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According
to Jairo da Silva Carioca's personal account The glossary is placed at the foot of each paragraph [foot notes]. |
Spiritual Destination Mestre Irineu, According to verbal accounts, was a man who placed a high value on everyone’s personal history. “He used to say that, like him, who was destined, all of us are also destined. He was always looking forward to making it clear that we are part of a divine creation that is being evolved throughout time,” says Ms. Percília Matos. “One day he told me about what he was accomplishing on earth, and told me that we are here obeying to our Father’s determination, paying for or giving continuity to a past life,” adds Júlio Carioca. Mestre used to try to explain the existence of what the Incas had mentioned before: The Superior Plane that the hinários* reveal as the Astral Plane, and this plane where the spirits are sent to earth to accomplish life in accordance with each one’s merit. It is similar to the explanation for Karma in Kardec’s* doctrine. Through this line of thinking Mestre was showing the interchanging relationship existing between, as we characterize it, the physical and astral plane. This line of thinking becomes well clarified when we accompany the continuity of his life. *hinários (from hinário - singular) - a set of hymns.
The birth On the 15th of December of 1892* was born, in São Vicente de Férrer -- Maranhão, the boy that would be called Raimundo Irineu Serra. His parents -- Sanches Serra and Joana Assunção Serra, were of humble origins, descendants of slaves who lived from the cultivation of the land. *1892 - it is now known, upon the discovery of his baptism certificate, that Mestre Irineu was born in the year of 1890, and not 1892, as it was previously acknowledged. “Mestre was indeed a slave descendant from both his father’s and his mother’s side. His grandparents were slaves brought to Brazil and placed in São Vicente de Férrer county, Maranhão state,” narrates Mr. João Rodrigues (aka Nica). Irineu Serra was the first born, followed by Dico, Veronica, Maria, and Nha Dica, the youngest. “Catholicism was predominant in the area. There was a Dominican Church with thick walls painted in white, which seen from up close seemed to wave in iridescent colors due to the mastery of the builders that build it, obviously, for the land lords and slave owners, rather then the poor blacks imported from Africa.” (Eduardo Beyer) The young Irineu Serra was the only family member to follow his African heritage, both in physical appearance and also in the preservation of some of the traditions of the race. “A fight between youngsters in a tambor-de-crioulo* made Raimundo Irineu Serra leave the region where he was born and go towards São Luiz, the capital. When it was Ten, Eleven o’clock PM, they argued and started to fight. They put everyone on the run and contrived to obtain a knife and cut down all the hammocks of the house owner. They even broke down the door. Irineu went to this party and at this time the children that had no father were raised by their uncles (maternal). Irineu went without the knowledge of his mother, in agreement with his cousin Cassimiro that was about the same height.” (Beyer) *tambor-de-crioulo - afro-Brazilian-drum - a traditional expression of the state of Maranhão with roots in the Angola Congo ritual from candomblé (African religion). Mixed with other liturgies, it is composed of a series of chants accompanied by three drums, a bottle gourd and an iron triangle. This strong nature of Irineu Serra would later be confirmed by him personally. He told Júlio Carioca “that every time he would behave badly or play a trick on the elders he would be severely punished by a lady in dreams that punished him in a place similar to a rice barn until he would repent of the sins committed.” It was certainly the self-indoctrination of someone that came to earth pre-destined, as attest the teachings received by Mr. Antônio Gomes da Silva, one of his great followers. “Since his birth he showed his worth.”
A Second version of his leaving Another version, narrated by followers like Luiz Mendes do Nascimento, talks about the leaving of Irineu Serra from his homeland due to a premature wedding, which he was close to consummate with a cousin. In this version his uncle Paulo was of decisive importance in his coming to the Amazon. It was supposedly from him that the recommendation to Irineu Serra to know more of the world before thinking about marriage came. “You know Raimundo… a man wanting to get married should first give the world a turn. When he comes back he will know how much it costs for a kilo of salt, a kilo of sugar, and a slip for a woman. Then a man can get married,” narrates Mr. Francisco Grangeiro. “It was then that the next day he saw a ship enlisting people to go to Amazon,” adds Mr. Francisco Grangeiro. Irineu Serra, at 20* years of age, was leaving his home state, his family, and all the traditions of the city that he lived in, with its festivities during Holy Week, and the Patriarch of the city (São Vicente de Férrer) celebration, which always was held under the summer moonlight. Paulo Serra and Raimunda Castro Serra, his uncle and aunt from his father’s side, were also his God Parents. Irineu Serra worked with cattle at that time and earned 500 Réis*, which he used to make the trip to São Luiz. *20 - according to his baptism certificate he was now with 22 years of age. From there, in 1912, Irineu Serra went to Belém do Pará on a ship, working there as a gardener to raise money to head towards Manaus. In the Amazon’s capital he gathered with a group of North Easterners going to Acre, territory suffering a strong migration pushed by the rising of its rubber market and the strong drought that was punishing their region since 1877. He also narrates this course of his journey in his hinário when he says: Equiôr, Equiôr, Equiôr, Equiôr who called me, I came bordering the land, and I came bordering the sea. In 1912, when he first set foot on the state of Acre, his objectives became to meet his fellow cousins, also from Maranhão -- Antônio Costa and André Costa, that he heard were also there. The territory was for the first time undergoing social changes, with the installment of the first administrative structures, and the formation of the middle school level government employees. The difficulties were huge, offering the immigrants an almost migratory life, where the fight for survival would dictate the activity of the moment. From Rio Branco city he continuous on his journey to Brasiléia (at the time called Brasília), where he had heard his fellow citizens would be, the brothers Antonio Costa and André Costa. In this year, when he passed through Brasiléia, Irineu Serra was seen by Germano Guilherme, later to be his first follower in the mission still unknown to the young Maranhense*. Irineu Serra called attention wherever he passed, due to his physical bearing and his height of 6.5 feet. *maranhense - a native from Maranhão state. His initial Journey was finally reaching the rubber plantations of Peru, where at last he met his countrymen, Antônio Costa and André Costa. There aren’t testimonies that give detail to how this encounter happened. One fact we do know is that he was frequently asked why he was so far from his motherland. The answer quickly came with the encounter with the drink, at that time known as Ayahuasca. “They stayed living together. Antônio Costa wasn’t a rubber tapper. He worked in the regatão* business, buying and selling rubber. He was the one to give the news about some caboclos* in Peru that drank Ayahuasca,” narrates Mr. Luiz Mendes. “And it was Antônio Costa that gave him the Ayahuasca. He and his brother invited Mestre to drink it,” adds Mr. Francisco Grangeiro. “Mestre was invited by Antônio Costa to meet a caboclo named Pisango, who was a Peruvian caboclo, descendant from the Incas. It was Pisango who, as a way of speaking, knew where the swallows made their nest,” also affirms Mr. João Rodrigues (aka Nica). Upon the invitation, according to accounts, Mestre said: “I’ll go, and if it is something good I’ll bring it back to my country.” *regatão - a boat that does commerce with the river communities, in the form of trade, exchange. At this time the sacrament was used to guide the Indians in hunting and fishing, and also to entertain the white man in the moonlight. But it already exerted a function of worship, as described Mr. Valcírio Genesio, the only son of Mestre Irineu: “They would organize themselves in huts and praised the ayahuasca drink in their rituals. They would beat the drums, dance in circle, it was a big celebration.” Until this moment only two races knew of