Order Raimundo Irineu Serra
Céu do Gamarra Church
The History of the Doctrine
The “Céu do Gamarra” church is part of a major spiritual link which has its roots in the state of Acre, properly saying Maranhão.
A bit history of our Doctrine’s Master will be told here, narrated by some of his fellowships revealing us aspects of that saint man.
On December 15th, 1892 in the town of Vicente Ferrer, state of Maranhão, was born Raminundo Irineu Serra – the founder of Santo Daime doctrine -which we have a great honor and privilege to belong to it. Master Irineu was a descendant of slaves; he was a strong and tall man – 1,98m (6.6 feet tall), shoes 48 (15.5 USA). His parents: Mr. Sancho Martinho Serra and Mrs. Joana Assunção Serra.
He left his hometown at the age of 15, passing by many places till his arrival in Acre, around 1912. He worked as a rubber taper on the regions of Xapurí, Brasiléia and Serra Madureira.
He also worked as an employee at the Frontier Committee on the marking of the borderlines limiting Acre, Bolivia and Peru. At that point he became aware of the “ayahuasca” – a beverage used in indigenous rituals inherited by the Inca civilization and used either by a great part of the mestizo* population in the Amazon region.
* mestizo = (caboclos) the fusion with indigenous and white people.
In the town of Cobija, Bolivia he met the Costa brothers: Antônio and André, coincidently his compatriots from Maranhão. They told him about the new-found beverage which had been introduced to them by a Peruvian mestizo called D. Crescêncio Pisango, nicknamed Huascar.
Huascar was an old Inca king who used to teach his wisdom and knowledge to Pisango. So they invited Master Irineu for a ritual having ayahuasca.
At the beginning he didn’t accept, but then he thought: “I will. If it’s a good stuff I will take it to my Brazil, plenty of bad things”. For the first and the second time he drank it, he felt nothing; however for the third time he had “visions”. He was seated on a circle together with 12 people when D. Pisango approached and entered into the big bowl, where the ayahuasca was served. Only the Master spotted him. The Peruvian asked him to invite the group to look inside the bowl and reported what they were seeing. They answered that they could just see the beverage. So Pisango explained the Master that he was the only one able to work with that drink, due to what he had seen aside from all the other people there.
Another night they came back there to drink the infusion. On the occasion Pisango stayed in the bedroom and the Master in the living-room – where those sessions were held. Then Pisango called our Master, who was looking enchanted at the moon and said:
- Raimundo, there is a lady here named Clara and she wants to talk to you.
- Why she doesn’t talk to you?
- I don’t know, but she says that she has followed you as from Maranhão and she has an orange on her head to give you. She also says that she will look for you next service.
- Time went by and the master was eager for such a day to come soon.
- On a beautiful moonlight on Wednesday the Master laid down in the hammock to appreciate the gorgeous starry night when the power of the ayahuasca started to get to him intensifying his visions. The moon got closer to him. *(Later on, this outstanding vision inspired him to receive from the Astral his first hymn: White Moon/Lua Branca). The Lady seated in the center of the moon - with an eagle in her head set to fly - said:
- Who do you think I am?
- For me, a Goddess.
- Would you dare calling me by Satan?
- Hail Mary! No way!
- You imagine I’m a princess but I’m not. I’m the Universal Queen.
- You’ve got the idea that what you see now someone has ever noticed. Haven’t you?
- I guess so, my Lady. (The Master judged that many others that had drunk the ayahuasca could have had that vision too).
- You are mistaken. You see what could never been witnessed by anyone.
- I will give this world to be governed by you, still, not right now. First you must be prepared.
- Now you are a man, you are going to work and stay with your halter this way, very short. You will have a preparation to assure whether you really deserve it. You are going to stay eight days eating only steamed and insipid sweat manioc. And please, women in any way.
The following day he confined himself to the forest with the purpose to keep the orders of the Queen. It’s told that on the fourth day he was tempted with a bunch of intentional frightening visions. The woods seemed alive, looked liked they were all laughing at him; little mestizos appeared from everywhere; he made contact with the animals that approached. He shot up with his rifle, because the noise of the crashes brought him more comfort in that situation. (Until nowadays it’s used to have firework displays during the spiritual service to come alive that event).
Another interesting episode is that once Antônio Costa was at home preparing his friend that insipid sweat manioc when he thought about putting a bit of salt on it, all of a sudden he changed his mind the moment the Master came back from the jungle telling his partner what his friend was about to do. Antônio was baffled:
- My goodness! Man, how do you know that? I’m certain that you are the one, the right apprentice.
On the eighth initialization day on the forest, the Queen reappeared for him, handing him the orange as a symbol of the universal globe.
He asked her to turn him into as a healer and she answered:
- It’s done and everything is in your hands.
She also warned him that he would have too much work on that mission and couldn’t take any personal advantage. (Even nowadays the Daime doctrine cannot be commercialized; otherwise the orders of the Queen would be disobeyed).
As a matter of fact, the Master quick found out that the Lady was the Virgin Mary Saint, Our Lady of Mercy, and everything that he had seen and heard weren’t enough for him to be. He had received that mission, and as from there he had to prove and made himself happen to be.
