RAMON AND LUIS ANDREU, PRIESTS

Fr. Ramon Andreu on right

The brothers Luis Maria and Ramon Maria Andreu Rodamilans were among the four hundred or so spectators who attended the second ecstasy of tears, on July 29, 1961.
Both are Jesuits and doctors of Theology. Luis himself was then professor of Theology in the Major Scholasticate of Ona (Burgos) and Ramon, a preacher of retreats and Spiritual Exercises.
During the first visit they made to the village, they were simply drawn there out of curiosity, led there by friends, the Fontaneda family, very well known in Spain for their brand of biscuits ("galletas").
Father Ramon Maria Andreu immediately took down a substantial amount of notes about Jacinta's and Mari-Loli's ecstasies. First he thought that this was a case of hypnotism, until a very disturbing "sign" was given him: the instantaneous realization of a thought he had just formulated . . .: "Let one of these children come to herself and the others remain in ecstasy." This is exactly what happened.
Mari-Loli immediately recovered her normal state and turned slightly towards Fr. Ramon to look at him before falling again into ecstasy . . .!
We shall see later how the involvement of the Andreu family at Garabandal took an absolutely extraordinary turn.
[Excerpted from 'Garabandal' Book, page 72.]

Yes, the thoughts of many were read by Our Lady at Garabandal and transmitted to the girls to tell the people involved. This made most of them believers! As it says in the Gospel: "The thoughts of many hearts will be revealed to thee" (Luke 2:35)

Fr. Ramon wrote a lot about the events at Garabandal. I hope to post some of his work here in the future.

The children of Fatima had priests from elsewhere to support them too, even though the local pastor didn't believe in Our Lady's apparitions there. He even held the three seers from receiving their First Holy Communion, thinking they were liars. Lucia was held back for a year and Francesco and Jacinta made theirs shortly before they died. They suffered a lot because of this rejection.

Roman Catholic Deacon