the work with the Ayahuasca: the Indian, and the white through Antônio Costa and André Costa. With the acknowledgment made by Irineu Serra, who started to drink the indigenous sacrament, the ethnical composition of the Brazilian population was met: the Indian, the White and the Black; the union of the visible races in the principals of the doctrine to be formed. It was on the third encounter with Ayahuasca that the first contacts with spirituality occurred. “He set the hammock in a way that he could see the moon. It was a clear night, very beautiful, when he started to mirar*. He looked and the moon began to approach until it came very close to him. She asked him: *mirar - to stare at/to gaze at (to have a vision, in the doctrine’s jargon. The act of having a miração). “Do you dare to call me Satan?” “In this first miração this Lady presented herself identified as Clara (Clare) and asked him to sing the first hymn of the doctrine presented to him at that moment,” narrates Ms. Percilia Matos. “God salutes You, Oh! White Moon Oh! Divine Mother of the heart Amongst the flowers of my country Oh! Divine Mother of the heart You are the most beautiful flower Oh! Divine Mother of the heart Star of the Universe Oh! Divine Mother of the heart 1 – Lua Branca (White Moon), from Mestre Irineu. It was the opening of the spiritual works for the young Irineu Serra. At that moment he discovered that the objectives of the sacrament would go way beyond the simple effects of how it was being handled in the region. Clara, who was the same Lady that would indoctrinate him in his dreams, according to Mestre Irineu’s testimonies, asked of him to undertake a rigorous fast. “Well then, she said -- now you are to undergo a fast to receive what I have to give you. You will be seven days feeding only on boiled manioc without salt, and tea, and without seeing a woman’s skirt (popular saying that means not having relations with a woman),” narrates Mr. Francisco Grangeiro. Irineu Serra told Antônio Costa what had happened, and he went even further into the rainforest of the rubber plantations to accomplish what had been determined. He, in person, would narrate in lectures to his followers that in the third day of fasting he was already hearing voices and having visions of the spiritual realm and of the caboclos of the forest. The mission for which he was predestined was revealed to him on the seventh day. “Clara, now appearing as the Queen of the Forest, said that she had something to deliver to him. Mestre said that if it was something for the improvement of his country he would accept it. And in this way it was revealed to him the Juramidã* mission. He asked of her to make him one of the best healers in the world. She replied that he could never make money out of it. He asked of her to associate everything that had a relation to heal in the drink. He received it, and then went to work to start acquiring knowledge, perfecting himself, receiving every day powers that one needs,” narrates Mr. Luiz Mendes. *Juramidã - Mestre Irineu’s name in the astral, according to the Alto Santo fraternity. “It is the spiritual name given to Raimundo Irineu Serra. He lived in this world with this name, but there, in the astral, he received another one, which is Juramidã”, tells Mr. Luiz Mendes. He asks the cameraman about his name, and after the answer he says: “this is for… this name is given to identify you in the matter. There, in the spiritual world, you have another. Do you understand? Here I am Luiz, but there isn’t Luiz anymore, no, it is another name. The greatest example was Mestre Irineu, and as he preached equality, it isn’t different for us. Here we have one name and there we have another. His name in this world was Raimundo, there is Juramidã…” says again Mr. Luiz Mendes do Nascimento (from a video interview). This passage is also explained by Mr. Sebastião Jaccoud: “His own coming is demanded by the Divine Mother for the harvest of what was planted way behind, gathering the flock that was scattered in the time of Jesus Christ.” After all, it wasn’t by accident that the young Irineu Serra had left his motherland, leaving behind his family and traditions to come and meet once more his countrymen Antônio Costa and André Costa, and meeting later on the Ayahuasca drink. His dreams with a lady that would indoctrinate him and the apparition of Clara, that gave him a mission, make us believe that this whole trajectory followed by Mestre Irineu was pre-destined. His life has continuity in a process of self-discipline and evolution, which we describe as material destination.
First Period – 1912 to 1931 The material destination – evolution and self-discipline processes of the great Master By now Irineu Serra wasn’t unaware to what divinity had destined to him. It was the beginning of a new phase based on a process of self-discipline and evolution in the divine project in itself unchained. As he knew that from now on nature would be his eternal apprenticeship partner, the next step was to “Know the power of the forest and to love God,” as he himself explains through his hinário. Already adapted to the region, he was aligning with the laws of nature, the secrets and the utilities of the plants, their healing effects, and finally, it was important to learn everything that could evolve him inside the spiritual project received. The strong temperament of the black Irineu Serra was opening a space for the serenity and love towards the sacred elements: Sun, Moon, Star, the Earth, the Wind and the Sea. It is the true alchemy revealed in the ayahuasca. This cycle of great intensity is supposed to have begun around 1913, when Irineu Serra parted ways from his cousins in Peru. In his short convivial with the Indians of the region and the mirações* with Pizango, considered “the ayahuasca spirit,” he learned how to make the Ayahuasca and to identify the vine Jagube (banisteriopsis caapi) and the leaf Chacrona (psychotria viridis) in the Amazon Forest. Irineu Serra started to always pay attention to the moon cycles that determine the right season for the harvest and the making of the tea. From there on we can observe the permanent partnership in between Irineu Serra and nature. *mirações - from miração (singular) – A vision, in the doctrine’s jargon. The rules that were being naturally made were inviolable. “One day Mestre told me that he tried to make it easier to beat the Jagube with a hammer. He told me that he was severely warned by the Queen, feeling heavy headaches throughout the day, because the Queen wouldn’t allow the utilization of work tools that weren’t natural like a hammer made of wood. Today we even see machinery being used to grind the vine,” Júlio Carioca comments. In 1916 Irineu Serra returned to Brasiléia. In this county he met Ms. Rosa Amorim, with whom he had his only son, Mr. Valcírio Genésio da Silva. “At that time everything was very hard, and even to go from one point to another had to be done by the so called varejões*. When I was born, in January 20th of 1917, my father was a rubber tapper worker,” narrates Mr. Valcírio Genésio. According to him, from the union of Irineu Serra with his mother also came the birth of a girl who lived for only a year and eight months. In Brasiléia, still called Brasília at that time, Irineu Serra met once more with Antônio and André Costa. “They were good friends, and Antônio Costa was chosen by dad to be my God-Father,” adds Valcírio. *varejões - from varejão (singular) – pole-driven floats and river rafts.
The first Ayahuasca center Research conducted by the anthropologist Clodomir Monteiro -- Federal University of Acre -- UFAC, reveals that from the first reunion between Irineu Serra and the Costa brothers came the organization of the first center of Ayahuasca that we know of. Settled in Brasiléia, the center was called Círculo de Regeneração de Fé (Circle of Faith’s Regeneration) -- CRF, founded by the Costa brother’s right after the departure of Irineu Serra, who at some time between 1913 and 1916 also passed through Sena Madureira, another district of Acre. Irineu Serra even came to participate in the works organized by Antônio Costa and André Costa, but he left the spiritual organization due to the persecution the sacrament was suffering at that time. “He left due to the strong persecution,” narrates Ms. Percília Matos, referring to the police and ecclesiastic leaders of Brasiléia, largely dominated by the Catholicism. The disconnection of Mestre from this center, linked to the Ayahuasca, culminated with his separation from Ms. Rosa Amorim due “because mom didn’t agree with the spiritual line followed by daddy,” relates Mr. Valcírio Genésio. It is known that the center closed its doors right after Irineu Serra left.
