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SERGIO RESENDE COUTO
1942—1996
The Universal House ofjustice was distressed to learn . . . of the passing of long-time servant of the Cause Mr. Sergio Resende Couto. His devotion to the Faith and his vigour in its service will be remembered for years to come. Prayers will be offered in the Holy Shrines for the progress of his soul in the divine worlds. Prayers will also be said for his dearly loved wife, Ann, his daughter Clara and her family and the relatives of Mr. Resende Couto that they may be comforted and strengthened.
Department of the Secretariat July 31, 1996 ergio Resende Couto was born in
Atacajt'i, Sergipe, Brazil, on May 8, 1942. He moved to Salvador, Bahia, and embraced the Cause of Baha’u’llah while a pre—youth, participating in the youth club which brought Bahá’ís and non—Bahá’ís together for social activities.
Sergio accepted Bahá’u’lláh in his heart when he was twelve years old. Nevertheless he had to wait impatiently until he was fifteen to be officially accepted into the Bahá’í community. As was the practice in those days, the youth had the privilege of
THE BAHA’I’ WORLD
Sergio Resende Couto
writing a letter directly to the Guardian announcing their acceptance of the Cause. Shoghi Effendi responded to Setgio’s letter by welcoming him and recommending that he take the teachings to the indigenous people.
While the Hand of the Cause Dr. Muhájir was visiting Bahia in 1961, he learned of the letter and encouraged Sergio to fulfill the beloved Guardian’s desire as soon as possible. At the time Sergio had been enlisted in the army for obligatory military service for a little more than a week. After prayers and with great courage, Sergio requested a personal interview with his commander, informed him of his plans to go and visit the indigenous people, and requested to be released from military service. Two days later he was called to another meeting with his superior and some other generals. With a map in hand they began to locate indigenous villages in the region that they thought should be visited. Two weeks later Sergio was out of the military, and in early February 1962
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Sergio and another Bahá’í youth took the Cause for the first time to the villages of northeast Brazil, where they were welcomed by the people of the Kiriri tribe.
Sergio participated in the first Bahá’í summer school in Brazil and in the Bahá’í youth movement. In 1963 he attended the first World Congress in London and met a young Irish woman, Ann Brew. They married in 1970 and lived in Rio de Janeiro, where they participated in the first mass teaching activities. They moved to 5510 Paulo in 1974 from where Sergio visited the principal cities in the south and southeast, raising the call to teaching, remembering the stories of the first believers, and deepening and consolidating the friends in special weekend meetings and in winter and summer schools. His love was so intense that countless youth and adults became allame with the fire of the love of God.
He attended the National Teaching Conference in 1975 in 5:10 Paulo and had the joy of once again being with Dr. Muhájir. This time Dr. Muhzijir encouraged him [0 return to the city of Bahia where, the following year, a great call for mass teaching was raised at the National Convention held in Bahia. Upon seeing Sergio, Dr. Muhájir called to him saying, “How good to see that you have come to stay!” And he stayed! In the following months his wife, Ann; daughter, Clara; and belongings also arrived in Bahia.
The National Spiritual Assembly’s plans gave a new impetus to mass teaching. The presence of Dr. Muhájir and Counsellors Athos Costas and Rafil Pavon made that year a special one. Sergio was appointed an Auxiliary Board member for Protection, and a group of about ten youth stayed with him in Bahia—the fruit of the spiritual deepenings of previous years. They joined the Bahá’í friends already residing in Salvador. Sergio, his family, and the
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youth traveling teachers went to live in the Bahá’í Institute. At that time it was a small and simple house on the outskirts of the city. Sergio became the coordinator of the group and its teaching activities. They generated an enormous spiritual force going from neighborhood to neighborhood, street to street, door to door opening many new localities to the Faith and enrolling hundreds of new believers. In the city of Salvador alone, more than fifty—two Nineteen Day Feasts were held in different neighborhoods.
So intense was the teaching work in that period that the Bahá’í activities rapidly increased and produced a new spirit of dedication among the friends in all parts of Brazil. This progress served as a preparation for the International Teaching Conference held in Salvador, Bahia, in January 1977. Once again Sergio was with Dr. Muhájir as well as the Hands of the Cause Enoch Olinga and Paul Haney. The conference transformed into a victory celebration and a new starting point for further advances in the development of the Brazilian community. Mr. Olinga stayed at the Bahá’í Institute after the conference, fueling the fires in Sergio’s already intensely flaming soul and creating within him a new ardor for mass teaching. On countless occasions mystical meetings ofcommunion with the spirit of the early martyrs and heroes of the Cause were held, creating an impressive sense ofmission among the friends.
Sergio’s close personal relationship with Counsellor Ratil Pavén, maintained through letters as well as regular Visits, instilled in his mind and heart an unceasing search for practical solutions for consolidating the successive waves of new believers. He came up with the idea of basic deepening groups called “live cells,” which when they grew were divided, forming new study groups. He translated into Portuguese texts to be
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used in the meetings, and he developed new materials for the teaching and deepening of new believers. For almost a decade Sergio carried out the programs, giving courses to prepare traveling teachers and pioneers and dedicating himself especially to the youth, traveling and educating the friends and communities in a vast geographical area of Brazil. For all of these efforts the National Spiritual Assembly of Brazil considered him the “Father of the Permanent Institutes of Brazil.”
In July 1980 he offered his home for the special care of the aging Mrs. Leonora Armstrong, the “Spiritual Mother of Brazil and of Latin America.” During the following three months he personally cared for her with extreme affection and dedication until her passing on October 17 of that year.
Sergio was also known for his spirit of generosity. As a psychotherapist he dedicated his last years to care for people who were dependent on drugs and those with family and marital difficulties. It is estimated that more than five hundred people were directly assisted, and many were transformed by his attention. His faith and unshakable confidence, his frequent use of the Sacred Texts, his explicit and constant mention of God, and his love and dedication to others, as well as his knowledge of psychology, made him an outstanding healer.
Sergio died at the age of fifty—four in the city of Salvador, Bahia, on July 26, 1996.
