Antônio Lima was born in the former capital of the Empire, Rio de Janeiro, on March 30, 1864. He was one of the pioneers of Spiritism in Rio de Janeiro, and it is not known exactly how he came to know the Doctrine. In 1904, the Brazilian Spiritist Federation (FEB) published the books of the Codification translated by him, in a special edition commemorating the first centenary of Allan Kardec's birth.

Writer, journalist and great expositor of the Doctrine, Lima left a vast bibliography of spiritism and non-spiritism works, as well as several translations from French, English and Spanish. Among his books, the following stand out: Belos, Flores Fanadas and Canto do Cisne (verses), Epopeia da Natureza (lyrical episode), O Coração de Jesus (evangelical poem), The Redemptive Crusade, composed of three novels: A Caminho do Abismo, Senda de Espinhos and Estrada de Damasco (chain of successive lives, emphasising reincarnation with Divine Justice), and also The Sleepwalker and The Life of Jesus.

He collaborated with all the spiritism press of the time, being one of the most sought-after expositors. He possessed intuitive mediumship and claimed that all his books came from inspiration; however, he did not identify the spiritual author(s) and therefore signed all his books.

A staunch defender of doctrinal purity, his words were listened to with respect and admiration, both in doctrinal and evangelical matters. Since he was young, he was a true sower in the service of Jesus, playing a significant role in the diffusion of Spiritism in several work fronts. The cities of Três Rios, Teófilo Otoni, Astolfo Dutra, Bicas, Juiz de Fora and many others witnessed his oratory in unforgettable lectures.

He lived for many years in Belo Horizonte, where he left a long record of services to the spiritist community, among them being one of the founders and first President of the Spiritist Union of Minas Gerais, where he led a great campaign in favour of the systematised study of Allan Kardec's works, a study that attracted a large number of members.

The results were very promising and many of these apprentices joined the front line of the Doctrine. In this way, Antônio Lima left to his posterity a record of valuable services rendered to Spiritism, as a journalist, poet, writer and on several other fronts of work. A long and useful life in every way, especially as a disciple of Christ in preparing the ground for the third millennium.

He was one of the promoters of the Unification movement advocated by Dr. Bezerra de Menezes when he was president of the Brazilian Spiritist Federation. In 1922, representatives of almost all the State Federations met in Rio de Janeiro, in a foretaste of the Golden Pact, which only came to fruition in 1949.

In the 1940s, the disappeared newspaper A Vanguarda, of great circulation and prestige in Rio de Janeiro and even in all Brazil, conducted a series of interviews to outstanding figures of Spiritism on the theme ‘The influence of music in the spiritist circles’. Álvaro Brandão da Rocha interviewed Antônio Lima, who said: «We all know the pages of the Posthumous Works of Kardec's master, in which Bellini says that “the music of Heaven is a sublimity compared to the music of Earth” and the inspired author of The Somnambulist adds “that we do not find the terrestrial music beautiful, because the most beautiful voices or material instruments cannot give us an idea of the celestial music and its soft harmony"».

In 1944, Professor Leopoldo Machado, duly authorised by the management of A Vanguarda, published a book entitled Um Inquérito Original (An Original Inquiry), based on an interview with Antônio Lima and for the benefit of O Lar de Jesus, a charity for orphaned children in Nova Iguaçu, RJ.

When he was almost 80 years old, he took the initiative to found the Publishing Society of Allan Kardec's Books, whose acronym was «SEAL», with the aim of making the basic books of Spiritism cheaper. One of his biographers says that Antônio Lima was a true autodidact, as he learned to read by himself.

Antônio Lima died in Paraíba do Sul on 26 March 1946, just four days before his 82nd birthday. He was spending some time in that city when, alone in a hotel room, he returned to Spirituality.

Thanks to men of his calibre, who faced all kinds of hostility against Spiritism, both from science and dogmatic religions, today we can breathe another climate of respect and sympathy for the Doctrine of the Spirits.