The work of Irineu Serra in the Borders Commission Around 1918 he was selected to participate in the Border Commission that would delimit the frontiers of the Acre territory with the countries Peru and Bolivia. He was the person responsible for the safe where the officers kept their objects of value. It was his return to the Amazon forest and a new cycle of apprenticeship and evolution in his process of self-discipline and knowledge of the secrets and mysteries of the rainforest. Everything seemed to conspire with his predestination. Now he was helping in the demarcation of the borders of the state that later on would be known throughout the whole world for the spiritual mission he would plant. In the contacts he had with the Indian tribes of the region Irineu Serra learned to speak Tupi-Guarani* and perfected his knowledge with the secrets of healing. “Mestre told me a lot about this commission, that they were serious and dedicated people. He started to work in this commission, achieving such trust that he became the treasurer,” narrates Mr. Luiz Mendes. *Tupi-Guarani - is the name of the most important subfamily of the Tupi languages of South America. It includes 53 languages in 11 groups. Tupi - is the name of a language family that was spoken along the Brazilian coast at the time of its discovery. The Portuguese, when landing in Brazil, found out that wherever they went along the vast coast of this newly discovered land, natives spoke a similar language which was then named "língua geral" (general language). It was systematized by the Jesuits and spoken until the nineteenth century in that region. It is still used today by Indians around the Rio Negro region, where it is called Nheengatu [ñe-engatOO], or "fine language". The Tupi language subgroup consists of 6 languages in the Tupi-Guarani language family: Tupi Antigo, Nhengatu, Tupinkin, Potiguara, Omagua, and Cocoma.
His pass through the Territorial Guard In 1928 “he served alongside Germano Guilherme in the old Territorial Guard. There they got together and became like brothers,” tells Ms. Cecília Gomes, Germano’s ex wife. Germano Guilherme meets again with the maranhense Irineu Serra, after 14 years, since the last time in Brasileia, 1912. With the passing time he became his first follower. “He told me that on their time off they would go into the forest to drink ayahuasca,” adds Ms. Cecília Gomes. “In Rio Branco he joined the Police. During some time he was a soldier, with much merit he was promoted to corporal and soon after he left his post,” narrates Mr. Luiz Mendes. In truth, the leaving from the guard was an order from his spiritual teacher Clara who at that point was calling him to the fulfillment of his spiritual mission. It was time to take charge of a battalion of universal ranks; the Battalion of the Queen of the Forest.
Second Period – 1931 to 1945 1931 – The implantation of the Santo Daime doctrine This period is marked by the decline of the Amazonian rubber market, which was losing to competition from Malaysia (whose plantations were founded with native seeds taken from Brazil). Hundreds of northeastern families started to abandon the rubber plantations in search of a better life in the city. Rio Branco began to suffer disorganization in the process of occupancy of its urban areas. After his discharge from the Territorial Guard, Irineu Serra tried to live in a contested area close to the Army Headquarter, known at the time as the 4th Company. Not succeeding in the attempt, he participated alongside a group of rubber tappers taking possession of a land from the rubber tapper Barros, which was very close to the neighborhood known today as Vila Ivonete in Rio Branco. As Mr. Luiz Mendes relates: “Through the strength of his companions they got him a colony at Vila Ivonete. It seems to be that Mestre was one of the first tenants.” From the start, in the very act of taking possession of the land, Irineu Serra started to organize his portion of the land with the intention of planting and making it productive. He built a small adobe house similar to the ones in his motherland, and began living in the area, alongside other rubber tappers. It is in this region, after 20 years of total adaptation, self-discipline, and gaining knowledge of the deep secrets of nature, that Irineu Serra will organize and form a group of spiritual workers and implementing the doctrine of the Santo Daime. His first measure in this direction was the naturalization of the name of the drink, still known as Ayahuasca, to Santo Daime. Daime, which comes from the divine verb to give. Give me strength, give me love, give me the bread of the Creator. “He used to say that we should ask to whom could give to us, and by that he chose the name of this drink, Daime, and through it we ask of God everything that is good for us and our fellow man,” comments Mr. Júlio Carioca
1933 – The arrival of the first followers In 1933 Irineu Serra began to receive his first followers. After Germano Guilherme, who had been taking Daime with Mestre since they both joined the territorial guard in 1928, José das Neves, as he himself witnessed, was his second follower. “It was on the 26th of May of 1931 that I started this work with him.” It is possible, doing a joining of other names that were rescued in our research, to introduce a chart of Mestre Irineu’s followers that arrived in between 1931 and 1945: First generation of followers -- From 1931 to 1945: Germano Guilherme - 1928 Note: the approximate dates are presented according to cross-referencing information obtained from among the elders. The confirmed dates are certified through concrete facts. All these followers came to Acre territory certainly attracted by the rubber market, expelled from the northeast due to the severe drought that emerged in the region. With the exception of José das Neves, who was a merchant, the others were former rubber tappers and farmers living from the strenuous work with the land. In 1933, after living some years alone, Irineu Serra got married with Ms. Raimunda, a woman that according to testimonies had indigenous roots. She became the “person of trust of Mestre and everything he thought she learned,” narrates Mr. Francisco Grangeiro. It is said, on the other hand, that this marriage was not approved by Clara, the spiritual teacher of Irineu Serra. According to Ms. Percília Matos “the Queen didn’t agree with the marriage and sentenced Mestre to spend twenty years of suffering,” she detailed. It is known that since the beginning of his acquaintanceship with Ms. Raimunda that Irineu Serra faced problems, especially with his mother-in-law, Ms. Maria Franco.
The Spiritual and Social Organization Process The group acquaintanceship had already existed since the first movements towards the occupation of the land that is today known as Vila Ivonete. Irineu Serra started to stand out as a leader amongst the farmers and their families, with ground to initiate the spiritual organization of his works and the systematization of the Christian-Daime doctrine: Its liturgy (ceremonies and rituals) and the social relations inherent and necessary to the mission (evangelization movement, searching out and conversion of human kind, and the reward of health and well being).
Healing and Concentration Sessions The first commandment in this process was the institution of the Concentration and healing works (works, as the ceremonies are called in the doctrine), the first rituals implemented in the doctrinal formation of Irineu Serra. On Wednesdays the group would gather with the healing objective, whenever a brother needed spiritual assistance to the healing of ailments or diseases. All united, in a concentration work of one our and a half, they would seek within the light of the Daime the healing of the ones in need. On Saturdays the brotherhood would gather for the simple concentration work, with similar liturgy: one hour and a half of concentration in the benefit of each other individually, and of all collectively. “He would recommend in his lectures that we should also ask for mankind to be rid of the terrors and rebelliousness that we are accustomed to seeing,” states Ms. Percília Matos. Mestre Irineu would preside while they sat around a table, in the form of a square, with the Caravaca Cross* -- first symbol of the doctrine that was already making part of the ritual -- placed at its center. The first spiritual works “were held at the house of Mestre; that little group, and he started to assist us,” remembers once more Ms. Percília Matos. Trying always to be joined with his followers, this beginning was difficult. Along with some financial difficulties Mestre Irineu faced persecution for the implementation of his doctrine. As had happened with the Center of Regeneration and Faith, created in 1917 in Brasiléia, the distribution of the Santo Daime was facing social and religious prejudice. “At that time it was very few people, and persecuted by the justice. It was a sacrifice. But we overcame everything and nowadays we live in a favorable condition,” says Ms. Cecília Gomes. *Caravaca Cross - the cross of Caravaca is a double-cross-barred crucifix. The original of this cross appeared miraculously in the Spanish town of Caravaca during the 14th century. It is said to contain a fragment of the True Cross upon which Jesus was crucified. Caravaca is known to archaeologists as the site of one of the oldest settlements in Spain, to occultists as a former stronghold of the mysterious Knights Templar, and to historians as a military fortress occupied during the struggle to oust the Moors and re-establish Christianity in Spain. The financial difficulties were solved amongst the brotherhood, especially by Mr. José das Neves. “They would share groceries and José das Neves became his great friend since then,” adds Ms. Percília Matos. The spoken word, in this beginning, was therefore the greatest educational instrument. “He would give a lot of lectures, talk, would give advice to us, and would state how he wanted the work according to how the Virgin was teaching him,” comments Ms. Maria Gomes. “Our work started as a class. You gather four, five kids, make a classroom and begin teaching, and more kids start to arrive. With the passing days the lessons also arrive, the teacher goes indicating how it is supposed to be, and the student goes about learning the ABC’s,” narrated Mr. José das Neves.
