Emmanuel is, according to Brazilian medium Chico Xavier, an enlightened spirit who guided him during most of his life. Xavier attributed many of his psychographic works to Emmanuel, which includes tens of books.[1]
According to the biography As Vidas de Chico Xavier by Marcel Souto Maior, Xavier met Emmanuel for the first time in 1931 while praying on the shade of a tree by a lake.[2] Emmanuel would appear to Xavier frequently, including in many important events throughout his life, to guide him in the mission of being a mediunic writer.
Emmanuel is said to have had many incarnations on Earth (in accordance to the Spritist belief in reincarnation). Those included the Roman consul Publius Cornelius Lentulus Sura (114–62 BC), his purported great-grandson Publius Lentulus, the Byzantine archbishop Nestorius (386–450), the Frankish bishop Saint Remigius (437–533), the Portuguese Jesuit priest Manuel da Nóbrega (1517–1570), and a recent incarnation in Brazil in the 20th century.[3]