Paul of Tarsus, also called Saint Paul, the Apostle, is considered the second major figure in the history of Christianity. The letters he wrote to the new christian communities he founded during his trips to Gentile (non-Jewish) people compound a great part of the New Testament, and have had enormous influence on Christianity.

Saul of Tarsus was born of Jewish parents before 10 of the common era in Tarsus [Cilicia – now Turkey]— and died after 63 in Rome [Italy]). He was a prominent jew and as a member of the Pharisees he spent much of the first half of his life persecuting the nascent Christian movement until he was converted to faith in Jesus Christ on his way to Damascus when he had a vision that changed his life: Paul saw the Lord, or according to Acts of the Apostles, a blinding bright light which convinced him that God had indeed chosen Jesus to be the promised messiah.

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Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail – the French educator, translator and author, was born in 3 October 1804 and died in 31 March 1869.

Son of an honorable family, he was sent to study at the the Institution of Pestallozzi, in Switzerland. Back in France he devoted himself to the work of teaching, writing pedagogical books, translating, etc. He was always a member of several learned societies, and that is an indication of the variety of his knowledge, his practical mind activity, and his constant endeavour to be useful to his fellowmen.

Witnessing the phenomenon of “table-turning” and other which were exciting the attention of Europe and America, he was skeptic at first. However, he soon divised the real nature of those phenomena, the intelligent causes behind them which unite the corporeal and spiritual worlds. He started a careful investigation, and two years later he had his ideas and convictions changed by the conversations with the invisible.

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French autodidact, speaker and author of spiritist works, Léon Denis was an ardent propagator of spiritism. Considered one of the successors of Allan Kardec, he left an abundant spiritist literature, addressing social issues and clearly demarcating the Church as seen in his work, “Christianity and Spiritism” (“Christianisme et spiritisme”).

“For all who study spiritist phenomena with impartiality and know how to identify the laws, these phenomena are caused by independent entities, by the spirits of the dead.”

Fonte – http://www.loveandcharity.org

French electrical engineer, Gabriel Delanne continued the work of the founder of Spiritism, which he came to know in youth. His father, Alexander, was a spiritist and a friend of Allan Kardec.

At a time when metapsychology itself came to scientifically study the spiritist phenomena, Gabriel Delanne participated in this research, attending ectoplasmic sessions (seances), while remaining true to the spiritist philosophy which was notably developed in his work, “The immortal Soul” or “The Soul is immortal” (“L’âme est immortelle”).

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British physicist and chemist, member of the Royal Society, William Crookes was an experimenter of ectoplasmic phenomena and materializations. Thanks to a young medium named Florence Cook, he obtained numerous times the complete materialization of the phantom of the spirit of Katie King.

“Having assured myself of the reality of the spirit phenomena, it would be moral cowardice to refuse them my testimony: I am not say that this is possible, I say it is!”

Divaldo Pereira Franco , one of the greatest Spiritist speakers, is also a medium writer and an educator. He was born in Feira de Santana, a small town in northeast Brazil, in the state of Bahia, and since early childhood he displayed clairvoyance and clairaudience and played with invisible friends.

He began his labor of love for those in need in 1947 when, along with his friend Nilson Pereira, they founded “Caminho da Redenção” Spiritist Center.

In 1952 he began a life of devotion to the caring for orphaned children with the establishing of Mansão do Caminho, as he was told to do through his mediumship.

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Famous Brazilian Spiritist medium, Chico Xavier was born April 2, 1910, and died in June 30, 2002. Since early childhood he became accustomed to hearing voices and sensing Spirits´ presences.

He became a practicing medium in 1927 at the age of 17, and manifested an ability for automatic writing, from Spirit dictation.

In 1931 Emmanuel, his Spirit guide, recommended him to study, make efforts for goodness, and work with exceedingly discipline. Most importantly, he told him to follow, above all, the teachings of Jesus and the lessons of Allan Kardec. This perfect interaction among Emmanuel, Jesus and Kardec is apparent throughout the many books dictated by the mentor.

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