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

The ending of the trance was abrupt and spirited, as if the current had been cut suddenly. The four girls lowered their eyes at the same time, recovered their normal attitude and voice (before they whispered) and they said at the same time: “We are going to pray the Rosary.” They did it like this upon continuing, the multitude in a chorus. During the trance, they did not stop speaking in a low voice, and above all Conchita spoke constantly without lowering her head, always with her mouth up and looking fixedly at the circle.

“I think I remember that at the beginning of them said: ‘Why haven’t you brought the Child?—What a shame!’ Then they talked about some priests who were present there or known to them, festively commenting about what had happened to them. That the pastor made circles in the sacristy, that they were good, and that the pulpit was very bad and almost fell.”

“Sometimes they laughed sincerely. They said that the pastor had scolded Conchita for wearing her long hair down (ordinarily she wore it in braids). Lolita commented: ‘Long hair like yours?—Michael’—or—‘Long hair like Michael’s.’ This could have seemed bad to the pastor, ‘Your name is Michael—my brother has the same name, but without the ‘St.’ My mother’s name is Aniceta—what an ugly name, she’s black,’ (her mother, who was at my side, is very dark) and she smiled when she heard Conchita—‘She only has two teeth—I see it when she eats.’”

Note: What is seen in this paragraph are some of the things the girls said during their trance. Not all of the things are put down with the same degree of certainty; there is some doubt about what she said about the long hair, about Michael, etc. We have to say these things about those allusions:

1st—On one occasion, one of the girls—I don’t remember which—told me, alluding to another: “That one has a brother named Michael, like the Angel, but he’s missing the “St.” She told the Virgin this and the Virgin laughed.

It’s possible that she was alluding to this occasion or that she had said this on other occasions as well.

2nd—A few days after this scene they cut off Conchita’s braids.

“Some people had a conversation about a movie they had seen ‘and what is a movie theatre?’ Conchita said—‘I’ve never been in a movie theatre.’ ‘Well! In Torrelavega I passed one—it’s a house.’”

“I’m from San Sebastián de Garabandal”—Conchita said—“but not from Vizcaya.” Lolita corrected: “Guipuzcoa.” “San Sebastián de Garabandal—think about it, it has a surname.” “It’s not like this?” (San Sebastián de Guipuzcoa). “Have you seen it?—Of course!—you’re in all parts—me, no. I am only here, and in the photos.”

“San Sebastián is very high, and it is difficult to go up—the sky is also high and everyone wants to go there.” (Conchita).

“At the beginning of the trance: ‘We are alone and grown up.’”

“She insisted several times. In reality they were squeezed into a large group with one row and among them there were several priests, but the leif motiv of the conversation was the following:

Note: There has been a frequent worry that the girls have always been in the presence of priests, and in general terms, they have always rejoiced to have them there and have had a special sympathy towards them, as for all religious.

“While talking about the priests present or known, Conchita remembered the Dominican—‘There is a priest who isn’t dressed like the others; he wears a white shirt—the neck isn’t like the others—he wears shoes with holes in them—but it’s an adornment—he’s very serious—he never laughs—the most he does is this (she smiles). I don’t know who this priest is—but he is very good.’ She repeated this with variations many times. During one of them she exclaimed, ‘oh!—Dominican!’ She seemed very satisfied at having solved the puzzle. She laughed. ‘Figuring it out was difficult—but in the end we got it!’ She said this to her interlocutor.

Time and time again she returned to the topic of the ‘Dominican.’ She seemed very satisfied. After a lot of idleness, “Well, I don’t remember anything else about the Dominican!” But she returned to it from time to time. Mari Cruz smiled: “She’s remembering the Dominican again.”

Note: This Dominican priest was also occasionally a topic of their conversations while having a trance. When I arrived on the 29th of the same month, the girls who stayed in Garabandal, the three, since Conchita was in Santander, had already talked about the Dominican priest as on the 31st of July and the 1st of August.

When she said: “She is thinking of the Dominican” it could be simply that she smiled or because she’d thought about him a lot, or because the Vision indicated a Dominican, or because the others had been thinking about him. So these girls laughed and said that the other had been thinking. On one occasion I saw them do this as a game, and when I reach this day I’ll explain it.

“I seem to believe that he is very far from here (the Dominican priest) when in reality he is a meter in front of her. Suddenly she was startled, ‘Oh, how fat! What was here? Were you hearing me?’ She repeated this variations at intervals: ‘And now, how do I return the rosary?’ She worried about this for a little while. Finally she said: ‘Good, I will put it in front of you and I will give it to you.’ When the trance ended, she gave it naturally and immediately.”