LEON DENIS - THE
CONSOLIDATOR OF THE SPIRITIST DOCTRINE
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Following
Spiritism’s codification by Allan Kardec, one of its most prominent
disseminators was another Frenchman, Léon Denis, who is often referred to as
the Consolidator of the Doctrine, or the Apostle of Spiritism. Leon Denis
lived during approximately the same time period as Allan Kardec (Kardec
1804-1869, Denis 1846-1927).
From an
early age, he felt the influence and guidance of "invisible friends" and was
always interested in the pursuit of meaningful study, focusing, in
particular, on Design, Geography, and Accounting, sought answers to
questions of philosophic and religious issues. He studied with enthusiasm
both History and Social Sciences. Through the course of his extensive
travels and studies, Denis became a self-taught intellect and a well known
speaker. |
From the
moment he purchased his first copy of the "The Spirits' Book", at 18 years of
age, he took great interest in Spiritism, whereby he continued his studies of
Kardec's works and soon became one of Spiritism's greatest students, defenders,
and propagators. As a seeing and writing medium, Denis received communications
from Sorella (who he later discovered to be Joan of Arc, about whom he wrote a
book), from a Spirit nicknamed “Blue Spirit”, and from his own spirit guide,
Jerônimo de Praga. As a disseminator of Spiritism, Denis developed several
conferences in which he demonstrated and shared his profound knowledge of the
doctrine. He spoke at several International Spiritualist Conferences in which
he defended the Doctrine's philosophy and objective, and he wrote several books
of great value to its study.
In
his book, “Basic Spiritism”, Barbosa includes this quotation from the preface to
Herculano Pires’ book "Life and Work of Léon Denis" :
"Léon Denis was the consolidator of Spiritism. His role was not
merely to become a substitute for Allan Kardec or to carry on his work, as is
generally thought. Denis had a mission nearly as grandiose as that of the
Codifier. It was up to Denis to develop doctrinal studies, to continue the
mediumistic research, to promote the Spiritist movement in France and around the
world, to deepen the moral aspect of the Doctrine, and above all, to consolidate
it in the first decades of the Century." (Pires in Barbosa, 1987)
Barbosa,
Pedro Franco. "Léon Denis, O Consolidador" [Leon Denis, The
Consolidator]. Espiritismo Basico [Basic Spiritism].
3rd ed. Rio de Janeiro-RJ, Brazil: Federação Espírita Brasileira [Brazilian
Spiritist Federation].1987. 59-65.
Bibliography
of Léon Denis found on the website for the Leon Denis Spiritist Center in Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil (ww.celd.org.br)-- consisting in text
from José Basílio, based on the book “Pages from Léon Denis” by Sylvio
Brito.
