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Special Portuguese Spanish    

Year 7 - N° 311 – May 12, 2013

ALTAMIRANDO CARNEIRO
alta_carneiro@uol.com.br
São Paulo, SP (Brasil)
 

Translation
Eleni Frangatos P. Moreira - eleni.moreira@uol.com.br 

 
 

Princesa Izabel

Elizabeth, the princess who
loved Brazil

The newspaper, O Imortal, in its April, 1988 edition, published an interview by Marcelo Borela de Oliveira with the medium Irene Carvalho, from the city of Brasilia, which reported that Princess Elizabeth communicated as an "old black woman", Mother Elizabeth, and that her work regarding slaves' freedom was her highest mission during the period in which she reigned.

During this interview, the medium informed that, according to Mother Elizabeth, not only in Brazil, but in other countries as well, the black race would stand out, which effectively happened. It also states that, reincarnated in a black body, a Spirit of great moral force and persuasion would rise to power (Could it be Barack Obama?).

According to Irene Carvalho, Mother Elizabeth – who rather preferred to appear as an "old black woman", instead of Princess Elizabeth - communicated that she could still hear the cry of the black slave who, even upon being free, still cried his pains, with nowhere to go. And, when signing the Golden Law, her hand has conducted by another stronger hand. She felt a great strength and even if she wanted to retreat, she couldn't. It was a moment of great emotion, and she wept.

The Spirit of Elizabeth and her mission
to abolish slavery

Elizabeth Cristina Leopoldina Augusta Miguela Gabriela Rafaela Gonzaga de Bragança and Bourbon, known by the Brazilians as Princess Elizabeth, was born in the Palace of Saint Klitts (São Cristóvão), in Rio de Janeiro, on July 29, 1846, at 6:26 pm. According to Humberto de Campos, based on Francisco Candido Xavier's psychographics in the book Brazil, Heart of the World, Fatherland of the Gospel (BSF), she, the daughter of the Emperor Dom Pedro II and Empress Theresa Cristina, came to this planet in response to her request to the Spiritual Plane to reincarnate and thus contribute to the emancipation of slaves, as the Emperor's daughter.

For nearly four decades, from 1851 to 1889, she was the rightful heir to the Brazilian throne and between the years 1871 and 1888, in a total of three and a half years, Elizabeth was the Brazilian ruler, filling, according to the 1824 Constitution, the absence of Emperor Dom Pedro II in his trips abroad. Married to Louis Gaston d'Orleans, Count d'Eu, a French prince, Elizabeth signed the Law of the Free Womb, on September 28, 1871, which granted freedom to all children born to slaves from that date onwards. On September 28, 1885, she signed the Sexagenarian Law, freeing slaves over sixty years of age. And on May 13, 1888 the "Golden Law" was promulgated, abolishing slavery, based on two legal devices: slavery in Brazil is abolished and the second, repealing otherwise.

Spiritual repercussion of the act
that abolished slavery

The book Brazil, Heart of the World, Fatherland of the Gospel (BSF), records:

“The phalanges of Ishmael relied on determined collaborators of the liberation movement, such as Castro Alves, Rio Branco and Patrocinio. Princess Elizabeth herself, whose traditions of nobility and kindness will never be forgotten in the heart of Brazil, came to this world with her task defined in the blessed work of abolition.

 “(...) But Ishmael from the High articulated the elements necessary for the great victory. The generous Emperor is removed from the throne, in early 1888, under the influence of invisible mentors of his homeland, handing the Regency to Princess Elizabeth, which had already sanctioned the charitable law in 1871.

 “(...) On May 13, 1888 a bill of law is presented to the regent for immediate termination of captivity, law which Elizabeth, surrounded by angelic entities, sanctions without hesitation and with the noble serenity of her women's heart. On that memorable day, a whole wave of compassionate trumpets descended from the sky over the vastness of the North and South of the Fatherland of the Gospel. Crowds of invisible beings flocked to Rio de Janeiro and joined the grand solemnities of Abolition. Along with the magnanimous spirit of the Princess, Ishmael remains with the blessing of his generous and touching joy. This is the reason why Patrocínio, in a rapture of joy, crawled on his knees to the feet of the Princess, pious and Christian. Everywhere contagious joys and communicative hopes were spread."

In the book Lazarus Resuscitated (BSF), Brother X (Humberto de Campos), based on Francisco Candido Xavier's psychographics, tells us about the continuing work of Princess Elizabeth (and the Abolitionists), after she passed away on November 14, 1921 in Paris. "Do you suppose the Abolition ended on May 13, 1888? The great revolution of the Brave Princess reached the "physical slaves", but the liberation work of the "spiritual slaves" continued here. Jose do Patrocinio and Luis Gama, Antonio Bento and Castro Alves, Andre Reboucas and Joaquim Nabuco continued on the journey of redemption. Princess Elizabeth does not consider the movement ended and also continues serving the great cause, unleashing the fetters of ignorance and sparking new lights on the orb to which you will arrive in a near future."

Princess Elizabeth's profile, a
Christian and pious woman
 

The issue 36 - Great Characters of our History (Princess Elizabeth), edited by Abril Cultural, records Princess Elizabeth's profile:

“Dress in white embroidered moire, with a green silk mantle hanging from her waist, kneeling before the throne, the right hand on the Gospels (...)

"Low, curly hair, blue eyes, round face, small mouth, she sat on the high back chair. In front of her the desk with folders, papers, the brass inkstand, the geese feathers, the small box with sand used to absorb the excess of ink. With a firm handwriting, she was telling her father about her first day of regency: (...)

