Mediumship changes the life of A. C. Vannucci, producer of “Fantástico”, TV Globo Sunday Program

The Spirit of Dolores Duran speaks of a new life

Other revelations from the artistic world

The transformation of the media and the era of Christ

(Text by Marlene Rossi Severino Nobre.)

We have long since realized that the Christian Spiritist Communion of Uberaba, the school of Spiritism where medium Francisco Cândido Xavier works, is the “Quartier Latin” of spirituality.  If it is true that Paris, even today, is the “corner of the world”, a meeting point for the most exotic population on the globe, polarizing the attention of those who long for intellectual guidance around Sorbonne, it is no less true that the city of Minas Gerais has become the center of spiritual guidance in the West.

There is no exaggeration in what we say.  The world is moving towards the Age of Christ, and the University of the Future begins in Uberaba.  In a manner consistent with the Socratic method, this institution serves as an exemplary model.  All of us who in past incarnations have deviated from the law of love, using power and sex to harm and distort the divine law, find in the example of Spiritism a very strong support for searching our inner reform.

A meeting point for an exotic spiritual population, where there are many failed intellectuals and noblemen, leaders and artists disappointed by deviations from the true path, Chico Xavier’s Spiritist school galvanizes the attention of all who feel the desire for evolution, transforming hearts through the power of humility, for now immeasurable.  The Brazilian “Quartier Latin” is much more important because it prepares us for the eternal life.  There is no need for us to talk much with Chico Xavier… and you will see why later in this report.  Just feel and apply the example he offers us: “Discipline and work, sincere devotion to the cause of Jesus”.

The first time we met Augusto César Vannucci in Uberaba was when our dear friend Wallace Leal Rodrigues, from Araraquara, SP, was also there.  Twelve years later, we find him again, even more mature in spiritual realities and accompanied by Ingrid, his valued companion that enriched his life with domestic peace and two beautiful boys.  Once again, Chico Xavier polarized our minds to offer the best of ourselves, in the arduous field of disseminating the Spiritist Doctrine.  It’s a permanent challenge that we won’t let pass…

Folha Espírita – When did Spiritism come into your life?

Augusto César – Spiritism came into my life when I was a child, in Uberaba.  I was sick and was going to have my appendix removed.  My parents consulted the Spirits, through Dona Maria Modesto and Dr. Inácio Ferreira, at the Uberaba Spiritist Center.  Dr. Inácio, after listening to the medium, gave us some decisive information: “Vannucci’s problem is in his lungs.  Don’t operate on his appendix.”  So we went to the doctor, and he laughed aloud when my father told him the Spirits’ opinion.  Apparently, I was as strong as a bull, and he said that was not possible.  But I still had a high fever… On the day of the operation, to be sure, my father ordered an X-ray, and indeed, I had a shady spot in my lung.

FE – And did you accept the Spiritist Doctrine?

Augusto César – After all this, I started attending the Uberaba’s Spiritist Youth Union, because I really liked singing at the meetings that were held there, but, due to circumstances, I attended Pepão’s classes (the affectionate nickname with which we refer to the illustrious professor Carlos Pepe, who today teaches at the University of Uberlândia).  The classes he gave at the Union were fascinating and I could not even imagine the importance that those classes would have in my life.

Artistic career

“Before leaving Uberaba, I was restless.  I worked at the local radio station, but my intuition was already warning me about the future.  I would watch a Brazilian movie, and I could see myself working in cinema very soon.  I did theater, which I really liked, but at the same time I felt terribly tired.  It was as if the experience was repeating itself.  I was full of energy, but deep down in my soul I felt terribly tired, as if I were starting a fight along a path I had already traveled before.”

FE – And did you have any difficulties at first?

Augusto César – In reality, everything happened in an amazing way.  I arrived in Rio de Janeiro on one day, auditioned the next day – and got first place; on the following day Renata Fronzi called me to work in the theater…  On the third day in Rio de Janeiro, a theater company employed me.

Need for God

“Everything happened in a whirlwind way.  My experiences developed in a somewhat chaotic way!  I remember that one night during the play season I felt, for the first time, the need for God.  Although I was doing what I liked, I felt great emptiness inside me.  I decided to go to church.  I stopped at the door of a closed church, and, for the first time, I felt the need to pray.  I prayed and calmed down.”

FE – Did you continue well?

Augusto César – In fact, things were not going well, everything was going wrong, but it was my soul that was going wrong.  A series of unsettling events made me remember Spiritism, the lessons I had heard at the Uberaba’s Spiritist Youth Union and the classes taught by Professor Carlos Pepe.  At the time, I lived across the street from a Spiritist Center, on Rua Nascimento Silva, Ipanema.  So, I started going to the Center and remembering the lessons from my childhood.  And that was when I made my first mistake with respect to Spiritism.  I became such a fanatic that I thought that truth belonged only to my group.  My group would create a theater company, a radio company, everything owned exclusively by us.  We thought we knew it all, completely forgetting about Kardec.  So, the fall was disastrous.  I fell and, with me, many people also fell.  A fall of many disappointments and much suffering.

