Mestre Jair Gabriel turns 75

|April 24, 2025

In honor of Mestre Jair Gabriel da Costa’s 75th birthday, we are reproducing a text written by Conselheira Ermanna Cavazzoli da Costa below. The text was previously published on April 24th, 2020, and tells a bit about this dear couple’s story and the birthday of the current General Representative Mestre.

In March of 1992, we re-encountered (after ten years) at the Salvador-BA airport. He had come with his mother, Mestre Pequenina, and at the time, Mestre Paulo Tasso, on a visit to the birthplace of his father, Mestre José Gabriel da Costa. When we saw each other, our hearts signaled the vibration of a feeling, an enchantment. In the days that followed, we began dating.
Convinced that he had found the woman he was going to marry, Jair informed the General Representative Mestre at the time, Mestre Raimundo Carneiro Braga, who asked him to stop in Brasília (DF) on his way back to Porto Velho (RO) so he could be re-conducted to the Body of the Counsel and the Cadre of Mestres.

On April 24th, we got engaged in Porto Velho, where I had gone to spend a few weeks. In December of that same year, Jair returned to Salvador after requesting a two-year unpaid leave from work, and that’s when we began our life together as a couple.

When I went to pick him up at the bus station, there he was—a man with a tired face, unshaven, worn out from six days of traveling on a bus. He wore a yellow and brown striped shirt, jeans, and carried a small suitcase that held just a few belongings. That image shook me. The rosy feeling of hearts in sync with love was now shifting. That moment revealed the dimension of the challenges we were about to face. It showed me the other side of reality.

Jair came to live in a small one-bedroom apartment—with no job, no adrenaline from police work, and almost no friends—in a city completely unfamiliar to him. When he went out, he no longer ran into familiar faces on every corner like he used to in the small town of Porto Velho, where he had lived before. Without the forest, the streams, and the fishing trips, his surroundings were now something entirely different: a vast ocean in front of him and a completely new cultural context—starting with me. I’m Italian and had left Milan at 25. After a long search, life brought me to Salvador, where I settled after finding the União do Vegetal. The Núcleo I was a member of, Serenita, had many intellectuals and used a more “refined” and philosophical language. I worked in tourism, and during the busy season, the demand was high. Jair often found himself alone at home.

We sought to walk the path of patience, resilience, and endurance—and when things seemed hopeless, I turned to the Vegetal. He didn’t want to. “Vegetal only in Session,” he would say. But I didn’t give him a choice, and he had to give in. On the porch of a small house a friend gave to me—high on a hill on the island of Morro de São Paulo, where we had gone to spend a few days—we drank the Vegetal, and “the light turned on.”

The importance of the UDV in each of our lives, along with a deep want to uncover the mysteries of life and to transform ourselves to be able to better know Mestre Gabriel and his teachings, helped us see our relationship through each other’s eyes—restoring trust and enthusiasm, as well gradually overcoming the difficulties.

In 1994, our daughter Gabriella was born. The following year, Jair discovered painting, and in 1997, he founded Núcleo Salvador, where he served as the Representative Mestre for two terms, forming Mestres and Counselors. Things were going well, but in 2002 we had to face another test—a new challenge. Jair had to return to Porto Velho to resume his work as a police officer. I stayed in Salvador because of my job, and also to keep the door open for the artistic path Jair had begun to follow.

What we thought would be resolved in a few months ended up lasting six years. There were a few back-and-forths, and during that time, Jair accepted the role of Representative Mestre of Núcleo Iagora at the request of the Central Mestre of the 1st Region at the time, Mestre Herculano. But in the end, we were able to overcome that challenge as well, thank God. Jair was able to retire from the police force, continue his new profession as an artist, and fulfill a request from his mother, Mestre Pequenina: to create Núcleo Sultão das Matas.

Life demands change from us, pushes us to move forward, and tests us—and you, Jair, have never run away from the fight. You know how to reinvent yourself, face challenges, pursue and realize your dreams, and listen to your heart.
On your 75th birthday, my wish is that we may continue walking on this path together, each day more united, so that we can see many more sunrises together. May you have health, the ability to renew yourself, and to face whatever challenges may come your way. May you continue to cultivate simplicity, with a watchful eye for life’s signs—looking forward without forgetting the past—so you can keep caring for this Sacred Work with a degree of humility and wisdom, always practicing that which you teach.

Happy Birthday with Light, Peace, and Love.

*Ermanna Cavazzoli da Costa is a member of the Body of Counsel in the General Headquarters (Brasília-DF) and is the wife of Mestre Jair Gabriel da Costa.

“From the eyes of a young boy who saw in his father a Mestre made by God, to the gaze of a shepherd who now watches over his flock. From the vibrant colors of the forest to the colorful beauty of pointillist art that enchants. From Porto Velho to Salvador, and from Salvador to Brasília. The path of Jair Gabriel da Costa—Mestre Jair—is made up of many steps that have led to this day, as he celebrates his 74th birthday as the current General Representative Mestre of the Beneficent Spiritist Center União do Vegetal.”

The above text was published last year for Mestre Jair’s 74th birthday. Read the full text in the UDV Blog by clicking here.