Master Valentim

Pain, age, wounds… downsides of life in the material body. How many years will we live, what medication will we take, what will we do to heal? The causes and the possibilities to improve life are not limited to the body alone…

“If life’s waters

wish to drown you,

hold on to God’s hand and go"

Waiting room music playing at the Spiritual Hospital, directed by Master Valentim

There are over five thousand people every month looking for a consultation – a spiritual one! – at the hospital directed by Dr Adolfo de Menezes, the spirit of a doctor from Ceará state incorporated into a simple, discrete, and loving man. Master Valentim is past his seventy-five years of age and illiterate: he was once confined to a wheelchair, and he was once homeless. Born in the state of Pernambuco, he tells the story about how, as a child, he already felt the presence of the spirits that “leaned” onto him to reveal teachings and recipes. For many years, he tried to avoid the powerful current that would pay him constant visits.

But, little by little, Dr Bezerra de Menezes and Dr Aguiar Freitas – another physician’s spirit that he incorporates – revealed he couldn’t escape this mission, now fulfilled over fifty years of work. At Recinto de Caridade Bezerra de Menezes, in the Gama area of the Federal District, in the heart of Brazil: a simple neighborhood home functioning through the work of dozens of volunteers, surviving on donations. This is a place where the common folk work, those whose bodies receive spiritual guardians, doctors, and nurses. A family that serves as a school for spiritual healing, that attracts people looking for help from all over the world.

Cancer, multiple sclerosis, depression, paralysis… These are some of the most frequent afflictions among patients seeking a spiritual consultation with Master Valentim – in presence or remotely. And, although traditional medicine may not be able to explain or prove the efficiency of these treatments, there are thousands of accounts by people who have been cured.

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. A queue is formed and one by one the patients approach the master, who might use a pair of scissors as the instrument for his spiritual surgery, or say indecipherable words, or offer advice. One week later, the patient must return to spiritually remove the stitches. There is no clear methodology, and there are many who actually seek cure for third parties: for people who, due to grave illness or previous commitment, cannot be present. Just leave their name, address, and photograph and, as soon as possible, Master Valentim will prescribe the long-distance treatment.

“I was chosen, I didn’t choose”

Master Valentim

It’s a Christian house, as its leader Dr Bezerra, and it embraces all other faiths with no discrimination. Roses are offered to the mothers, singing sets the ambience for the wait. There is no competition with conventional treatments: it is recommended to get spiritual and material medicine treatments at the same time.

With each account and smile showing improvement, with each family that waits by the door to have their own story to tell… Phone calls and letters with gratitude, teary eyes overflow with the knowledge that they can go on seeing… With Master Valentim’s low voice and the admiration that grows around him, there is one undeniable prescription: having faith is having a cure.