The idea for the creation of Folha Espírita came from Chico Xavier's advice to Jamil Nagib Salomão, who contributed to the activities of the São Paulo State Spiritist Federation, and to the engineer Ney Prieto Peres, who had consulted him about launching a newspaper in São Paulo. During a visit in January 1974, they returned with a message from the medium to José de Freitas Nobre. He would be responsible for launching a spiritist newspaper for sale in newsstands and would have the support of the Cairbar Schutel Spiritist Group in Diadema (SP).
In response to the spiritual call, the first issue of Folha Espírita was published on April 18 of the same year. Its launch took place on the premises of the Humberto de Campos Bookstore, owned by the São Paulo State Spiritist Federation. The date was carefully chosen as a reminder of the launch of The Spirits' Book in Paris in 1857.
In these uninterrupted years of activity, there have been several historic moments, such as the Nobel Prize campaign for Chico Xavier, the action against abortion at a national level and our work together with the São Paulo Medical-Spiritist Association in carrying out scientific research into the mediumship of Francisco Cândido Xavier, which lasted more than 15 years and had international repercussions, also helping with scripts for television and film programs.
The publication of books by FE Editora began in 1990 and some of them are references for study in Spiritist houses. In all these years, Folha Espírita has sought to be an interpreter of the values of its time, as its founder made clear in its first edition. It has never sought to impose convictions, nor to be the owner of the truth, but only to contribute to the dissemination of the Spiritist Doctrine.
We learned from Freitas Nobre to respect the right to opinion, to dissent, because the exchange of experience enriches thought and develops discernment. And we stand by this principle.
José Freitas Nobre was born on March 24, 1921, in Fortaleza, Ceará. He came to São Paulo at the age of 15. He brought with him a book on the Acre revolution, A epopeia acreana, and numerous articles published in newspapers. As soon as he arrived, he made the headlines of the Diário da Noite, with the title Garoto prodígio escreve a história do Acre (Boy prodigy writes the history of Acre). The boy from Ceará surprised the big city with his precocious brilliance and it would later recognize him as its legitimate representative, electing him as a councillor, deputy mayor and federal deputy.
As a journalist, he worked for Diários Associados, Última Hora, Folha da Manhã and O Cruzeiro. His concern for defending the rights of his category led him to union life. Three times he was president of the Journalists' Union and twice president of the National Federation of Journalists (1950). A lawyer who graduated from the Largo São Francisco Law School, he taught Information Law and Media Legislation at USP's Art Communication School and at the Cásper Líbero School.
As well as several books on history and law published in Brazil and abroad, he published some doctrinal works: Organ transplants in the light of Spiritism, The police persecution of Euripides Barsanulfo, Crime, psychography and transplants and he also directed, presented and organized the Bezerra de Menezes collection. He founded and edited Folha Espírita for 16 years, the first doctrinal newspaper to hit the newsstands in the country, bringing a new language and a new direction to the Spiritist press.
From 1961 to 1965, he was deputy mayor of São Paulo under Prestes Maia. In 1968, he joined the MDB and remained its leader in the Chamber of Deputies for five years. He served four terms. As a lawyer and journalist, he wrote 22 books, including Lei de informação (1968), Le droit de repouse (1970), Imprensa e liberdade, Os princípios constitucionais e a nova legislação (1987), Anchieta, o Apóstolo do Novo Mundo. As a Spiritist, he has taken the rostrum of numerous organizations, bringing doctrinal information in lectures, congresses and symposiums. He was the author of two bills in the Chamber of Deputies in favor of Esperanto: one to introduce it in schools; the other to make it one of the optional languages in university entrance exams, along with English and French (...) and he supported the founding of the Esperanto Group of USP students. It was he who opened the World Esperanto Congress, held in Brasilia in 1983, in the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies. When he was chosen as deputy mayor in Prestes Maia's second term, he met Chico Xavier and a long friendship began. During the public meetings of the Christian Spiritist Communion in Uberaba (MG), Chico received a message from Emmanuel addressed to Freitas Nobre. In it, Emmanuel spoke of his long task of pacifying Brazil. And Chico added: Dr. Nobre, Emmanuel is saying that you will be called upon to act at a very difficult time for our country, when there will even be a danger of bloodshed. First Brazil will fall far to the left, then to the right and finally to the center, until it finds its true destiny. There will be turbulence in these periods of change and you will act as a peacemaker, avoiding confrontation and radicalization.
It was May 1962.