The Princess was far beyond the simple act of signing the Law of the Free Womb, the Sexagenarian Law and the Golden Law. Priscilla Leal in her work (The rebellious side of Princess Elizabeth), published in the magazine Our History, May 2006, reports that an unpublished letter, pinched from the collection of 3000 documents of the Memorial Visconde de Maua, reveals that the Princess defended the indemnification of former slaves, as well as the land reform and women's suffrage.

In the article In the days of Imperial Brazil, published in the 30th edition of the Spiritist Magazine Afterlife, Paulo Roberto Viola reports that a reliable document and other evidences suggest, based on historical inference, that if Princess Elizabeth did not feed veiled sympathy for Spiritism, she demonstrated interest in the Spiritist Doctrine, which was the subject of conversation in the Imperial Court, due to the strong French influence in the Capital of the Empire. Manuel de Araujo Porto Alegre, Baron of St. Angelo, was the one who took his interest in Spiritism to the Imperial Court, in particular to Princess Elizabeth, which made the constitutional oath in the name of Catholicism, but felt strong sympathy for the Spiritist Doctrine (...)

Before the Golden Law, Elizabeth
protected runaway slaves

In a letter to his personal friend Joaquim Manuel de Macedo, author of the Brazilian classic  literature A Moreninha, close to the Imperial Family, since he had been a teacher of Princess Elizabeth's daughters, Manuel de Araujo Porto Alegre told him confidentially about the interest the Princess about Spiritism, and that she would like to know who her Protecting Spirit was. That is why the Spiritist, Baron of St. Angelo, said: "If the noble rules and legislators were Spiritists, everything would run smoother, because they would believe in God, in afterlife, and would be in connection with their great and sublime duties".

Princess Elizabeth acted as a true Christian, not measuring efforts to be charitable and humanitarian. In 1877, she organized a benefit concert for the victims of the great drought; financed the emancipation of former slaves with their own resources; ostensibly supported a refuge for blacks in the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro, called the Quilombo of Leblon; she faced the pressure and reaction of wealthy landowners and slaveholders who did not want to abolish slavery. As reported by the documents, the Princess tried to compensate former slaves with the resources from a banking institution at the time, the Bank of Maua.

According to historians, Elizabeth practiced charity with a keen awareness of her responsibility as a ruler, at a time when poor communities lived with the indifference of the ruling elites. In the book The Camellias of Leblon and the Abolition of Slavery, the historian Eduardo Silva, Master in History from the Federal Fluminense University, informs that Princess Elizabeth sheltered runaway slaves in Petropolis. The abolitionist Andre Rebolledo reports that on May 4, 1888, fourteen African slaves, which fled from the surrounding farms in Petropolis, lunched at the Imperial Palace and the whole scheme of escapes and lodging was planned by Princess Elizabeth herself. On the eve of Abolition, it is known that over a thousand fugitives were welcomed and sheltered by the Princess.

Elizabeth and family were exiled when the
 imperial regime was extinguished

It is recorded that before signing the Golden Law, her husband Count d'Eu, advised her "Don't sign, Elizabeth, it can mean the end of Monarchy". But she was determined, with no personal feelings of selfishness or commitment to power. Therefore, she answered resolutely "It is now or never. The blacks need their freedom". And so she signed the historical document. A year after the signing of the Golden Law, Princess Elizabeth was confronted with the confirmation of Joao Mauricio Wanderley's foresight, he who was the  Baron of Cotegipe, and who opposed to the Abolition of slavery: "Your Highness released a race, but lost the throne". And she did not hesitate to answer as a true Christian: "A thousand thrones had I, I would give a thousand thrones to free the slaves of Brazil".

With the dissolution of the Empire in 1889, Dom Pedro II went into exile in Normandy, France, adopting the name of Pedro de Alcantara. The Imperial Family left the country by a ruthless, cold, ungrateful and humiliating banishment imposed by Decree No. 78-A, December 21, 1889, subscribed by Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca, a close friend to Dom Pedro II and visiting his home. 

Dom Pedro II left the country refusing to receive the bulky amount of 5000 "contos de réis" (an expressive amount in Portuguese currency at the time), granted by the Decree of Banishment so that he could restore his life in exile. Humberto de Campos (in Spirit), informs us in the book Brazil, Heart of the World, Fatherland of the Gospel,  that Dom Pedro II did this with tears in his eyes, and rejected all counterproposals, comforted by the Lights from Above, which did not abandon him throughout his life. 

In a communication, dated November 16, 1889, and made to the Nation he loved so much, and showing kindness and resignation at heart, Dom Pedro II said: "I am leaving, accompanied by my family, but I shall keep the most tender memory of Brazil, making the most ardent wishes for its greatness and prosperity". On December 5, 1891, at half past midnight, the monarch left this planet, disembodying due to pneumonia, without ever stepping foot on the land he so much loved. 

Although President Epitacio Pessoa, through the Presidential Decree number 4,120, dated September 3, 1920, revoked the republican legislative act that banned the Royal Family, Princess Elizabeth did not return to Brazil, since she passed away on November 14, 1921, in France, Allan Kardec's motherland. The remains of Dom Pedro II, the Empress Theresa Cristina, Princess Elizabeth and her husband, Count d'Eu, lie in the chapel at the right side of the churchyard  of the Cathedral St. Peter of Alcantara, in the mountain of Petropolis, city they loved so much.

 

 


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