Who was Bezerra de Menezes

Adolfo Bezerra de Menezes Cavalcanti — known simply as Bezerra de Menezes — was born on August 29, 1831, at the Riacho do Sangue farm, in Ceará, Brazil, and passed away in Rio de Janeiro on April 11, 1900. A physician, politician, writer and Spiritist leader, he is known as the “Brazilian Kardec” and the “Doctor of the Poor”.

The Doctor of the Poor

Trained in Medicine in Rio de Janeiro, Bezerra practiced with rare dedication: he treated free of charge those who could not pay and visited the sick in the humblest neighborhoods of the city. His reputation as a charitable and competent physician crossed generations — to this day his name is a synonym of humanized medicine in Brazil.

The politician and the citizen

He served as councilman, provincial deputy and general deputy for the then province of Rio de Janeiro. As a parliamentarian, he defended social causes and freedom of worship. A member of the Liberal Party, he became known as a “voice of reason” in the Chamber, for the serenity and coherence of his speeches.

The encounter with Spiritism

Bezerra came to know Spiritism around 1875, after treating clinically the medium and friend João Gonçalves do Nascimento. Initially skeptical, he began to study the works of Allan Kardec and, convinced by reason, became a devoted Spiritist. He often remarked that no doctrine harmonized so well with reason and with science as the Spiritist Doctrine.

He was president of the Brazilian Spiritist Federation (FEB) in two periods (1889–1890 and 1895–1900) and worked tirelessly for the union of Brazil’s Spiritists. With his serene leadership, he contributed decisively to consolidating the Christian and evangelical character of the Brazilian Spiritist movement.

A message that remains

Bezerra de Menezes left important works, such as A Loucura sob Novo Prisma (“Madness from a New Perspective”) and Dez Palestras (“Ten Lectures”), besides dozens of articles. His life is an example of how faith and science can walk together in the service of others.

In the Spiritist movement he is deeply respected as a guide and an inspiration, and his image as a selfless physician remains alive in Spiritist centers in Brazil and around the world — including in the United States, where a Spiritist society in Miami bears his name.