The long-anticipated publication of the messages and letters of the Guardian to believers and institutions in Latin America constitutes a major achievement. This is the last of the continental collections gathered from the whole of his ministry (1921–1957). An adequate understanding of the unfoldment and growth of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in Latin America will necessarily involve a careful study of its contents.
The volume covers Shoghi Effendi’s direction given to the Latin American community throughout the course of the initial stages in the execution of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan for the worldwide propagation of His Father’s Faith: the first Seven Year Plan (1937–1944), the second Seven Year Plan (1946–1953), and the World Spiritual Crusade (1953–1963). Its contents have been carefully gathered over the course of several decades from official Bahá’í archives and the papers of individual believers throughout the hemisphere.
Based on Bahá’u’lláh’s promising words addressed in His Most Holy Book to the “rulers of America and the Presidents of the Republics therein,” Shoghi Effendi outlines the future greatness of the Faith throughout the Americas:
Let them ponder the honor which the Author of the Revelation Himself has chosen to confer upon their countries, the obligations which that honor automatically brings in its wake, the opportunities it offers, the power it releases for the removal of all obstacles, however formidable, which may be encountered in their path, and the promise of guidance it implies for the attainment of the objectives alluded to in these memorable passages.
It is that same honor which prompted Shoghi Effendi to designate the members of the Latin American Bahá’í communities as “associates” in the execution of the Divine Plan. In this capacity those communities, in association with the Plan’s “chief executors” in North America, received and won significant goals throughout the first stages of its unfoldment, especially during the Ten Year Crusade.
We follow in these messages the inspired guidance of Shoghi Effendi while extending the Bahá’í Administrative Order through the opening of all the southern republics, through the development of the initial Bahá’í groups and then, eventually, the election of Local Spiritual Assemblies. That, in turn, led to the formation of two Regional National Spiritual Assemblies in Latin America in 1951—these two being divided into four in 1957. The Crusade included the establishment of independent National Assemblies in all the Latin American republics as a major goal. This was achieved in 1961, after the Guardian’s passing, enabling the full participation of these national bodies in the momentous election of the first Universal House of Justice in 1963.
Shoghi Effendi has explained that the creative energies released by the successive Revelations of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh have subsequently, in the Formative Age of the Faith, crystallized into potent agencies and processes for the promotion of the Bahá’í teachings. Many of these numerous processes of the Administrative Order were developed in Latin American Bahá’í communities, following their introduction and initial operation in North America.
One such process is elucidated by the Guardian’s repeated emphasis, as seen in these messages, on the role and duty of Spiritual Assemblies to stimulate and continually enrich the spiritual life of the growing number of believers under their jurisdiction. Likewise we find numerous references to the all-important process of conveying the Faith to the original inhabitants of the Americas—the indigenous populations—a mandate deriving from a passage of the Divine Plan itself. This resulted in the first large-scale enrollment of native peoples in South America, during the last year of Shoghi Effendi’s life.
The spread of the Bahá’í Faith in Latin America began in 1919 through the historic and intrepid efforts of the incomparable Martha Root, in response to the call of ‘Abdul-Bahá in His Divine Plan. Her heroic travels in South America were the first stage of her many memorable services to come, and led to her eventual elevation to the rank of Hand of the Cause of God.
With Martha Root’s diary in hand, an intrepid young American believer, Leonora Holsapple (later Armstrong) arose to become the first pioneer to settle in South America. Arriving in Brazil at the end of the Heroic Age of the Faith, she was, at the time of her passing, designated by the Universal House of Justice as the “spiritual mother” of South America. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself had sent her two memorable Tablets after she reached her post. Leonora later introduced the Faith to several additional Latin American territories, including Venezuela, British Guiana, Trinidad, and some other Caribbean islands. Notably, the second part of this collection of messages includes Shoghi Effendi’s numerous letters of encouragement to her in those early years. The volume also reflects the early intimate interaction between pioneers in the field and their Guardian—a bounty which necessarily lessened as his duties and responsibilities increased with the worldwide growth of the Cause.
Not only does this volume stand as a tribute to the tireless efforts of the many pioneers and first Latin American believers, it constitutes a further record of the inestimable role of Shoghi Effendi in advancing the vital interests of the Cause of God throughout the world.
Hooper C. Dunbar