Luíza Salazar was born on October 10, 1923, in Araxá, Minas Gerais. She was the eldest daughter of Saint Clair Salazar and Eulália Salazar, who later had two more children. They lived on a small farm, where they endured many hardships. Eulália later passed away, leaving her children orphaned while they were still young. Some time after his wife’s death, Saint Clair met Maria, a widow and mother of three young daughters. The two married, forming a family of six siblings. Over the years, Maria gave birth to ten more children, becoming a large family composed of sixteen siblings. Luíza, being the eldest daughter, went to the city to study and live with a wealthy family for whom she worked. She was a cheerful young woman and possessed a gift: the ability to easily form bonds of friendship.

At seventeen years of age, she began to feel that someone was accompanying her at all times. Time passed and that feeling became increasingly clear. Then, one day she commented to her friends in a prophetic tone: – I very much want to get married! I need to find a good and honest young man, for I know that I will have a blond son with blue eyes, and his name will be Tadeu. Her friends did not take such statements very seriously. But one day she met a young man from the outskirts of town, humble, a factory worker employed at the city’s slaughterhouse. It was José Jovino, with whom she had shared a close relationship in a previous incarnation. Soon they began dating. After a year and a half together, they became engaged, but something unusual happened: four months before the wedding, the couple broke off the relationship and remained separated for nearly a year. However, when there is an agreement made in the Spiritual Plane, souls meet again to fulfill their life project. And so, a few months later, they confirmed the long-awaited union.

José Jovino took Luíza from refinement to the outskirts. She went to live in a simple house built of adobe with brick floors. Her trousseau was luxurious and so large that she had to store half of it away; there were three display cabinets alone, filled with fine china. Her humble house became a “visitation museum.” The poorer people were dazzled by all those objects she had received at her wedding. But Luíza was so happy in her marriage that she barely noticed the contrast of circumstances. She had left behind a mansion with eighteen rooms and eight bathrooms, moving into a house that did not even have a bathroom, only a pit latrine. Quickly, Luíza adapted to the neighbors. What frightened her most was the poverty, as families had great need for food and clothing. Since she had a gift for cooking and sewing, she began to offer a small contribution to those simple and poor people.

As time went by, Luíza became worried and anxious, for her greatest dream had not yet been fulfilled. Only in her third year of marriage did she become pregnant. Thus, on January 4, 1955, the long-awaited son was born, whom she had already known before incarnating. The boy was blond with blue eyes, just as she had once said, and she gave him the name José Tadeu Silva.

There was a man named Jerônimo, a Kardecist and possessor of intuitive healing mediumship. He had good contact with the Higher Spirituality and his charitable work was constant. He worked at the slaughterhouse with José Jovino and was a friend of the couple. On the second day after Tadeu’s birth, he went to visit them. Upon arriving, he was startled when he saw the child. He took him in his arms and silently transmitted a spiritual pass with great fervor, saying shortly afterward to the couple: – May I visit you more often?

The couple replied affirmatively that it would be a great pleasure to receive him. When he arrived home, he said to his wife and daughter: – I am very worried; that boy must not die. Even while he was still in his mother’s womb, I received a communication during sleep in which spiritual mentors told me that this spirit would have a very important task to perform on Earth. I will visit him every day to offer my humble prayers. Mr. Jerônimo knew that Dona Luíza was afraid of Spiritism, so he preferred to carry out his work in silence for thirty days. The couple, Jovino and Luíza, were so grateful to him that they invited him to be the boy’s godfather. Even though they were not knowledgeable Spiritists, they already practiced charity.

Luíza did not even know that she brought from other lives a mediumship already refined. In a previous incarnation, as Teresa of Ávila, she performed many healings and through her clairvoyance saw Jesus, Francis of Assisi, and Anthony of Padua. At that time, she had no idea of the magnitude of her mediumistic commitment, especially as an auditory, intuitive, and healing medium. In those days, Spiritism was viewed as a great taboo by the community.

Luíza, always a devoted and watchful mother to her son Tadeu, paid attention to everything, so that while preparing lunch she would observe Tadeu in the yard talking with his spiritual little friends. At three years of age, the boy began to be persecuted by inferior spirits who, during his sleep, would take him from his bed and carry him to other places. Jovino, his father, was very concerned about this situation, but his wife Luíza always said: – Do not worry! When he gets older, he will learn to defend himself from these things. Tadeu is a boy protected by God; you will see.