The country was still reeling from the resignation of Jânio Quadros, Jango Goulart was deposed and the military took power. A dictatorship is installed. Emmanuel's predictions began to come true. Freitas left politics and went to Paris (1964), where, under the guidance of Fernando Térrou, he completed a doctorate in Law and Information Economics at the Sorbonne. In 1968, back in Brazil, he received another message through the mediumship of Chico Xavier. This time, the emissary was Bezerra de Menezes, who sent him news that he would be reinstated as a politician. Away from politics, he became a lawyer and returned to work for various press organizations, such as Jornal da Tarde, Diário do Grande ABC, Imprensa magazine and TV Gazeta. In 1972, he was included on the “White Cassation” list at the University of São Paulo, to which he returned when his term as a federal deputy ended, thanks to the efforts of Rector José Goldemberg and Governor Franco Montoro. Reinstated at USP by competitive examination, he was awarded the titles of professor in 1968 and full professor in 1990. During his 16 years in parliament, Freitas Nobre carried out the task of pacifying the nation. Throughout this period, Bezerra de Menezes maintained a permanent correspondence with the congressman through Chico Xavier. Letters, notes and messages further strengthened the friendship between the three. He was one of the parliamentarians who fought for amnesty, the legalization of left-wing parties, the re-establishment of direct elections and the convocation of the Constituent Assembly. He died on November 19, 1990, in São Paulo, of acute respiratory failure. His body was received at the São Paulo City Hall, where politicians, journalists, friends and relatives paid their last respects. José Freitas Nobre was married to Marlene Severino Nobre and left four children, two of them with her. In June 2017, Congonhas Airport was renamed São Paulo/Congonhas Airport - Deputado Freitas Nobre in honor of the parliamentarian.
Marlene Rossi Severino Nobre was born in 1937, in Severínia, in the interior of São Paulo, the daughter of Spiritist parents - Pedro Severino Júnior, from Monte Azul Paulista (SP), and Ida Rossi Severino, from Guariba (SP), both committed to the Spiritist cause since they were single and closely linked to Cairbar Schutel, the bastion of Spiritism from Matão (SP), who made and continues to make such a contribution to the dissemination, study and living of the Doctrine. His mother was, at the age of 19, still single, the youngest president of a Spiritist center in Brazil, in a house built in Monte Verde by his grandfather - Aristodemo Rossi. Her uncle, Leonardo Severino, her father's brother, worked all his life on behalf of the works in Matão, traveling to get subscriptions to the newspaper O Clarim and the International Journal of Spiritism, alongside Giacomo Di Bernardo and other pioneers from the interior of São Paulo. As Marlene herself told us, her parents had a very harmonious home and taught their eight children to love the Master Jesus and Kardec. “They had no material ambitions. They raised us within the standards of simplicity and always said that the only treasure they would leave behind was The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ, interpreted by Allan Kardec.”.
After working from 1950 to 1956 as an employee of the Paes Leme College in the capital of São Paulo, in 1957 Marlene began her medical studies at the Federal College of the Triângulo Mineiro, in Uberaba (MG). It was in October 1958, on the eve of Chico Xavier's move to the city, that she had the opportunity to meet the medium, when he asked Marlene's fellow student, Waldo Vieira, to take her to him. The student had already read his works and was amazed by his invitation to work with him in the public sessions of the Christian Spiritist Communion, starting in January 1959, when he would be permanently settled in Uberaba. And that's what happened. For about four years, from January 1959 to December 1962, she was directly linked to the Spiritist Movement in Uberaba, particularly to the work of the Christian Spiritist Communion (CEC), with Chico Xavier. In addition to her work at the CEC's public sessions, she taught Christian morality classes at the Uberabense Spiritist Center's Child Evangelization and made two radio programs. Even though he moved to São Paulo in 1963, his friendship with the medium remained the same until he passed away in 2002. “I have the fondest memories of that period of my life. I was deeply affected by Chico Xavier's kindness and genuine humility. That's why I recognize the enormous distance that separates us from a spiritual point of view and the great responsibility I have taken on for having worked with him and learned about his work,” she used to say.
From 1963 to 1967, Marlene was a trainee of Prof. Dr. José Medina at the Gynecology and Obstetrics Department of the Hospital das Clínicas in São Paulo. She then worked as an intern at the Broca and Boucicault Hospitals, both in Paris. In 1968, she began working for the Social Security Institute (Inamps), where she worked for 30 years in cancer prevention services for women. Retired in 1994, the following year she took over the presidency of the Medical-Spiritist Association of Brazil, accompanying it from its foundation until her disincarnation. Marlene was also part of the first Board of Directors of the São Paulo Medical-Spiritist Association (AME-SP), founded on March 30, 1968, from which the other AMEs originated, including the Brazilian one. Until the last day of her earthly existence, January 5, 2015, Marlene Rossi Severino Nobre was what she wanted to be, a great Spiritist worker. And she became one of the main leaders of the Spiritist Movement in the country. Focused on the teachings of Jesus and Kardec, she struggled to do so on a daily basis, dividing her time between the tasks of the Cairbar Schutel Spiritist Group, in the capital of São Paulo, which included the mediumistic activities of psychophony and psychography; the Lar do Alvorecer, in Diadema, in Greater São Paulo; the Medical-Spiritist Associations of Brazil and International; the programs Medical Dialogues, on Radio Boa Nova; Portal de Luz, on TV Aberta São Paulo; as well as Folha Espírita, which, alongside her husband, Freitas Nobre, she helped to found.