Spiritual Socialization On the other side the plantings and the harvests were further enriching and valuing the acquaintanceship in group, which started to be organized by the leader Irineu Serra. “He became the first community leader in Rio Branco. He was everything. A lawyer, a doctor, he would conduct marriages, and finally, it was to whom we were resorting in all the instants of joy and sadness,” said Ms. Percília Matos. Men and women started to unify as a work force. The rice, the corn, the beans and the manioc flour were all products that soon started to be consumed by the group that became self-sustainable. This form of joined cooperative began to be established in his line of work. At the same time in which they were producing for their material survival, the group was evolving spiritually. The spiritual works of Wednesday and Saturday were indispensable. The healings and the benefits of health carried out in the doctrine were making the name of Irineu Serra more and more known in Rio Branco. Though there was still not a standardized uniform, in the garments of the followers the white was already one of the predominant colors, perhaps under the strong influence of northeastern culture.
1934 – The first command formation and the receiving of the first hymns of the Santo Daime doctrine With the growing number of adepts in his works, it was necessary to take the first steps towards the order of the group. The leader decreed, therefore, the first formation of the command. The oldest ones were assuming the first positions in the rows composed sequentially by the order of arrival in the session (mission). Presided by Irineu Serra, after him, on the men’s side would follow: Germano Guilherme and José das Neves, João Pereira and others that were beginning the formation of the rows of the men’s side. In the female wing Ms. Raimunda, Mestre’s wife, and Ms. Percilia Matos were the ones heading the formation of the rows, followed by Maria Damião, Maria Franco, Maria Gomes and others. The first hierarchical divisions were also automatically appearing in the work: The male commander -- Irineu Serra, and the female -- Ms. Raimunda. It started in the same year the receiving of the first hymns channeled by the followers. “In 1934 we had Lua Branca, Tuperci and Ripi, and at that time we didn’t have farda (uniform),” recalls Ms. Percília Matos. Although we had these hymns, “in fact was Germano Guilherme who first received and sang his hymn in the doctrine, the reason why his hinário is executed before the hinário of Mestre Irineu up to today,” reports Ms. Cecília Gomes (ex wife of Germano Guilherme). Therefore, in this year, was presented the first hymn sung in the doctrine by the follower Germano Guilherme: “Divine Eternal Father 1 – Divino Pai Eterno (Divine Eternal Father), from Germano Guilherme. This hymn would firm more then ever the universal creation destined to Irineu Serra, who started the formation of his world; the verbalization of the sacred character he wanted to implant through his doctrine. After the presentation of Germano Guilherme’s hymn Irineu Serra was presenting to the fraternity, twenty two years later, the hymn that he had received in 1912 in Peru: Lua Branca. The music and the lyrics were still lively in his memory in a divine proof of the power and of the value of the doctrine that started to be implemented. “It was when we knew the hymn Lua Branca, that he had received in Peru when the Virgin handed to him the Mission,” comments Ms. Percilia.
The first hymns His first hymns invoke the presence of beings like the Virgin of Conception, Jesus Christ and the Omnipotent God, presenting the relations of his works with nature and the beings of indigenous and perhaps African origins: Tuperci, Jaci, Ripi Iaiá, Formosa, Tarumim, Equiôr, Papai Paxá (Daddy Paxa), Barum, Marum, Begê and Princesa Soloina (Princess Soloina). We naturally perceive the narration of his history in the canticles of his hinário. These indigenous beings were revealing the experience lived by Irineu Serra in the period of adaptation and evolution, referred before, where the leader learnt to coexist with the secrets and mysteries of the nature, working with the plants and learning about their healing effects, giving sequence, from there on, to his divine apprenticeship. Later on we are going to observe, still referring to his hinário, his invocation to the domineering beings of the universe: The Sun, the Moon, the Stars, the Earth, the Wind and the Sea, which they are revealed in the verbalization of his hymns as sacred elements of the eternal love: “I want to be Oh! Virgin Mother The eternal love 15 – Eu Quero Ser (I Want To Be), from Mestre Irineu. It was the opening of a line of communication between the material and spiritual.
The Hinários Later, in 1935, when João Pereira and Maria Damião also started to receive their first hymns, the Queen orders Irineu Serra to establish a new ritual: The execution of the hinários -- ritual that has as a base the canticles and praises to the Divine Beings of the Sacred Mission. Hinários are messages received in verse from the astral plane; the liturgy of the Santo Daime doctrine formed by a set of hymns. The first hinários to be formed from 1936 to 1947 were: O CRUZEIRO (The Cross) - from Mestre Raimundo Irineu Serra In 1935, with the receiving of the first hymns of the doctrine, the first hinário was carried out. “It was the 23rd of June of 1935. Mestre organized two fronts of labor. The men went to get logs for a bonfire and the women prepared the ornamentation and a big supper which Mestre requested for the interval. When it was around six in the afternoon, at the house of Ms. Maria Damião, we got together, prayed a rosary, drank the sacrament and went to sing until midnight. We only had eight hymns! One from Germano Guilherme, four from Mestre, two from João Pereira and one from Maria Damião. They were repeated in the same order for the whole night. When it was midnight he gave an interval, the supper already prepared on a great table, when he told us to sing for three times that hymn: Father of heaven of the heart Mother of heaven of the heart 5 – Refeição (Meal), from Mestre Irineu. This hymn was sung in such a beautiful way that I never forgot... even today…” cries, moved, Ms. Percília Matos. After midnight the group came back to sing the determined sequence of hymns till the dawn of the day. It was the day of Saint John the Baptist. Afterwards, following the orientations of his teacher Clara, Irineu Serra ordered new dates for the realization of the hinários, forming the first calendar of the doctrine's official hinários: First Official Calendar of Works Besides these dates was normal to have the concentration sessions on Saturdays and the healing sessions on Wednesdays. The dates highlight the first traces of the Christianity in the mission of Irineu Serra. Parallel to these teachings, that started to be received from the Astral Plane, building the communication between the group and the spiritual world, Irineu Serra was teaching his followers to pray. The prayer was appearing in the bases of the doctrine as one of the elements of basic importance for the individual. “He got tired of saying to us, and still today he tells us spiritually, that we should pray to reach our objectives without embarrassments and to get rid of the maladies that exist in the world,” said Ms. Maria Gomes. In the Our Father, taught by the spiritual leader Irineu Serra, instead of us saying: “Thy kingdom may come to us,” as teaches the Church for millenniums, he ordered with the orientation of his spiritual teacher, Clara, that it was to be said: “Let us go unto Thy kingdom” -- because the kingdom is divine and as well as we came, we go to the throne of our father. “My mother accompanied me From 26 - Leão Branco (White Lion) - Mestre Irineu. “Let’s all get to work From 18 - Mensageiro (Messenger) - Maria Damião With this philosophy Irineu Serra was starting to teach his followers to materially work in order to present themselves to the Divine Father. Consecrated was six o’clock in the morning, the peak of noon and six o’clock in the evening. It was the beginning of his indoctrination to his people without the use of the thought of total domination. Mestre Irineu was working the conscience through the sacred drink, which shows through the hymns our duties in the world. The healings and the humility of the leader towards the group were elevating his own spirit. The leader started to be referred in the hymns that were being received by Germano Guilherme, João Pereira and Maria Damião as Mestre (Master). “Jesus Christ is on the earth From 8 – Louvada seja Nossa Mãe (Praised be Our Mother). Germano Guilherme. His work was evolving. His group was gradually growing and so consequently was the prejudice of religions and society. Mestre Irineu started to care towards the legalization of his session and show the ecclesiastical leaders that his mission in anything threatened the traditional religions.
