Emília Santos was born on 1 January 1896 in the city of Santa Maria da Vitória, BA, and passed away on 26 September 1964 in Araçatuba, SP. She was the daughter of João Luiz dos Santos and Joana Ferreira de Souza and remained unmarried.

In Araçatuba, in 1943, she signed the founding charter of the Spiritist Alliance “Varas da Videira”. At the same time, she became a collaborator of Benedita Fernandes in the Association of Christian Ladies. After Benedita’s death in 1947, Emília became a regular mediunic collaborator at the Spiritist Centre “Amor e Caridade” in the nearby city of Birigui.

Emília Santos sold table, bed, and clothing items from her home and frequently also at clients’ homes, using the traditional carts typical of Araçatuba. She was extremely charitable. Many people sought her out in Araçatuba for a word of comfort, guidance, or a spiritual pass. She undertook weekly pilgrimages and distributed snacks to needy families. During the 1950s, she organised snacks for her father’s birthday (“Saint John’s Day”) and at Christmas, distributing them to social institutions, the prison, and the Santa Casa of Araçatuba.

João Luiz dos Santos, Emília’s father, lived in the previous century in the interior of Bahia, where he was involved in politics. He was the most frequent communicating spirit through his daughter’s mediumship. As was said at the time, he was her mentor. Naturally, he participated in guiding the group that formed and gave rise to the institutions mentioned above.

At various times in her life, she attempted to teach Spiritism to children. There are sporadic articles authored by her in the Spiritist press, such as “Amor Fraternal” in the Mensageiro do Órfão of São Manoel, dated 15 October 1943.

On 30 December 1959, together with Rolando Perri Cefaly, she founded the Evangelical Study Group “João Luiz dos Santos” in her home, which met on Fridays. At that time, every new psychographed book by Chico Xavier was read with great interest. Accompanied by her mother and uncles, she had the opportunity, as a child, to attend these meetings from the beginning. At the end, she would usually serve a communal dinner.

On 7 October 1960, she was, together with Rolando Perri Cefaly, Josefina Perri Cefaly de Carvalho, Walter Perri Cefaly, and Pedro Perri, a co-founder of the institution “Nosso Lar” in Jardim Planalto, Araçatuba, serving as vice-president. This institution was inaugurated in 1961, and a year later, a second branch was established in another neighbourhood, the Casa Transitória. In both locations, she attended to needy people, acted as a psychophonic medium and passist, and conducted evangelisation classes. She founded the Christian Moral Classes Neio Lúcio, held on Sunday mornings before the public meetings of the institution “Nosso Lar”. She also encouraged the founding of the Spiritist Youth group “Irma Ragazzi Martins”.

After her death, she was honoured by having the soup kitchen “Emília Santos” named after her, which was inaugurated on her birthday in 1966. During the campaign to build this social work, the pamphlet Gotas Espirituais, a compilation of Spiritist phrases prepared by Mr José Rubens Braga da Silva, was printed.

At the same time, the former “R” street, where the institution “Nosso Lar” is located in Jardim Planalto, also received her name.