Humberto Mariotti was born on 11 June 1905 in the city of Zárate (on the banks of the Paraná River), Buenos Aires, Argentina. His parents were Nicolás Mariotti and Julia del Ré, Italian immigrants from the province of Bari, located in the peninsular area of Italy, who, like so many of their compatriots, dedicated themselves to cultivating the land and raising animals.

He was the second of five siblings: Domingo, the eldest; Olimpia, Amadeo and Maria (Maruca) who shared with him the ideas of the Spiritist Doctrine. They formed homes where the study of Spiritism and mediumistic practices were developed by several of its members, since Maria was the wife of Santiago A. Bossero, a distinguished writer and orator. She was also the mother of three spiritist children, related to Antonio Melo, a militant of the Argentine Spiritist Confederation and of the Sociedad La Fraternidad through the marriage of her daughter Elma to Ernesto Melo, Antonio's brother, and a member of the same institution, and lastly Amadeo who, without being an active participant, published poems on several occasions in various spiritist magazines, among them, Constancia.

With reference to his studies, we can say that he studied up to the fourth grade of primary school, since for economic reasons his parents had to interrupt his studies. In spite of this, his childhood was spent avidly seeking knowledge and inventions, trying to discover the mysteries of the wild nature that make up the ravines produced in the earth by the continuous currents of the waters of the Paraná River and which were a constant in his intimate poetry. There, in that environment, his mind, ready for adventure and a lover of the unknown, imagined and organised with friends of his age, a "liberating army" similar to that of General Don José de San Martín (for whom he had an intimate admiration), and whose leader, without a doubt, was him.

As we can see, these childish games were already outlining Mariotti's future personality as an active and dynamic militant of a progressive and advanced movement such as the Spiritist Ideal was, is and will be.

His beginnings in the spiritism militancy

And the years went on... and in 1925, when he was already 18 years old, a transcendental event took place in his life. José Grillo, a close friend of the family and a regular visitor to the Spiritualist Centre of Light, Charity and Progress, 310 Gral. Paz Street, Zárate, impressed by the ease with which the young man assimilated the themes of philosophy and metaphysics, lent him a book. But this was not like so many others, since it contained in itself the principles of a doctrine that transcended the thresholds of the human to reach the World of the Spirit: The Book of the Spirits by Allan Kardec, published in Barcelona, Spain, in 1904, was the copy that José Grillo lent to Humberto Mariotti. Reading it and "falling in love" with its content, its ideas, in short, its Doctrine, was not by chance; he had to know that book because from that day on he would penetrate into the realism of the Spiritual World, from which he would never depart.

Of his earthly existence, only eighteen years were not spent for the Spiritist Doctrine, since the remaining fifty-nine years were dedicated with love and interest, through books, lectures, poems, etc., to the practice of the Ideal which was his All: Allan Kardec's Spiritism.

In 1926, still in Zárate, and already familiar with Spiritism, in a feverish youthful impulse, he wrote in manuscript two letters on Spiritist themes, which he called Revista Amor y Estudio, informing his readers that it would soon appear in print.

Around 1929 the family moved to the Federal Capital and he studied and worked for some years as a veterinary surgeon in the now defunct Frigorífico Anglo de Avellaneda. At the same time he began his doctrinal activities in the Camilo Flammarion Society where he met Luis Di Cristóforo Postiglioni, also an outstanding spiritism activist. Years later he joined the Victor Hugo Society, where he carried out mediumistic and research work, etc.

Fundamental Facts of your Spiritism Activity

From the 1st to the 10th of September 1934, together with that great fighter Manuel S. Porteiro, they attended as delegates from Argentina to the V International Spiritist Congress held in Barcelona, Spain, where they presented and ardently defended the Report of the Argentine Spiritism Confederation, since it proposed, among other points, "a greater capacity and unprejudiced understanding of social phenomena and problems, which demand from the spiritists a greater objective knowledge and a frank and decisive activity that orients their social purpose and directs their action and propaganda in accordance with the essence of spiritist morality, which Kardec condensed in these three postulates: Liberty, Equality and Fraternity", etcetera. For both Mariotti and Porteiro, the participation in this international spiritist event was a relevant fact for their future doctrinal actions, as they were able to relate with spiritists of world renown. The days spent in Barcelona were remembered by both of them on many occasions, either in their writings or in deeply felt lectures.

He was appointed President of the Argentine Spiritism Confederation on two occasions, in 1936 and 1966. During his first presidency, among other matters, he sent an Open Letter to the Chief of Police of the Province of Buenos Aires, Mr. Casas Peralta, in relation to "absurd practices, such as divinatory art, quackery, arrangements for marriages, fees for consultations", etc., warning that “the Argentine Spiritist Confederation is an institution that groups together more than thirty legally constituted societies, and that watches over the prestige of a superior doctrine, such as the Spiritist Doctrine”. This was Mariotti's temperament from a very young age: a passionate defender of the authentic principles and practices of Kardetian ideas.

And his spiritist militancy continued, but love also came into his life... She was a member of the Argentine Spiritist Youth Federation, a restless and enterprising young woman by the name of Ana Huici, who by a strange ‘coincidence’ was related to Doña Aurora Gálvez, founder of the Victor Hugo Society. Through successive meetings at country gatherings, concerts and cultural events, affinities and feelings were revealed in them, which culminated in their union on 22 December 1937. Their only daughter, Hebe Iris, was born of this union.

This home, founded on affection, companionship and above all on love in the light of Spiritism, witnessed innumerable doctrinal meetings from which national and international Spiritist and spiritualist assemblies and congresses arose and were organised, such as the Pan-American Spiritist Confederation (CEPA); the International Congress for the Study of Reincarnation; the Movement for Universal Brotherhood and many others.

Humberto and Anita Mariotti lived together for 45 years, united by their love and by the service they both offered to the Ideal from which they never departed. She was the constant companion of a man who dedicated his existence to the spread of a doctrine and he was for her the spiritual support of a being eager for teaching and thoughts that transcended material realism.

Mariotti died on 17 May 1982 in Argentina.