1936 - The introduction of the Baile*, the rehearsals and the Fardamento* In 1936 two measures marked a new phase of work with the group: First, the introduction of the bailado* in the hinário rituals, followed by the officialization of the first farda of the doctrine, an organizational measure that rehearsed the initial steps of Mestre Irineu in the institutionalization of his works. *baile - a dance with lateral steps to the right and left in the rhythms of the march, waltz and mazurka.
The Baile It was introduced as a dance with lateral steps to the right and left in the rhythms of the march, waltz and mazurka. Men and women, in quadrilateral form, execute the rhythmical steps with the beat of the maraca -- first percussion instrument of the doctrine, made of one pound thin cans, spheres and wooden handles, originated from the Indigenous tribes -- that serves to give rhythm to the bailado (the baile group of steps). Its introduction in the hinário works, as the elders affirm, was one of the most difficult tasks that Mestre Irineu faced. “Even I, many times, didn’t have patience to rehearse and would step out of the form. One time I got so irritated that I threw the maraca on the table and said that I wouldn’t dance anymore,” remembers Ms. Percília Matos. Since then starts to occur the Doctrine rehearsals. Mestre Irineu started to gather the group on the weekends and on a patiently way. “He would teach us one by one how to dance, many times grabbing us by the hand and showing the steps that had to be done in accordance with what the Queen was asking of him.” From what we know, it took almost six months of intense rehearsals until the ideal form of bailado instructed by Mestre Irineu was ideally executed.
The Fardamento At the same time, Mestre Irineu, altogether with Ms. Raimunda and Ms. Percília Matos determined the confection of the first official fardamento of the doctrine. “The first fardas were like a medley tunic, like dolmans. It had a white hat in the head. They were two fardas: The official fardamento (medley tunic and white pants) and the blue fardamento (medley pants and white tunic),” narrated Mr. Raimundo Gomes. These first fardas, according to Ms. Percília Matos, were made amongst the very own community. “We would gather on each other houses and it was like a party to make it. At this time I was already tailoring as a self employed. Everyone wanted to dress the Doctrine Farda,” related Ms. Percília Matos. The farda gave a new identity to the group of Mestre Irineu. They would dress the white farda (official) in all the works considered official, and in the concentration work they would dress the blue fardamento. We are going to observe, with the passing time, the
The new Order of Command Following the instructions of his spiritual teacher Clara, Still in 1936, Mestre Irineu determined also a new order of command to his group, creating a disciplinarian element alike to the one of a barrack, with ranks divided by the hierarchy through stars. HIERARCHY MODULE: Six stars - General It was considered a private the brothers and sisters newly arrived in the mission. We once again observe in his command orders the valorization that Mestre Irineu would give to seniority. Inside this hierarchy it is known that only Mestre Irineu used the rank of six stars. He was the general.
1938 – The arrival of the Gomes family Brazil was still under the dictatorship regime of Getúlio Vargas. In the state of Acre ships still would bring entire families of north easterners that were running away from the drought, seeking a better quality of life in the region. “In one of those ships, narrates Ms. Zulmira Gomes, daddy brought us here. We suffered a lot during the ship journey until here but we arrived with faith in God. Here, after a wile, daddy was very sick, feeling a very strong mind perturbation and I was tired to look all around on the search for his cure. Compadre* Zé das Neves asked if I didn’t know the session of a tall black guy that was doing healings in Vila Ivonete. I said no. He insisted until he convinced me to go there. I presented myself to Mestre, he looked at the state of my father and made an appointment for the next Wednesday as the beginning of his healing work. But he walked out of there better at the same day (she smiles), and with three healing sessions he was cured. Then my father said he would never abandon that (spiritual) work,” narrates Ms. Zulmira Gomes. *compadre - a colloquial way of saying ‘God Father’. In this way the Gomes family presented themselves to the session of Raimundo Irineu Serra. This story Ms. Zulmira liked a lot to narrate. Sometimes, whenever I would go visit her in Alto Santo*, I would get impressed with her memory capability. On a very advanced age and well tired of the suffering routine lived until then, Ms Zulmira would never get tired to speak of the past. With a dry branch in hand (to cast away flies), always that a newcomer would arrive in Alto Santo, there she was narrating the unforgettable moments lived by Mestre’s side. *Alto Santo - Holy Summit - due to the land that was higher then the surrounding area. A popular name given to the last headquarters of Mestre Irineu’s mission. This name was incorporated later in time in face of the healings carried out in the fraternity. She narrates the end of the first formation cycle of the doctrine. Mestre Irineu, which was already giving the first steps in the institutionalization of his works, relied on a considerable group of followers. Of the new family, besides Antônio Gomes da Silva, the patriarch, his children Leôncio Gomes, Raimundo Gomes, Adália Gomes, José Gomes and Ms. Zulmira Gomes also started to attend the sessions. Ms. Zulmira, married to Mr. Sebastião Goncalves, took his children Raimundo Gonçalves, João Gomes, Benedita Gomes, Eloisa Gomes, and Peregrina Gomes to the mission. This family strengthened the edification of the doctrine like Antônio Gomes himself who started to receive a rich and instructive hinário where he narrates, “Mestre worked, was seeing himself almost alone, and asked of Jesus Christ to open his path.”
The Forest Crew Besides the concentration and healing rituals, the official hinários, the service orders and the fardamento, it is known that existed in the organization the so called Forest Labor, responsible for it Mr. José das Neves and later on Mr. Manoel Dantas. These men, in every new moon cycle, would enter the Amazonian virgin jungle in search of the plants for the confection of the Santo Daime. They formed with João Pereira, Mr. Francisco martins, Antônio Gomes, Guilherme Gomes, Antônio Roldão, Pedro marques, Antônio Capanga, José Afrânio, and Mestre Irineu himself, the first Forest Crew of the Santo Daime doctrine.
