Raimundo Irineu Serra, aka Mestre (Master) Irineu, (December 15, 1892 São Vicente Ferrer

São Vicente Ferrer, Maranhão

São Vicente Ferrer is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Maranhão. It is located at 2°53'39" S latitude, 44°52'49" W longitude at an elevation of 16 meters. In 2004, its estimated populations was 19,448 inhabitants....

, Maranhão

Maranhão

Maranhão is a northeastern state of Brazil. To the north lies the Atlantic Ocean. Maranhão is neighbored by the states of Piauí, Tocantins and Pará. The people of Maranhão have a distinctive accent...

, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 — July 6, 1971), was the founder of a syncretic religion

Syncretism

Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word...

 known as Santo Daime

Santo Daime

Santo Daime is a syncretic spiritual practice founded in the 1930s in the Brazilian Amazonian state of Acre by Raimundo Irineu Serra, known as Mestre Irineu...

.

He later moved to the state of Acre

Acre (state)

Acre is one of the 27 states of Brazil. It is situated in the southwest of the Northern Region, bordering Amazonas to the north, Rondônia to the east, Bolivia to the southeast and the Ucayali Region of Peru to the south and west. It occupies an area of 152,581.4 km2, being slightly smaller...

 where he worked on rubber

Rubber

Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...

 plantation

Plantation

A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...

s. In the city of Brasiléia

Brasiléia

Brasiléia is a Brazilian municipality located in the southern state of Acre. Its population in 2007 was estimated at 20,238 inhabitants. Its area is 336.189 km ² 4 ....

, which is close to the border of Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

, he was in contact with other people from his home state of Maranhão as well as Bolivians, from whom he learned the use of ayahuasca

Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca is any of various psychoactive infusions or decoctions prepared from the Banisteriopsis spp. vine, usually mixed with the leaves of dimethyltryptamine-containing species of shrubs from the Psychotria genus...

. In these early experiences he encountered the Virgin Mary

Mary (mother of Jesus)

Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...

 (the Queen of the Forest) and began receiving the guidance which developed into a religious doctrine

Doctrine

Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system...

throughout the remainder of his long life.

External links

• Mestre Irineu - Hier gibts die original Texte, die deutschen Übersetzungen und die MP3 Dateien zum freien Download.