Some time later, Luíza’s father, Mr. Saint Clair, still young, became ill with heart disease and required special care. His daughter took him into her home, and he remained bedridden for a long time. He later passed away, leaving his second wife, Dona Maria das Dores, a widow with sixteen children, the youngest still a child. During that time, Luíza became pregnant and gave birth to a girl who was named Maria Luíza. After some time, her uncle José, her father’s brother, fell ill with the same disease, becoming very debilitated, and Luíza cared for him until his passing. Tadeu, at only seven years of age, began his work in doing good, caring for bedridden sick people.

Luíza began visiting the sick in the community and took Tadeu with her. There her mediumistic task began, for without any knowledge of medicinal plants, Luíza started working with natural remedies, producing through intuition and as an auditory medium, medicines in her own home which she used in treating the sick. They were ointments, syrups, and teas serving the good of those in need of care. The cases involved various diseases—leprosy, varicose wounds, scabies, and even tuberculosis—but nothing distressed the mother and child, for in their hearts there was something that made them immune to it all. Although lacking material possessions, Luíza possessed colossal energy and did not fear work. Seeking resources to help the less fortunate, she began working at home as a seamstress and, with much sacrifice and with her husband’s help, managed to gather enough money to purchase a piece of land in the same neighborhood where they lived, where later the Casa do Caminho would be built.

Luíza and Tadeu, mother and son, became two instruments living in true harmony. The love of Luíza and her son Tadeu already existed before the womb and continued even stronger after the womb. At only seventeen years of age, she already knew the boy Tadeu: fair-skinned, blond, and with deeply blue eyes.

As the years went by, one day Tadeu noticed that his mother seemed different and decided to ask her: – Mom! It seems to me that you are feeling tired and old. Are you ill? – I am not tired, and there will not even be time for me to grow old. I only hope, my son, that you remain steadfast in our mission, being diligent and loving as you have always been. And do not forget: Where there is love, there are no barriers between us and Heaven.

One month later, Luíza, without telling anyone, sought a doctor because her breast was completely infected. This doctor regarded her as a sister, as they had practically grown up together. Tadeu, not knowing his mother’s whereabouts, became worried about her delay. After some time, she arrived accompanied by the doctor, who came to inform the family about her illness and discuss the pre-operative examinations. Within a week, the surgery took place in which her breast was removed; however, the biopsy result was positive, indicating that the cancer was already quite advanced. At that same time, Jovino suffered an ischemic stroke that left him completely disabled. Needing treatment for cancer, Luíza could choose to undergo it in Uberaba or Belo Horizonte, where two of her sisters lived, but thinking of the difficulty Tadeu would have in caring for both Jovino and her, she chose to go to Belo Horizonte.

At that moment she thought of two things: first, to lessen Tadeu’s burden so that he could focus more on the daily work with his father; second, since the distance would be greater, especially for her son, there would be a gentler physical separation. The fact is that, in spirit, they met every night.

At the beginning of treatment, she had already won the affection of all the staff of the large hospital. During some intervals in the treatment, she managed to go to Araxá, and upon returning felt strengthened, never complaining about anything. And when she arrived at the hospital, everyone would say, “Joy has arrived.”

After a year of treatment, Luíza entered the terminal stage, and Tadeu went to fetch her, as she was almost unconscious. At the hospital, what moved him most was witnessing that large group of staff members in tears, as if his mother were someone very close in the lives of those people.

On the journey back to Araxá, Luíza no longer recognized anyone. When they entered the city, she opened her eyes, looked at Tadeu, and asked him what time it was. He said: It is eight o’clock in the evening, Mom. She then said she wanted to spend the night in her house and sleep in her room. Tadeu fulfilled her last wish, and she was hospitalized the following morning, passing away four days later.

And so departed this great woman, who came with a noble mission and left a legacy of love, being both mother and teacher to her son Tadeu, who continued the work she began, founding in 2012 the Hospital Casa do Caminho on the same land where Luíza Salazar had started her work in aid of the needy.

Source: Book “Uma missão de mãe e professora,” authored by Lázaro (spirit), psychographed by José Tadeu.