The improvement methodologies As the improvement methodologies of this first doctrinarian cycle, the rehearsals and the first formation of the General Staff were measures developed by Mestre Irineu for the self discipline of the group. The General Staff -- “In the spiritual language it meant the reunion of graduated people able to transmit comfort to whoever needs it in the sessions and hinários. They had to be effective people that were always ready upon a call made by Mestre. I remember of two groups that were formed. One before he left Vila Ivonete and the other before he passed away. Those people were graduated by him in the hinarios of Saint John and Christmas. He would choose and include the person in the board of the General Staff.” Still, according to Ms. Percília Matos, would form the General Staff of Members of the General Staff formed in between 1931 and 1945. 1. Germano Guilherme - arrived in the mission in 1928
The Farewell of Maria Damião On the second of April of 1942* Mestre Irineu and his group said farewell to Ms. Maria Marques Vieira, that was affectionately called Maria Damião. The elders say that with the death of her father, Mr. Damião Marques, in 1935, Maria Damião faced the arduous task of raising seven siblings. She dedicated herself, aside from the doctrine, exclusively to the cultivation of the land. She planted, tended the fields and harvested her daily necessities to help in raising her siblings,” relates Ms. Percília Matos, with whom she had a strong friendship. *1942 - Recent studies says that she really died in 1949 and the consensus is that she had seven children with her husband Damião Marques. It is important to mention that aside the notes the rest of the document is accurate, until further notice, as everyday a new information or correction, in all subjects regarding the doctrine, is revealed to us. Spiritually speaking, Maria Damião received one of the most beautiful hinários of the doctrine, today named as “O Mensageiro” and composed of 49 hymns. Her hymns verbalize in its totality the words of Mestre Irineu. It belongs to this hinário the origin of the word pátria (mother land) in the doctrine. Maria Damião, through her hymns, speak to us about the love for the mother land and in another passages foretold events that were going to happen in the future, such as the divisions of the group in 1974 and 1981. During World War II, in 1942, when the Japanese Navy was defeated and the Italians and Germans were ejected from the North of Africa, Maria Damião announced through her hymns: “New revolutions with the foreigners.” Her hinário also describes the figure of a foreign Chief, a mysterious spiritual being about whose significance and origins very few in the Doctrine know about. Portraying this passage, Mestre received the hymn “Choro Muito”. Nobody new that she was sick. After three days of the appearance of this hymn news arrived that she was agonizing. She suddenly got sick and died at 32 years of age. Maria Damião also talks of her passage to the spiritual life in her last hymn, named “Despedida” (Farewell). “Your little house is ready Jesus Christ the Savior On my hearings I heard I corrected my thoughts Life followed in the works of the mission implanted by Mestre Irineu. His circle of friends grew, especially in the political scenery. Mestre Irineu met one of the greatest politicians that the Acre state ever had, Senator Guiomar dos Santos, as well as the Colonel Fonteneli de Castro, Jorge Kalume, Wanderley Dantas and others that dedicated to his person and work the affection and the attention deserved. The enlargement of Mestre’s activities, both material and spiritual, became a necessity due to the growing of the group that surrounded him. Mestre Irineu began to prepare his exit from Vila Ivonete in 1945. The location begun to be influenced by the population swallowing that the city of Rio Branco was suffering. With the decline of the rubber market more families of rubber tappers and farmers were abandoning the rural life to try a new beginning in the capital. The Queen ordered Mestre Irineu to move the doctrine headquarters.
Third period - from 1945 to 1971 The systematic evolution of the Christian-Daime doctrine: 1945 – The moving to Alto Santo After two visits to the location known as Colocação Espalhado (Dispersed Settlement), surrounded of rich native vegetation in rubber trees and hardwood, Mestre Irineu manages to close the deal of a land that was donated by the state government through a settling project implemented by Guiomard dos Santos. “Guiomard dos Santos sought at that time to correct the exit of the countryside population to the city. It was out of control. Everyone was abandoning the rubber trees and the rubber to go look for a better life in the streets. He created these production centers, donating through the friendship he had with Mestre Irineu this large area of land for him to work,” narrates Mr. Luiz Mendes. It was May of 1945. World War II had come to its end. Honoring the history of his country, Mestre Irineu, upon moving to his new land, re-baptized it from Colocação Espalhado to Alto da Santa Cruz*. It only had an old little house made of Paxiuba*. The initial preoccupation of Mestre Irineu was to organize a space to hold the spiritual works of his mission, after all, the official hinário of Saint John was approaching. *Alto da Santa Cruz - Summit of the Holy Cross - it is also important to know that the country had two significant names prior to Brazil. The first one was Terra da Vera Cruz (Land of the True Cross), given in the act of the discovery (16th century), and the second name, given some time later by the Portuguese clergy was Terra da Santa Cruz (Land of the Holy Cross). The name Brazil became popular due to a tree of that name that was being exported to Europe. With the passing time it was accepted as official, as the merchants around the globe would refer to the country as ‘Brazil’. Even though the distance to the group that he left in Vila Ivonete was great, the disconnection didn’t break the rhythm of the works, and Even though the absent leader was missed everybody kept their life’s going. On the gathering dates, such as concentrations and hinário sessions, they all would walk miles and miles along the road Alberto Torres to participate in the sessions. An example of this was the realization of the first hinário in Alto da Santa Cruz, as we mentioned before, in praise to Saint John the Baptist. “The work was held under an orange tree, and as the move had happened at the end of May, there wasn’t time enough to build a headquarters. It was an unforgettable work, on a very cold day, and everybody wondering if they would endure the coldness of the forest that night. But we didn’t even feel the passing of time. We took the Daime and started to sing Mestre’s hymns, feeling that comfort that seemed to come from above. And it came, really. In the middle of the woods we sang like we were in the very salão*,” recalled Ms. Percília Matos. *salão - salon; room - place where the spiritual works are held in the headquarters. We presume that during this period Mestre received his 60th hymn: Laranjeira (Orange Tree), marking the works that were held in the orange grove. It is known that this new stage of work in the life of the great leader was troublesome. He had to restart all the rice plantations, corn, beans and cassava, working many times alone due to the distance that separated him from the group of Vila Ivonete. Tireless in the mission that the divinity destined to him, Mestre Irineu faced all the difficulties with determination and courage.
1946 – The suspension of the works Basically a year after his move to Alto Santo, in the middle of May of 1946, Mestre Irineu, following orientations of his spiritual teacher, Clara, decides to suspend all the spiritual works of his mission. Very little is known of the real reasons that led Mestre Irineu to take such profound decision. Approaching the subject evokes unpleasant memories among the old followers. In our researches silence as an answer prevailed among the majority and the ones that had courage to talk affirmed that besides the fights in between group, that in its majority had stayed at Vila Ivonete, Mestre Irineu’s mother-in-law, Ms. Maria Franco, would also have been one of the reasons for the suspension of the session. “One of the causers was his mother-in-law. A confusion created by her was what carried Mestre to close the session. He suspended the works that were always under his responsibility. It was a very difficult time for all of us,” relates lady Maria Gomes, wife of Antônio Gomes at that time. The date of the session shutdown coincides with the period of her husband’s death. Before his passage, strongly shaken in his physical health, Antônio Gomes had received a hymn that announced this moment that would be lived for everyone of the mission. One of the verses of this hymn tells: “The session being closed, we are outside of the power, we are inside the clamor (outcry), for everybody see.” Fearing this clamor was that Antônio Gomes “went on a horse from house to house asking for the brothers and sisters to humble themselves and ask Mestre to open the session,” tells Ms. Lourdes Carioca. In fact, the discords in between the fraternity had always been one of the main dynamics that displeased Mestre Irineu. This disqualified attitude that was being practiced for some of his group was really the strongest reason for the courageous attitude taken by the great leader. For who was always preaching evolution, the fact that his followers were hurting one another was Inadmissible.
