Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part One, Post 7

The Calls

It has been established that the phenomena of the calls took place from the beginning. The most probable is that they took place after the first vision. The girls called it a “call.” It’s an expression that corresponds to ordinary language. They told their parents and the others who were related to them: “I have already been called once, twice.” They also said: “I have had one call,” or, “I have already had the second call.”

August 1st, while in the Pines with the girls I asked Jacinta:

“When the Virgin calls you, does she say ‘Jacinta?’”

Upon hearing this question, Jacinta smiled and Loli responded: “The first time she says, ‘Jacinta.’ The second time: ‘Jacinta, come.’ The third time: ‘Jacinta, run, run, run.’ But all of this is within, without words.”

On another occasion, one of the girls tried to explain it by saying that it was a cool feeling, something like eating a mint candy, but within, so not the same.

The phenomena of the calls take place in an unconfusing way and is different for each girl, even though the calls frequently coincide and happen at the same time, as they especially did at the beginning.

In a dialogue that I had with three of the tour girls and that I saved on a tape, I asked them this question:

P—“And, how many times?”

The three—“Three.”

P—“Three?”

L—“Yes, Sir.”

P—“And how much time is there between the first and third?”

L—“Between the first and the second, there is little, from the second to the third, there is more; a lot between the second and the third.”

These three calls or occasions of happiness represent special characteristics that establish a difference in the state of trance in the following form:

1st—the call the girl feels can dissemble in such a manner that she doesn’t fall nor does she count those who are with her. It does not isolate her from reality. In the state of trance, she is isolated from reality.

2nd—the call is an internal sensation without words or vision. The trance has a vision, at least full of light and a locution that the girls hear with sentences composed of syllabic words.

It seems that the three calls are not equal, since they have a greater intensity the further along in order they are.

I will tell about an interesting fact, something that happened to me. One day I found myself with three priests who were friends of mine. Two of the girls were with us, Loli and Jacinta. One of the girls told me that she had had a call. The same girl told me she’d had another. The girls were playing next to us, each one on her side and after a moment one of them told me in a low voice the word “two.” I looked at the other girl and saw that she was not looking while she signed “two” to me with her fingers as well. In that same moment I communicated this to my friends and left with one of them to go to Conchita’s house. It took two minutes for us to arrive there. When we arrived I asked Conchita: “How many calls have you had?” And she responded: “Two, father.” Then I asked Mari Cruz the same thing and she responded, “None, father.”

It is rare for them to have a call that is not followed by two more and a vision. It is even more unusual for them to have two calls, but not the third or the vision.

Sometimes the vision happens suddenly without warning. The girls feel happiness that becomes greater until the third call when they fall into the trance. I have observed that the third call lasts several seconds. The girls begin to feel it and even warn some people. It seems that it has gone on for more than two minutes and on some occasions the third call continues until the trance begins.

The beginning of the third call is determined when the girls say things like: “I have two calls and something else.” “I have two and a half calls.” “I have almost three calls.”

On one occasion I was writing and one of the girls said to me: “Hurry, Father, there’s time to write a line and a half.” I asked her: “How do you know?” She responded to me: “Because I have two calls and a little more.”

Since I asked them to warn me about how many calls they had, they did it. They usually fell into the trance a few seconds after they told me.