Back to the roots

“In the decisive moments of my life, Chico’s presence was like a thermometer of the highs and lows of my existence.  When I was about to make big decisions, I would run to Uberaba.  He didn’t need to say anything.  Events followed one after the other: the transformation of my life, my goals, the gradual search for balance, everything came from the short and quick visits I made to Chico.”

FE – Are you connected to any spiritualist group at the moment?

Augusto César – After that negative experience, I became disoriented, with my mediumship clearly manifesting itself.  During that period, I met a semi-literate young man with very good mediumship and, due to karma from the past, I was called to guide him.  And from our conversations about the need for Allan Kardec, a small group emerged that flourished, grew a lot and is now quite large, although quite humble and poor.  In part, I think it is very good because our group remains somewhat distant from the infights that I observed in some other Spiritist Centers and the arrogance that I met with in Rio, where they had great ideas but very little Christianity.

Spiritual assistance center for artists

“I always talked to Dolores Duran about Spiritism, about the immortality of the soul, and, as we know, Dolores left this world in a violent way.  Later, Dolores appeared at one of our meetings at the Centro “Seareiros de Jesus” (“Jesus’ Journeymen”), in Caxias, RJ.  Her greatest affliction had already passed, and we were able to talk again.  We also received a spiritual visit from Zaquias Jorge.  Our friends asked that a group be organized to assist artists that had passed away.  We did so, and my theater companions, Mesquitinha, Glaucio Gil, Leopoldo Froes, whom I had never met, Conchita de Moraes and a number of others, showed up at our meetings.  Conchita held meetings with Ducina at her house; she was an excellent medium.  The Spirits appeared and brought our deceased companions for initial care, as if it were a first aid station.  And it was said that it was an oasis for many artists, alive and deceased.  Today, after ten years of meetings, I feel that I am consolidating my maturity, the desire to truly live, and not to use Spiritism.”

Born artist, potential medium

FE – How do you feel now?

Augusto César – You know, I used to go to meetings out of necessity, because I knew I wouldn’t feel good if I didn’t go.  Not anymore.  It’s a matter of balance, now maturity leads me to spiritual work out of love.

FE – But the environment in which you work is not easy at all.  With the responsibility you have, it must be difficult to maintain balance, right?

Augusto César – In fact, I need a lot of help from the Spirits, because I have to try to understand my colleagues, the imbalance, the disharmony of the environment, and all the internal and mental struggles, knowing in advance that every born artist is a potential medium.  So much so that the class of theater and television artists, for the most part, call themselves Spiritists, but in reality, they are not.  They say, “I am a Spiritist”; but they use their souls a lot in their daily lives and, sometimes, they do it in a way that is not constructive.  I don’t mean they are wrong – because I can’t and shouldn’t judge them – but they use their souls to ensure the safety of their work and to place themselves in an artistic position.

FE – And Spiritism in modern media?

Augusto César – Working in a position of leadership with artists, I use television, whenever possible, as a vehicle for harmony, in a healthy way.  Even in comedy programs, I try to make them as healthy as possible.  This has been an important aspect, and I believe that thanks to Spiritism I can maintain some of this vigilance.

The Fantastic Show of Life

FE – Augusto César, as the general supervisor of such an important program as “Fantástico”, how do you see it from a Spiritist point of view?

Augusto César – It turns out that this is a very important and very dangerous program.  ‘The Fantastic Show of Life’ is so full of magic and hypnosis that it is a program that takes great risks to maintain its dignity, to maintain harmony, in short, to be as positive a program as possible.  It has to include a lot of life shows, but with a lot of humanity, with a lot of love.  And that is not always possible for the critical eyes of television.

FE – But you have achieved extraordinary moments.  I really believe that I am seeing spiritual scenes of great beauty, reminiscent of certain scenes described by André Luiz…

Augusto César – In one of our past programs, we included a wonderful text: the music of plants, trees, insects.  Wonderful harmony and symphony!  And all of this from plants!  The fear of a plant when someone cuts its leaves or flowers, the feeling it records.  It is a fantastic world.  I think that it is so wonderful that it touches the soul and forces the creature to think a little about God.  And every time a television program manages to achieve this it fulfils its mission and its reason for being.

FE – Television has truly changed our era…

Augusto César – I believe that the media will undergo a great transformation.  I truly believe that the era of Christ is very close, and the media should have their batteries aimed on reality, harmony, and balance.  Vast number of people can receive, all at once, through a communication channel like television, what Paul of Tarsus did, walking among thousands of people, in many countries, for years on end, to spread the word of Christ.  Television can do this, instantly, and I think it will achieve this.  I hope to fulfill a purpose in life, if I can represent a very small, but positive, part of all this.