The spiritist Maria Agustina Guffain Lanzó de Doittau was a tireless pioneer with a vision and a passion for social change, and, more importantly, she was a woman with an enormous devotion to her family. In the early 20th century, Agustina Guffain was considered one of the most influential leaders of her time. The profile of Augustine's life that emerges from her family's historical documents, her literature, and news reports, though incomplete, reveals some of her personal experiences. It also shows the most important influences on her belief system and her deep dedication to the spiritist movement in Puerto Rico at the time.

Her youth

Agustina Guffain was born on April 24, 1863 in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. She was the third child of Frenchmen Pedro Bruno Guffain Rebollé and Juana María Celestina Lanzón de Vernoes. Her parents arrived in Puerto Rico in the 1840s, during a period of tremendous economic development, and eventually settled in Mayagüez. The Guffain-Lanzón family were prominent and well-educated members of the Mayagüez and Cabo Rojo communities. Agustina had a brother, Carlos Pedro, born in 1854, and a sister, María Rafaela, born in 1860. The family remained for many years in Puerto Rico, where they owned several successful businesses.

It's not known exactly how Agustina developed her belief in Spiritism. We could suppose that it emerged from her family of French descendants living in the same country as the father of Spiritism, Allan Kardec (1804-1869). In other words, one could speculate that the Guffain-Lanzon family in France was exposed to Kardec's doctrine and that the seed of that philosophy was sown in Agustina in her upbringing. It may also have contributed that she listened to her father's conversations with other intellectuals. It is likely that the influence of Spiritism on Agustina occurred when that movement reached its peak in the region and throughout the island.