Mário Cesar Nogueira (photo) works in a bank in his hometown of Mirassol, in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. He is the current president of Vicente de Paulo Spiritist Centre, of CEVIPE, which celebrates its centenary this year. In the following interview, he speaks about the Spiritist Centre and the special anniversary.

Please tell us a bit more about the city of Mirassol.

The city lies in the north-west of the Brazilian state of São Paulo, 453Km away from the state capital, São Paulo. It was founded on September 8th, 1910 by Joaquim da Costa Penha e Victor Candido de Souza. It has a population of 59,824 inhabitants and its economy is based on services (68% of the GDP), followed by industry. It has now 11 Spiritist Centres, which work very well together.

The Spiritist Centre you direct will mark this year its centenary. Give us some historical background on the organisation.

In 1920, Mirassol was only ten years old. It was then in a remote, wild area, with little resources available and scarce means of communication. It was far from everything.

Spiritism had been unveiled in Paris 63 years before and it was still the object of misinterpretations and religious persecution. But in Mirassol, a small group led by Lourenço Bianchi, Delphino Ignácio da Rocha and his daughter Angelita decided to go ahead and found Vicente de Paulo Spiritist Centre. Its first statute was approved on September 6h, 1931, in a general assembly, when its president was João Fusco.

Everyone continued to work hard and in 1946 a care home for the elderly, “Casa dos Pobres” (House of the Poor), was opened. It is the basis for the current hostel we have. People there have the opportunity to have a shower and they get clean clothes, they are fed and also get a bit of love.

The work carried on successfully and in 1970 the president of the Spiritist Centre at the time, Wanderley Brienze, was taking part in a fund raising event in another city when he received the following message from the medium, Divaldo Pereira Franco: “I can see some Spirits next to you. They are not you guiding mentors. They are Spirits linked to the Spiritist Centre in Mirassol and they are saying that under your guidance, the Group will enter its second phase.” This second phase began in 1970. It was marked by improvements to our structure and also to our courses and assistance, with the opening of the new care home on September 8^th, 1971.

We now have a hostel where people can spend the night and get assistance from the social services, as well psychosocial support, rest and nourishment. In 2019, we were able to help 5,626 people at the hostel.

Will you have a special programme for the centenary year?

We will have a number of activities throughout the year, focusing on public talks and, also, a special meeting gathering all volunteers. For those who want more information on our Spiritist Centre, we are on Instagram (cevipmirassol) and Facebook (Centro Espírita Vicente de Paulo).

From all your memories and the Spiritist Centre’s history, what would you like to highlight?

The prevailing feature of our Spiritist Centre throughout its history is the full dedication of volunteer workers to help those in need of Spiritual and material aid. In other words, the practice of Spiritual and physical charity. The hard work of all the volunteers, always joyful and happy, at the end of every afternoon, giving their best to help our brothers and sisters in need, all that shows us how profound Spiritism is and what we need to do in order to become true disciples of Jesus.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Our Spiritist Centre has gone through phases during its history. The first one consisted of building an infrastructure and developing our Spiritual resources. We entered a second phase in the 1970s, when we increased the number of services available and opened our doors for those in need, through Fraternal Assistance, or counselling. I believe our Spiritist Centre is now preparing to enter the third phase of its existence, when we hope to become apostles of Christ in the sense that we will disseminate and live according to his Teachings every day his of the year. Only then will we be able to consider ourselves true Spiritists.