Joanna de Angelis

A spirit that radiates tenderness and wisdom, awakening us to the experience of love in its highest expression, even if to experience this love great sacrifices may be imposed on us.  This is the spirit known by the name Joanna de Ângelis. Throughout the centuries, she has been the gentle figure of Joana de Cusa; a disciple of Francisco de Assis; the great Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz; and the intrepid Joana Angélica de Jesus. Now meet each of these characters who left their mark on history with their examples of humility and heroism.

 

Joana de Cusa

According to Humberto de Campos in the book Good News, Joana de Cusa was known for her true faith. The author narrates that

 

Among the crowd that invariably accompanied Jesus in his sermons at the lake, there was always a woman of rare dedication and noble character, one of the most highly placed in Capernaum society.  She was Joana, consort of Cusa, steward of Antipas, in the city where the vital interests of traders and fishermen came together.

 

Her husband, a high-ranking official of Herod, did not share her aspirations for spirituality and had little tolerance for the doctrine of that Master that Joana fervently followed with love. Under the weight of domestic impositions and distressed by her husband’s intolerance and lack of understanding, she sought words of comfort from Jesus. Instead of inviting her to join those who followed him through the streets and roads of Galilee, he advised her to follow him from a distance and serve him within her own home, becoming a true example of a Christian by serving her closest neighbour: her husband. She was to serve with loving dedication, being faithful to God and loving her partner as if he were her own son. Jesus outlined a path for her that allowed her to live the remainder of her life with resignation. Later, she became a mother.

 

Over time, her responsibilities continued to mount. After a tumultuous and unhappy life, her husband passed away, leaving Joana without any means and with a son to raise. She was brave and tried to find work. Humberto de Campos narrates in the book Good News that

forgetting the comfort of material nobility, she dedicated herself to caring for other mothers' children, taking on the humblest domestic chores to ensure her own little son had bread to eat.

She worked into old age. As an elderly woman with white hair, she was taken to the circus of martyrdom alongside her young son to bear witness to her love for Jesus, the Master who had illuminated her life and given her hope for a happy tomorrow. Humberto de Campos narrates in the aforementioned book:

 

Amid the clamour of the crowd, the first floggings were ordered.

 

'Renounce your faith!' exclaimed an executor of imperial orders, with a cruel and dark gaze.

The old disciple of the Lord gazed at the sky, without uttering a word of denial or complaint. Then the whip strikes the half-naked boy, who cries out through his tears:

'Repudiate Jesus, my mother! Can't you see that we've lost?! Renounce Him! Do it for me, because I am your son!'

 

For the first time, an abundant stream of tears flowed from the martyr's eyes. The son's pleas were like swords of anguish, piercing her heart.

 

After remembering her entire existence, she replies:

Be quiet, my son! Jesus was pure and did not disdain sacrifice. Let us learn how to endure suffering in painful times, because, above all the temporary happiness in the world, we must be faithful to God!

Soon after that, the flames consumed her aged body, releasing her into the company of her Master, whom she served so faithfully and with whom she learned how to sublimate love.

 

A disciple of Francis of Assisi

Centuries later, Francis, the "Poor One of God" and the "Sun of Assisi," reorganizes the "Army of Love of King Galileo." She also volunteers to experience with him the simplicity of the Gospel of Jesus, who loves and understands all, singing the song of universal fraternity.

 

Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz

In the 17th century she reappeared on the world stage, for another life dedicated to Good.  She was reborn in 1651 in the small town of San Miguel Nepantla, about eighty kilometres from Mexico City, as Juana de Asbaje y Ramírez de Santillana, the daughter of a Basque father and an indigenous mother.

At 3 years of age, fascinated by literary culture, she saw her sister learning to read and write and tricked the teacher by telling her that her mother had asked for her to be taught literacy.

 

Recognizing the child's precocity, as she was already answering questions her sister could not, the teacher began teaching her the alphabet.

 

She began writing verses at the age of five. By the age of six, Juana had perfectly mastered the native language. She also had skills in sewing and other tasks common for women of that time.

She heard about a university in Mexico and was thrilled by the idea of learning more and more among scholars in the future. In a conversation with her father, she shared her aspirations for the future. Dom Manuel, being a good Spaniard, laughed and jokingly said "Only if you dress like a man, because only wealthy boys can study there."

 

Juana was taken by surprise by this news and immediately went to her mother, insistently asking to be dressed as a boy from now on, as she did not want to be left out of the University under any circumstances.

 

In the capital, at the age of twelve, Juana learned Latin in twenty classes, and taught herself Portuguese. She also spoke Nahuatl, an indigenous language. The Marquis of Mancera, eager to create a brilliant court in the European tradition, invited the 13-year-old prodigy to be his wife's lady-in-waiting.

 

At Court, she enchanted everyone with her beauty, intelligence and grace, becoming known and admired for her poetry, essays and humorous pieces. One day, the Viceroy decided to test the vivacious girl's knowledge by gathering forty experts from the University of Mexico to question her on a wide range of subjects. The audience watched, amazed, as the 15-year-old girl answered a barrage of questions from her teachers for hours. Both the audience and the experts themselves applauded her in the end and the Viceroy was satisfied.

 

However, her thirst for knowledge was stronger than the allure of continuing to shine at Court. To dedicate herself more fully to her studies and delve deeply into her inner world in an unceasing quest for union with God, eager to understand God through His creation, she decided to enter the Convent of the Discalced Carmelites at the age of sixteen. Unaccustomed to ascetic rigidity, she fell ill and returned to Court. Advised by her confessor, she joined the Order of Saint Jerome, which had fewer religious obligations, allowing her to dedicate herself to literature and science. She took the name of Sister Juana Inés de La Cruz.

