books to 496.Playfair, Guy Lyon. Chico Xavier, Medium of the Century. Roundtable Publishing, 2010, Lucchetti G, Daher JC Jr, Iandoli D Jr, Gonçalves JP, Lucchetti AL. Historical and cultural aspects of the pineal gland: comparison between the theories provided by Spiritism in the 1940s and the current scientific evidence. . Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2013;34(8):745–55. Indexed in PubMed .Indexed in Espirita .in Chico Xavier
Xavier's works covered a wide range of topics, including religion, philosophy, historical romances and novels, Portuguese literature, poetry, and science, as well as thousands of letters intended to console bereaved families during his psychographic sessions. His books sold an estimated 50 million copies.Langellier JP. Un homme insignifiant . Le Monde, 12/05/2010.Moreira-Almeida, Alexander. Scientific research on mediumship and mind-brain relationship: reviewing the evidence (In Portuguese). Rev. psiquiatr. clín. vol.40 no.6 São Paulo 2013.Martha Mendonça. Chico Xavier e a alma do Brasil (In Portuguese). Época Magazine, 01/03/2010.
Xavier believed that his spiritual guide Emmanuel lived in ancient Rome as Senator Publius Lentulus, was reincarnated in Spain as Father Damien, and later as a professor at the Sorbonne.
He often mentioned he could not contact a deceased person unless the spirit was willing to be contacted. His appearances on TV talk shows in the late 1960s and early 1970s helped to establish Spiritism as one of the major religions professed in Brazil, with more than 5 million followers. Despite his health problems, he kept working up to his death on 30 June 2002 in Uberaba. In 2010, a movie biography entitled Chico Xavier was released in Brazil. Directed by Daniel Filho, the film dramatised Xavier's life.
On 3 October 2012, the SBT television TV show O Maior Brasileiro de Todos os Tempos named Chico Xavier "The Greatest Brazilian of all time", based on a viewer-supported survey.
Xavier has been accused of fraud regarding his claimed abilities, with critics questioning the authenticity of his prolific psychographic output.
Early life Xavier was born in Pedro Leopoldo in the state of Minas Gerais, on 2 April 1910, to João Cândido Xavier, a lottery ticket vendor, and Maria João de Deus, a Catholic housewife. By 1924, he had completed his primary education but did not pursue further schooling. He began a career as a sales clerk.
In May 1927, his sister, Maria Xavier, was having mental disturbances, which many believed were caused by spiritual sources known as obsession. Xavier was inspired to help his sister with mediumship capacities and led him to Spiritism Doctrine. Later, Xavier would claim that several deceased poets had begun to manifest themselves through him, but they only started to identify themselves in 1931.
First works In 1928, Xavier published his first psychographic messages in the newspapers O Jornal in Rio de Janeiro, and Almanaque de Notícias, from Portugal. He became widely known in Brazil in 1931, when he published the book Parnassus Beyond the Tomb (), which contained 259 poems allegedly composed by 56 deceased Brazilian and Portuguese poets. In the same year, he met his spiritual mentor Emmanuel for the first time, who Xavier said gave him his mission to psychograph a sequence of 30 books, and to remain loyal to Jesus and spiritualist Allan Kardec. Later, Xavier claimed that Emmanuel had previously been variously incarnated as the Roman senator Publius Lentulus, as a slave who sympathized with Christianity, and as Jesuit priest Manuel da Nóbrega.
In 1932, the book Parnaso de Além-Túmulo was published by the Brazilian Spiritualist Federation, a compilation of poetry claimed to be dictated by spirits of Brazilian and Portuguese poets.
In 1943, Xavier's novel Nosso Lar was published, which became a best seller and one of the author's most widely-read works. A movie of the same name was released in 2010.
O Cruzeiro report In 1944, journalist David Nasser and photographer Jean Manzon went to Pedro Leopoldo to write a report on Xavier for the Rio de Janeiro-based magazine O Cruzeiro, that Xavier's followers deem to have shown him in an unflattering light. At first, they tried to reach Xavier at the Fazenda Modelo, the State-run farm where he was employed as a typist for most of his life, but the farm's director denied them access, saying that Xavier was tired and needed rest. According to the report, they met with Xavier, never telling him for whom they were working, as he returned from the farm accompanied by a gentleman from Rio who would come to spend weeks at a time with Xavier. The man described Xavier as "[...] a cultured lad. He discusses many subjects, reads a little English and French." and as "a voracious reader" who would have gone through a copy of Man, the Unknown given to him in under five hours. Photos in the story show Xavier's home library with piles of books, with him reading and taking notes.
Xavier's followers claim that Nasser and Manzon gave fake names in order to test Xavier's powers. In an interview in 1980, Nasser said that one night, "Manzon called me and said, 'Have you seen the book that Chico Xavier gave to us?'. I said no. 'Well, take a look,' he said. I was in my library, I picked up the book and written there was this: 'To my brother David Nasser, from Emmanuel'. He had made a similar dedication to Manzon. It is things like that make me very afraid to get involved in Spiritism issues."
