In 1857, Antônio himself married Brasilina Laurentina de Lima and began working as a salesman, teacher and lay counselor (poorman's lawyer).

Already with two children, he was cheated on by his wife in 1861, and disillusioned and depressed, he separated from them and retired to a farm, working as a rural teacher, and devoting himself more and more to Christian mysticism.

He was tall and thin, with long black hair and beard, always dressed in a rough blue tunic, a straw hat and leather sandals, carrying a necklace with a wooden cross, Antônio Maciel cut an impressive figure, reminding people of Jesus Christ.

In 1874, Antônio Conselheiro began to attract the attention of authorities and the Catholic Church, due to his preaching to the oppressed and poor peasants and common folk of small villages and farms.

More than five million black people were suddenly free, and they abandoned the farms and swelled enormously the rural and urban ranks of extremely poor inhabitants.

Tens of thousands of farmers went bankrupt and agriculture almost stopped for a while, particularly for cash crops which required intensive labor, such as coffee, cotton, tobacco and sugarcane, the mainstays of the Brazilian economy at the time.

In addition, he considered that monarchy was a grant of God, and that the Republic, with its separation between Church and State, was morally wrong and would wreck the country and family, a kind of new antichrist.

Protesting against taxes levied by the new Republican government in Masseté, state of Bahia, "Conselhistas" (as Antônio Conselheiro's organized following was named) were attacked by a small police force and retaliated.

In Canudos, Antônio Conselheiro, aided by a local government by committee, composed by 12 "apostles", or elders, established a communitarian society, with division of labour and produce, common property, abolition of civil marriage and of the official currency, prohibition of taverns, liquor and prostitution, rigid control over crimes and mandatory religious activities.

The massive presence of such kinds of people started to cause much fear and trouble in the region, since many of the new residents were not-so-peaceful "jagunços" (hired armed men who worked for farmers), leading to appeals to the government for repression and control.

A visit by two Capuchin friars to Canudos was insufficient to calm the population and one of them mistakenly accused Antônio Conselheiro of trying to raise a monarchist sedition.

It was examined by forensic expert, Dr. Raimundo Nina Rodrigues, and placed in permanent exhibition at the museum of the Escola Bahiana de Medicina (Medical School of Bahia), where it was destroyed in a fire in May 1905.

Besides his written preachings, Antônio Conselheiro left only one religious treatise, written in May 1895 and titled Apontamentos dos Preceitos da Divina Lei de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo, para a Salvação dos Homens ("Annotations on the Precepts of Our Lord Jesus Christ's Divine Law for the Salvation of Men").