 

In her comfortable cell, surrounded by countless books, globes, musical and scientific instruments, Sister Juana studied and wrote poetry, essays, dramas, religious plays, Christmas carols, and sacred music. She was often visited by intellectuals from Europe and the New World, with whom she exchanged knowledge and experiences.

 

The beautiful nun was known and admired by everyone, and her writings were popular not only among religious people, but also among students and teachers at universities in various places. She became known as the "Nun of the Library." She was also immortalized for defending the right of women to be intelligent, capable of teaching and free to preach.

 

In 1695, a plague epidemic swept through the region. Juana helped her religious sisters day and night who, along with most of the population, were afflicted by the illness. One by one, her fellow nuns succumbed to the illness. When none were left, Sister Joana Angélica de Jesus, dejected and sick, finally fell, passing away at the age of forty-four.

 

Joana Angélica de Jesus

Sixty-six years after her return to the spiritual homeland, she was reborn in the city of Salvador, Bahia, in 1761, as Joana Angélica, daughter of a wealthy family. At the age of twenty-one she entered the Convent of Lapa as a Franciscan, taking the name Sister Joana Angélica de Jesus and making her profession as a Sister of the Reformed Religious of Our Lady Conceição. She served as a sister, clerk, and vicar, and in 1815 she became Abbess. On 20th February 1822, while courageously defending the Convent, house of Christ, and the honour of the young women who lived there, she was murdered by soldiers opposing Brazilian independence.

 

In God’s plans, her life in Brazil was already planned, even before her reincarnation in Mexico as Sister Juana Inés de La Cruz. Hence, learning Portuguese came extremely easily to her. In Brazil, spirits connected to her, souls committed to the Divine Law were reincarnated and would soon reincarnate. They were part of her spiritual family whom she wanted to help.

 

Among those devoted to Joanna de Ângelis, Amélia Rodrigues stands out. She was an educator, poet, novelist, playwright, speaker, and short story writer who lived from the end of the 19th century into the beginning of the 20th century.

 

Joanna in the Spirit world

In the middle of the 19th century, "the powers of Heaven" were shaken, and a movement of renewal spread across America and Europe, echoing the song of hope in the four corners of the world with the revelation of immortal life. Joanna de Ângelis was part of the Spirit of Truth team, dedicated to implementing revived Christianity, the Comforter promised by Jesus. In her book After the Storm, in its final message, she refers to the members of her work team, saying:

When the days of the Spiritist Codification were being prepared, when workers willing to fight were being summoned, when the predicted hours were announced, and when workers were being recruited for Earth, we heeded the heavenly invitation. We hurried to offer our meagre forces, as well as ourselves, to serve in the humble role of furrowing the soil where the seeds of the light of the Gospel of the Kingdom would be sown.

 

In "The Gospel According to Spiritism," we will find two messages signed by "A Friendly Spirit." The first, in Chapter IX, item 7 with the title "Patience", was written in Le Havre, 1862. The second in Chapter XVIII items 13 and 15 entitled "It will be given to those who have", was received by automatic writing in the same year as the previous one, in the city of Bordeaux. If we look closely, we see the same Joanna who writes to us today, dictating a beautiful page in the past, as the model of our attitudes, in any situation.  In the spirit world, Joanna temporarily resides in a beautiful region near the Earth's crust.

 

When various spirits connected to her, old fallen Christians, were preparing to reincarnate, she gathered them together and planned to establish on Earth in the state of Bahia, Brazil, a replica – albeit imperfect – of the community where she resided on the spirit plane. Her goal was to redeem these old Christians and create an educational experience that would prove how feasible is to live in a truly Christian community today. Seriously ill spirits, not necessarily connected to their incarnated guides, would be born as orphans, providing an opportunity to improve themselves. At the same time, they would rid themselves from the most painful karmic issues and move on towards Jesus. Qualified engineers were invited to set the general outlines of the work and instruct the pioneers of the future work.

 

When everything was outlined, Joanna tried to contact Francis of Assisi and ask him to review her plans and help with their implementation on the material plane. He agreed with the mentor and was ready to collaborate with the work, as long as in this community the love for the unfortunate of the world was never forgotten, nor charity denied to the 'children of Calvary', nor presumption established, which is corrosive and destroys the best edifice of moral feeling.

Almost a century had passed, when the Lord's workers began on Earth, in 1947, the materialization of Joanna's plans. She inspired and guided them, supported by dedicated spiritual technicians who spread special ozone throughout the troubled psychosphere of the chosen area, where the "Mansion of Way" was going to be built. This name alludes to the “House of the Way" of early Christians.

 

Meanwhile, the collaborators started to reincarnate, in various places, at different times, with diverse backgrounds and experiences to be called, little by little and when necessary, to fulfil the commitments they had made in the Spirit world. However, not everyone would reside in the community, but they would send their help from wherever they would be, they would spread the message of the Gospel and, being supportive and vigilant, linked to common work.

 

The institution has always been committed to helping the sufferers of the Earth, those who have fallen in their trials and those on the brink of madness and suicide.

 

Thanks to the work conducted, both on the material and spirit planes, with emergency therapy for the newly discarnate and with special care, the “Mansion of the Way" has acquired a spiritual vibration that surpasses the human vibrations of those who reside and collaborate there.

 

Source: The Venerable Joanna de Angelis, Celeste Santos and Divaldo Pereira Franco.