The surrender of the Gomes family The reopening of the sessions was one of the dreams that Antônio Gomes da Silva saw in the spiritual planes. In August of 1946 he started his farewell to the community. In one of the visits that Mestre Irineu made to him, before his passing away, Antônio Gomes asked that, before his closing of eyes, Mestre would remain responsible for his family. Exactly what his hymn described: “Here at your hands I arrived almost dead, to thee I surrender myself altogether with my family.” On the 14th of August of the same year he passed away. “The hymn Só Eu Cantei Na Barra (I Sung Alone on the Bar), is about the passage of Antônio Gomes. He was very sick. The hymn states: Death is very simple, it is equal to being born. When I listened to it I realized that we couldn’t do much. The prescription, as Mestre says, is the earth,” narrates Ms. Percília Matos. His short trajectory through the doctrine was marked by the receiving of his hinário, which is nowadays called “Amor Divino”. The verb of his hymns testifies the mission preached by Mestre Raimundo Irineu Serra as a truthful universal school. One of his most well-known hymns, Preleição (Lecture), talks of the union, of the pardon and of the humility as the main sources for the improvement of human kind and its full happiness. His death culminates with the reopening of the spiritual works. “Little after he died was that Mestre opened the session again,” comments Ms. Maria Gomes. Attending to his request, Mestre began to look after all of his children. Among them were Ms. Zulmira Gomes, Leôncio Gomes and Raimundo Gomes, that were already standing out in the preservation of the doctrine teachings. Ms. Zulmira and Mr. Raimundo Gomes, for example, started to receive two wonderful hinários. Leôncio Gomes had been cured of alcohol addiction through the healing works of the doctrine, alongside with Mr. Daniel Pereira de Matos, fellow citizen of Mestre, which strongly suffered from the same ailment. “He would drink a lot, drink to fall on the ground. He had surrendered to it. It was when he met with Mestre who was also from Maranhão. Thus Irineu Serra, as he was already established, took Daniel to Alto Santo. He would tell of it this way: he spent some time there and got better, staying without drinking. After a while he came back here and started to drink again. Then Mestre went after him and took him back to Alto Santo for the second time, and that time he stayed there longer,” narrates Mr. Antônio Geraldo.
The sessions with music The history of Daniel Pereira de Matos in the doctrine, however, does not ends just in this healing episode. Reestablished of the vice, Daniel Matos began to dedicate himself to the mission. “Black only of skin but on the inside a big Capuchin monk,” as Mr. Antônio Geraldo affirms, Daniel Matos was an intelligent man. “Of wide and muscular shoulders, he would talk a lot with us in a deep voice. He wouldn’t work here in the crops or in the rubber trees. He would stay at home studying. He was very fond of it. His business was to read, work as a carpenter and he was also the barber of Mestre Irineu,” relates Mr. Raimundo Gonçalves. It was in the development of his activities as a carpenter that Daniel Pereira de Matos started to manufacture his own instruments and compose his own music. “He only played his music and even the instruments were made by him,” return to affirm Raimundo Gonçalves. With the passing time Mestre Irineu began to use his waltzes to establish a “session with music” ritual. “We had a work system that was the following: Padrinho (God Father) Irineu would do a concentration service and Daniel had some concepts for his waltzes. At certain point he would ask Daniel to play those beautiful waltzes of his and we would concentrate in the music that he was playing. It was this way that Daniel participated in the works for the time he was with Mestre Irineu,” added Mr. Raimundo Goncalves.
The foundation of Barquinha* – The first Ayahuasca ramification in the Acre state The friendship and the spiritual commitment of Mestre Irineu and Daniel Pereira de Matos went beyond these horizons. “Mestre would always go visit Daniel in Vila Ivonete. Almost every time he would go out he would pay a visit to him. They were really great friends and Mestre Irineu liked him a lot. In one of these occasions Daniel told him that there were a lot of people seeking him out for a cure. Then Padrinho Irineu gave permission for the continuity of his work. For a good while Padrinho sent Daime for him to help the people. It was easier that way, because at that time Daniel had no conditions yet to make the Daime at Vila Ivonete. It was too far for the people to go from Vila Ivonete to Alto Santo. It was too hard. This is how Daniel began and how he worked, until he established himself, working with the Esoteric Circle* and doing healings,” reports Raimundo Goncalves. *Barquinha - a split of the SD and the smallest of the three established Brazilian churches who use ayahuasca. As with the others, the religion incorporates beliefs from Spiritism, Christianity and the native jungle tribes. The name implies 'boat', and their main church is on a river boat in the Amazon. Thus the first ramification of the ayahuasca arose in Acre state. The Centro Espírita e Culto de Oração Casa de Jesus Fonte de Luz (Spiritist Center and Worship Group House of Jesus Source of Light) was founded by Daniel Pereira de Matos and is still located at Vila Ivonete today. In this center Daniel Matos spiritually developed himself. His friendship with Mestre Irineu continued to exist. “Daniel would say that he used to take Daime with Irineu, and would tell about the visions that he had in this period of living with him,” report Ms. Francisca Gabriel.
1948 – The construction of Alto Santo It is as a great Father that Mestre Irineu decided in 1948 to build the house that was going to be the headquarters of his spiritual works. Until then the sessions and the official hinários were being held at the orange grove. With many Godsons and daughters, and the increasing arrival of newcomers, it was time to adapt his mission for the number of followers that it comported and to take one more step towards the institutionalization of his doctrine. He ordered the taking of all the wood needed to build the house. Raimundo Gonçalves, older son of Ms. Zulmira Gomes, was responsible for that. “We spent several days in the forest collecting the wood that Mestre had asked for. I also worked on the construction, with Mestre always ahead of everyone, having a lot of strength and settling the foundations of the big house almost by himself,” narrates Raimundo Gonçalves. With its architecture similar to the first houses built in the territory of Acre, Alto Santo had four sides representing the cardinal directions and a big living room at the entrance. Rooms were placed on the left and right side, and on the rear the kitchen, which is remembered even nowadays for its abundant table and the solid wooden stools made by Mestre Irineu himself. He also constructed an office where the bottles of Daime are stored till this day and that in that time served also as a place for Mestre’s audiences with his followers. “He attended everybody in that office, spending hours talking and giving advice to us,” relates Mr. Francisco Grangeiro. From here on the doctrine enters a new era of reflections and corrections. Mestre Irineu, in this period that goes from 1945 to 1971, implements new service orders and seeks support for the legalization of his works, also receiving a great number of followers and new families that set roots in his doctrine, providing the definitive implantation of the great spiritual philosophy that to him was destined. The big house, which later on became known as Alto Santo, for the countless healings that Mestre performed, became the headquarters of the spiritual works of the mission.
The donation of land and the definitive implantation of the joined cooperative system It is at the land of Alto da Santa Cruz that the implantation of his activities with the land also happens. Work that was able to take place due to several adhesions of new followers, along with the arrival in the area of the families that were settled at Vila Ivonete. Mestre Irineu gradually brought the families that stood at Vila Ivonete, implanting his spiritual and communitarian system in the act of donating land for them. “He said that there would come a day when happy would be the ones who had a piece of land to cultivate. This way he was stimulating the ones arriving to get engaged with his work,” remembers Francisco Grangeiro, who arrived at the mission in 1950. The adhesion of new followers was increasing the rhythm of his works at the same time that the oldest ones would say farewell. The pioneer João Pereira, natural of Porongaba city - CE (Ceará), made his passage in 1952. He was one of the first followers of the doctrine. He had followed the works of the mission with dedication since 1930, receiving, like Germano Guilherme, Maria Damião and Antônio Gomes, a rich and instructive hinário that talks about the three noble sources; a King and a Queen that came to this world to replant the Holy Doctrine of Jesus Christ.