Partnership with Waldo Vieira At that time, Chico Xavier met the young student of Medicine and medium Waldo Vieira; together they psychographed several books, until their abruption some years later. In 1959, Francisco moved to Uberaba, where he lived until the end of his days. He continued psychographing several books, approaching topics that were priorities in the 60's; such as sex, drugs, youth issues, technology, space travels, among others. Uberaba then became an informal centre of pilgrimage, with thousands of people arriving every day, people hoping to make contact with deceased relatives. At that time, books of "messages" became popular; letters dictated by spirits of regular people to their family members, proceeding as well with constant campaigns of food and clothing distribution to the poor people around the town.
On 22 May 1965, Chico Xavier and Waldo Vieira travelled to the US in order to disclose spiritism abroad; with the help of Salim Salomão Haddad, president of Christian Spirit Center, and his wife Phillis, they studied English and launched the book titled The World of The Spirits (Ideal Espírita; Portuguese version).
Interviews on the television show Pinga-Fogo At the beginning of 1970, Chico took part in the popular nationwide interview TV program called "Pinga-Fogo" (Dripping Fire), which reached extremely high levels of audience throughout the country.
In his first appearance on the program Pinga-Fogo, journalist and philosopher João de Scantimburgo focused on the authenticity of Xavier's psychographic writing. João de Scantimburgo expressed skepticism about Xavier's prolific output and his ability to convincingly mimic the styles of diverse authors like Humberto de Campos and Guerra Junqueiro. He suggested that Xavier's subconscious, rather than spirits, might be responsible for these literary feats. Xavier, demonstrating his characteristic humility and politeness, countered this by maintaining that he serves merely as a channel for spirit authors, emphasising that they dictate the content while he transcribes it. He acknowledged potential unconscious influences but credited his spirit guide, Emmanuel, for stylistic guidance and refinement. The conversation also touched upon the possibility of historical Catholic saints, such as St. Bridget of Sweden and St. Clare of Montefalco, possessing mediumistic abilities.
Death Chico Xavier spent his last years at the Hélio Angiotti Hospital in Uberaba. On 30 June 2001, exactly one year before he died, a mysterious light was captured by a TV Ideal reporter, which reached Chico Xavier's room. The case was revisited upon his death and subsequent anniversaries.
Chico Xavier died from cardiorespiratory arrest on 30 June 2002, aged 92. According to his friends and family, Xavier had expressed a wish to God to die on a day when the people of Brazil were immersed in happiness and national celebration, believing that this would lessen the sadness of his departure. His eventual death coincided with Brazil's victory in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, approximately nine hours after the final match was concluded.
Skeptical reception In 2010, Kentaro Mori published an article in the Skeptical Inquirer which accused Xavier of fraud. According to Mori, Xavier's close associate Waldo Vieira stated that the staff at Xavier's Spiritist Center in Brazil would help him by gathering information about his clients and faking psychic letters. He was also accused of using perfume in the séance room, which was a common Spiritualist trick to pretend the scent was of supernatural origin. Xavier was associated with the spiritist medium Otília Diogo, who fraudulently pretended to be a spirit by covering herself in white sheets, with a photo of Xavier and a sheeted Diogo being taken in 1964.Mori, Kentaro. (2010). "Spiritualism in Brazil: Alive and Kicking" . Csicop.org. Retrieved 2014-10-11. The skeptic Karen Stollznow has also accused Xavier of hot reading.Stollznow, Karen. (2014). Language Myths, Mysteries and Magic. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 113. "Xavier was revealed to be a cheat. In what is called hot reading, Xavier's staff at his Spiritist Center in Brazil gathered information from clients as they lined up to see the psychic. In the letters from the dead, these details were presented back to the clients, though they had been psychic messages."
Psychographic works Chico Xavier wrote most of 450 allegedly psychographic books. He never admitted to being the author of any of his books. He affirmed he would only reproduce whatever the spirits dictated to him. This is the reason why he would never accept the money attained from selling his books. He sold more than 50 million copies in Portuguese; with translations in English, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto, French, German, Italian, Russian, Romanian, Mandarin, Swedish, Braille, and other languages. He also transcribed around ten thousand letters allegedly from the dead to their families. The letters were declared legitimate by many people, and some of the letters were used as evidence in four criminal trials.Alaide Barbosa dos Santos Filha. A Psicografia como Meio de Prova . Revista Fonte do Direito, Ano I, n. 1, Mar./Abr. 2010.Cintia Alves da Silva. As cartas de Chico Xavier: uma análise semiótica . São Paulo: Cultura Acadêmica – UNESP. 2012. p. 22. Chico Xavier granted all the copyrights to a charity institution since the first book.