The present article is a reading of the place of the phenomenon Chico Xavier in the Brazilian culture and society. Starting from the recognition of his crucial importance as a mythical model of exemplary spiritualist, the absolute prominence of the medium in the history of the Brazilian spiritualism will be interpreted in the light of a cultural code articulated in his biography, that synthesizes the Brazilian mythical characters of the "saint" and of the "caxias". Unfolded from his life and works the model of spiritualism built by Chico Xavier evidences the kardecismo's dominant religious point of view along the 20th Century, while citizenship model, religious practice and national project.
Spiritualism; Chico Xavier; Religion; Brazilian Culture
