Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Three, Post 12

In Torrelavega we met another Jeep that had gone with people from Aguilar de Campoo, and was stopped. It was the Jeep that had brought us up to San Sebastián de Garabandal. We stopped to see if they needed anything, and José Salceda, who was a mechanic, went down with Fr. Luís and they spoke with them a little.

In this second return trip we spoke for a while and I said: “Father, why don’t you sleep for a little while.” He did this for about an hour, until a little after we arrived at Reinosa. When he awoke he said: “I have had a very deep sleep. I feel very well, I’m not the least bit tired.”

We were all tired because it was already four in the morning. In Reinosa we stopped at a fountain to get a drink.

We continued the trip and after driving for awhile we neared the city and Fr. Luís repeated the sentences that had characterized the conversation we brought: “I am full of words. What a gift the Virgin has given me! How lucky to have a mother like that in heaven! We don’t have to be afraid of the supernatural life. The girls have given us an example of what it is to know the Virgin. I don’t have the least doubt that what the girls say is true. How wonderful that the Virgin has chosen us! Today is the happiest day of my life.”

Upon saying this sentence he stopped talking. I asked him a question, and when he did not respond I asked him again: “Father. Has something happened?” I thought that he had left. He responded: “No, nothing, I’m tired.” He inclined his head and made a slight gesture.

José Salceda turned towards him and when he saw the priest’s eyes said: “The priest is very bad.” My wife took his wrist and when she didn’t find a pulse said: “Stop, he doesn’t have a pulse, and there is a clinic here.” I believed that this was just dizziness and I said: “Don’t worry, Father, it’s nothing, it will pass in a moment.” My wife said: “We are going to bring him to a clinic.” I responded: “Don’t say foolish things.” But she added: “He’s unconscious.”

We had stopped near a clinic, about five or ten meters away from it. We called and a nurse immediately opened the door. When she saw Father she said that he was dead. My wife said that this could not be, and to do something. The nurse gave him an injection.

In the midst of this, José Salceda went to find a priest and a doctor. The doctor arrived within 10 minutes. He was Dr. Vicente González, who could only establish that Fr. Luís was a dead. The parish priest arrived immediately after and administered Extreme Unction.

The comment that has been repeated when we were asked of what Fr. Luís died has been this: “He died of happiness.”

In the fraction of a second when he passed from life to death, a smile remained on his lips. There was no change in his exterior, only a light gesture after he said: “No, nothing, I’m tired.”