With so many activities under his belt, he experienced with great organization what he used to say, that the work should be given to those who had little time, because it would certainly be done. And this is how he exercised his leadership on the various fronts he worked on, leaving, above all, many teachings, not only in attitudes and words, but in the vast knowledge linked to the medical-Spiritist cause and in the 11 books he published by FE Editora: The Soul of Matter, The Gift of Mediumship, The Pass as Magnetic Healing, Obsession and its Masks, In the Light of the Eternal Beginning, Our Life in the Beyond, The Clamor of Life. Reflections Against Intentional Abortion, Chico Xavier - My Pieces of the Mirror, It Won't Be 2012 - Chico Xavier Reveals the Deadline of the Old World, 2019 - The Apex of the Planetary Transition and The Beacon of Our Lives.
Paulo Rossi Severino was born into a Spiritist family on May 21, 1933, in Cajobi (SP), and from an early age he dedicated himself to learning and spreading the Doctrine, embracing education as one of the pillars of his life.
Married to Cléria Gandolfo Severino since 1962, he had three children - Fábio, Ana Carolina and Leda Cristina. He was a teacher from 1951 to 1971 at Colégio Paes Leme, in the capital of São Paulo, at the time one of the most prominent educational establishments in the country. But he also worked in commerce and, for almost nine years, he also worked as a public relations officer.
A disciple of Chico Xavier, and a faithful worker of the Gospel in the spiritist field, he applied the knowledge he had gained from the medium from Uberaba to those most in need, with the motto: “There is no salvation apart from charity.” He educated feelings in the fraternal soup he served on Saturdays with his companions to the hungry. He gladdened hearts with the distribution of school supplies, which he obstinately delivered every year to children who couldn't afford them, so that they would have the opportunity to start the school year with dignity. At no time did she miss the opportunity to educate and exemplify, and she did so with joy and enthusiasm. He listened to everyone who came his way with patience and humility and argued with moderation, kindness and wisdom. Education was at the core of his life and faith was his armor. Paulo was in charge of Folha Espírita and FE Editora since they were founded, as well as the activities of the Cairbar Schutel Spiritist Group, in the Jabaquara district of São Paulo (SP), and many of the social activities at Lar do Alvorecer Marlene Nobre, in Diadema (SP), founded by his parents, until 2017, when he passed away.
His love for the newspaper and the publishing house became an important part of his life. He was one of the first people to encourage a team of volunteers from the Cairbar Schutel Spiritist Group, who were still very young, to produce the newspaper. And so it has continued since November 1994.
As we leaf through the early editions of the newspaper, we come across his contribution to a silent work, but one of unparalleled importance for the Spiritist Doctrine: the research carried out with the families of disincarnate young people who had sent messages of consolation to their relatives through the medium from Minas Gerais. It took years of pilgrimages to Uberaba (MG), and house-to-house visits, to collect a wealth of material that found in the proven facts the certainty of the authenticity of the messages. These letters appeared in the pages of Folha Espírita under Paulo's organization, and it was in 1990 that this work became the first book published by FE Editora: A Vida Triunfa (Life Triumphs).
Paulo was a great motivator for FE Editora to grow with more and more titles. He was always concerned about giving Marlene Nobre all the support she needed so that she could produce more books. Together, they left us with a remarkable legacy of love for publishing. The memories take us back to our work at the 1st World Spiritist Congress in 1995, held in the city of Brasilia. Folha Espírita set up a publicity stand with a panel listing all 402 books published by Chico Xavier (up to that point). A beautiful tribute. The professor's willingness to spread the Doctrine was incredible. He spent hours and hours attending to people at the stand and talking happily about FE Editora's publications. After that opportunity, we had the honor of traveling together a few more times, and we will never forget his joy in spreading the word. A scholar who is very dedicated to reading, Paulo gave us four more of his books: Back to Reality, A Path to Liberation, Learning from Chico Xavier - An Example of Life and The Legacy of Marlene Nobre (2016). The truth and commitment with which he did things are hallmarks of his personality that we will never forget. The pages of his books record a life story that was lived to the full.
Português do Brasil Português do Brasil 
Português
English
Español
Français
Get to know Editora FE's productions