Over the years our Master went through difficult spiritual ways between the certainty and uncertainty; truth and lie. The one who takes this road knows that the line which tells apart the principles of what is right from what is wrong is very tenuous. Although the Sovereign Virgin kept going her apparitions for the Master at all times, giving him strength, comfort and faith, and in one of these apparitions it was revealed to him the name of the drink.
The verb to give (“dar”) is the origin of the word Daime. In some hymns of the doctrine there are the expressions “dai-me amor” (give me love), dai-me fé” (give me faith), “dai-me cura” (give me the heal); because who drinks the Daime must be prepared to receive the gifts from God contained in the sacred beverage.
He received from the Virgin the title of the Chief of the Juramidan Empire and the accomplishments of the Santo Daime ritual. The Divine Mother taught him how to sing the hymns that he would receive from the Heaven qualifying the testament of his mission and they would be gathered in a hymnbook which he called “O Cruzeiro”. Although, the Master was a very simple man and thought he was unable to sing. Until a day that the Queen of the Forest said:
Look, I will give you some hymns thus while you won’t whistle anymore. Then, you’ll be able to learn how to sing.
Oh, do not do this to me, my Lady, ‘cause I sing nothing.
But I’ll teach you! Certified her.
And as the Master always used to contemplate the moon, She once said:
Now you will sing, my son.
But how? He insisted.
Open your mouth, Ain’t I saying?
The Master obeyed and started to sing White Moon (Lua Branca) - his first hymn, when we would remind his first grimace earlier mentioned.
On the 20’s , the Master and the Costa brothers founded a center named “Círculo de Regeneração e Fé” (Circle of Regeneration and Faith) – CRF – in the city of Brasiléa, state of Acre. Some followers side with, but despite of a few people, they managed to found a new association.
Yet, misunderstandings with Antônio Costa and other constituents made him displeasured, so he decided to leave that Center. He moved out to Sena Madureira and then to Rio Branco, where he joined the Territorial Guard. (Meeting Germano Guilherme - a friend that had been by his side for many years). The master stayed at this corporation until the beginning of the 30’s, when he became sergeant. But then he mustered out.
Before long, as he had made many friends, a colony on Vila Ivonete was land granted to him: a neighborhood near Rio Branco, where the Master started his public work with the Daime. On May 26, 1930 he made his first job. There were only three people: Our Master, Zé das Neves and someone unknown. Zé das Neves says that he worked with him for 41 years and 41 days.
At his home, which was also used as a “spiritual home-office”, a small group was soon after formed, in which participated Germano, Maria Marques, João Pereira, Daniel and Zé das Neves. A little later Antônio Gomes also joined them, being each one exponents of our doctrine.
At that time our Master was pursued and even asked to come to the police station, but he wasn’t arrested. So he took his way wood inwards. In that period he received a donation on the governor Guiomar Santos part, whom also provided him a job named “Espalhado” and a colony: “Custódio de Freitas”. At this place he founded the CICLU – “Centro de Iluminação Cristã Luz Universal”: The headquarter church. Moreover, he set upright a 5 meters (16,5”) wooden cross on a cement surface.
In Alto Santo he sheltered more than forty families that worked in a community work project, very common in Acre. The community had a self-sustainable system in which they planted and could make a live..
Master Irineu was a very charistmatic man. Owing a tremendous calmness and patience, he would draw several people around him; Ones searching for the healer, who had already been popular in Rio Branco. Those people would find out a good-hearted patriarch, always ready to help the needy.
He even called himself as the “shadow-tree”.
As time went by, he became a very respectful person on the region. He used to solve difficult cases with love and firmness; since the discipline has always been an important role on the Santo Daime doctrine.
The Master became an excellent counselor to the followers looking for his blessings.
Step by step the doctrine gained its own features: the Master’s hymnarium, the wooden cross, the hymns - telling spiritual experiences and daily events lived by those people. Other partners started to receive their proper hymns too, and used to come to the Master to assure their learning. Among them, there was a special one: Sebastião Mota de Melo.
In a short time he was a member in the doctrine, earning his valuable hymn, and soon they began to call him by Godfather Sebastião. We will talk about this enlighted man afterwards.
The years went by and everything increased fast. The church used to be full with people coming from all over. Master Irineu conducted his work with great happiness and pleasure, but as he used to say in his hymn, he found himself weak and tired. And on July 6th, 1971 our Master passed away. And today, in Campinas do Astral this Saint Doctrine governs, making us, his “Godchildren”, feel his love and the necessary strength for the spiritual growth. In Rio Branco, the repercussion of his death was so big that its governor gave an optional day off in state-run enterprises as well as vehicles to transport people to his vigil and bury. A crowd attended to his funeral for the last goodbye.
The Master left a profound missing on the hearts and a tremendous feeling of gratitude.
From there on, the decision and the rules to be taken, regarded the leading of the church, were in the hands of a couple of people. The president of the doctrine at the time was Mr. Leôncio together with a Director. Plus in charge, the Master’s widower: Master Peregrina. In the long run, things made both ends meet. Everyone had its importance.