The separation with Ms. Raimunda In March of 1955 Ms. Raimunda decides to abandon the relation with Mestre Irineu. This is also a subject of this doctrine that few comment. It is common knowledge the difficulties in the relationship, mostly due to the problems created by his mother-in-law, Ms. Maria Franco. “Her mother would put a finger in everything that Mestre determined, being a perturbation in his life,” comments Ms. Percília Matos. From origins not well known, Ms. Raimunda was a Pajé* from birth and had a great spiritual knowledge. “She was the key of trust for Mestre. He taught and she learned. She would really make invocations. He taught her the pontos*. She took care of the men and the women,” reports Francisco Grangeiro, until the day that of her own free will she decides to leave behind all the years of companionship with Mestre Irineu. “She left to São Paulo with her mother, where she went to die, as it seems to me, run over by a car,” reports Ms. Percília Matos. *Pajé - name for a shaman who is also a powerful medicine-man. From native tribes of Brazil. With the absence of Ms. Raimunda Irineu Serra brought to Alto Santo the young Paulo Serra, a son of the marriage in between José Francisco das Neves and Ms. Cecília Gomes, and Marta Serra. Paulo Serra was named after Mestre’s uncle from Maranhão, the one that had a decisive role on his coming to Acre. Paulo and Marta were baptized as the adopted children of Mestre Irineu and started to live with him, along with Ms. Percília Matos, in the official residency of Mestre. “Whenever Mestre would receive a hymn, she was the one to copy them. She became like a governess, taking care of the house, and on the mission she proceeded exercising the same functions of Ms. Raimunda in the female command,” relates Mr. Francisco Grangeiro
1956 – The marriage with Madrinha (God Mother) Peregrina In 1956, after spending three years alone, Mestre Irineu began the preparation for a new wedding. This time, following the orientation of his spiritual teacher, Clara, he was more cautious in the choice of his new companion. In fact, of 66 years of age he knew that he had to choose as a companionship the one that would be heiress of the whole fortress of his teachings. This way the preliminary contacts with Ms. Zulmira Gomes, mother of Peregrina Gomes, were made. Peregrina Gomes was a woman that at the peak of her youth stood out as the ideal person for the great master. “It was months of observation before he had the first talk with Ms. Zulmira,” reports Ms. Percília Matos. After receiving the family acceptance through Zulmira Gomes, who acted as a mediator, Mestre Irineu sought the bride’s consent that was only 17 years old. “He asked me if I would accept to marry him and I said yes, if it is also accepted by my family,” reports Madrinha Peregrina. And so it happened. After the arrangements and document preparations, the 15th of September of the same year was settled as the date for the great festivity. “I met him two or three times before the wedding”, told me Madrinha Peregrina. The fraternity was invited for three days of intense festivities. It was Mestre’s matrimonial union. On the 15th of September, after the civil and religious ceremony, the new couple hosted the fraternity at Alto Santo. Music, dance and a feast marked the unforgettable day. From that day on Peregrina Gomes started to sign her last name as Serra. It was unified the divine love that united the couple. Mestre Irineu was aware that from that point on he would be preparing the one that would be the heiress of his teachings.
The trip to Maranhão The memory of his family, which he had not seen in 45 years, makes Mestre Irineu to plan a trip to Maranhão, exactly on the 13th of November of 1957, with little more than one year of marriage. Before his leave he took the measures necessary in the spiritual organization of his works. With an experienced group he left in the administration José Francisco das Neves and Raimundo Gomes da Silva, uncle of Ms. Peregrina Serra. The trip to Maranhão was all made by boat. “The coast of Maranhão has stormy seas, and he would be seated at the prow, sometimes with the boat full of water,” relates Ms. Peregrina Serra. In the reencounter with his family, in São Vicente de Férrer, Mestre Irineu didn’t find his mother alive. José Serra, Mestre’s brother, was the one to give information about his relatives. It is known that in Maranhão “He didn’t talk about the Daime, but only mentioned the work he had with a group in Acre, when he decided to bring me along with his two nephews: João Serra and Zequinha,” comments Daniel Acelino Serra, that also embarked in the travel back to Acre with Mestre Irineu. The lack of news in Alto Santo, due to the pour system of communication at that time, started to worry his followers. Some, lead by Raimundo Gomes, even held “search sessions” (spiritual works where the brothers and sisters would try to resolve problems of personal matter or that involved the group) with the goal of knowing whether Mestre was still alive or not. The news of his disappearance was even commented in between the fraternity, causing some misunderstandings among the brothers and sisters, after all, it was three months without news, even though Ms. Peregrina Serra, his wife, kept her faith. “It was his biggest wish to make that boat trip. It was forty days being fed on mujangué (beaten eggs) to stand the strength of the miração.” She comments. His nephews also say that he “made the whole trip back mirando* at the prow of the boat,” affirms Daniel Serra. “It was on this trip that he received the instructions for the fardamento,” adds Ms. Peregrina Gomes Serra. She had an arduous mission in the administration of the works in the absence of her husband. The plantations and the harvest led by Mestre Irineu had normal rhythm in his absence, and Ms. Peregrina Gomes Serra would begin early in the day on the fields, directing and helping on the cultivation of the products that would assure the livelihood of the group. *mirando - present continuous tense for mirar (from miração). On February 13th of 1958 Mestre disembarked in Acre’s harbor. There were three more days of intense festivities in Alto Santo. The afflicted fraternity was relieved with the physical presence of Mestre, who made indispensable to each one of them the introduction of his nephews from Maranhão. The integration of Daniel, Zequinha and João was quick, and soon they were adapted to their uncle’s line of work and the living among his group of followers. “Upon the arrival we marveled at such a reception and the festivities. It looked like a great dignitary was arriving,” reports Daniel Acelino Serra.
The arrival of the Carioca Family in the doctrine In October of the same year the Carioca family presented themselves to Mestre Irineu’s command. Through Ms. Olivia Facundes and Mr. Antônio Facundes (who also joined at the same time), Ms. Lourdes Carioca, disillusioned by doctors who attested she had chronic appendicitis, arrived in Mestre Irineu’s hand. “The spiritual work was a concentration session. After taking the Daime given by Mestre’s hand I had my first miração. That night I saw that I didn’t have appendicitis, but that I was in fact pregnant of a girl,” related Ms. Lourdes Carioca. We observe through her deposition that the Daime revealed secrets that are only possible today, in the modern medicine, through an ultrasonography exam. Ms. Lourdes left that session conscious that she wasn’t sick, and carried in her womb the gestation of a girl who was born on April 3rd of 1959 and was named Marise Carioca. “I am used to say that if I would never again take the Daime I would still have the same esteem held for Mestre and his doctrine,” adds Ms. Lourdes Carioca. At home, dreaming, Júlio Carioca sought a light. “I saw myself under an orange tree, where I saw an open door to the firmament. At the hearing of a groan made by my old lady (referring to Ms. Lourdes, his wife), I kept on going in my journey until I met her on a hospital in the firmament. A very beautiful crew of physicians was taking care of her that, in the act of seeing me, said that she was pregnant,” tells Mr. Júlio Carioca. “When I awoke I thought she had died,” he added. “The rigorous diet that the doctors prescribed to me was abandoned. I started to eat everything. Mestre told me that from that day on I was cured,” narrates Ms. Lourdes Carioca. By the seventh time that she took Daime was that Julio Carioca started to attend the session. “At my first miração I confirmed what I had seen in dream. I saw that your mother (talking to Jairo da Silva Carioca, his son) had being cured and was within a very serious truth,” he narrates. |