Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Two, Post 10

9th Diary

August 4, 1961

Summary:

August 4—The recorder.

Various testimonies.

Reconstruction of the facts.

Appendix.

August 4th

The facts that belong to this day, August 4th, are taken from references given by Fr. Valentín that I added to some testimonies. It is the diary.

August 4, 1961

(It was Jacinta and María Dolores).

It lasted 33 minutes. When they arrived they fell into ecstasy and began to show rosaries and medals.

Note: All of the description that he makes in his diary and that corresponds to August 4th, it seems refers to the testimonies that I have in relation to the scene with the recorder. According to the idea that I formed on the date on which this happened, it was August 5th. Upon seeing what Fr. Valentín records in his diary for August 4th, I asked casually what I found one day. He responded to me that he could be mistaken regarding the facts that happened on the day before. This could be a mistake in reference to the date, but it wasn’t a mistake with regard to the facts.

Since right now I don’t have the elements needed to obtain absolute certainty about the exact date and whether it was Friday the 4th or Saturday the 5th, it is more interesting to pass on the facts only.

Supposing that the day of the megaphone seems to be the day that Loli and Jacinta went up to the Pines, where they fell into ecstasy and proceeded in their usual way, giving medals and rosaries to be kissed. It was like this that they mimicked receiving the crown and kissing the Child.

“They acted like they were going to wear the crown and kiss the Child. Then they fell on their knees backwards, first Jacinta and then María Dolores. After 30 minutes they knelt again. Jacinta told the Virgin about Conchita:

“She already came and they cut her braids and she’s very beautiful like you; she’s dark because she went to the beach.”

Note: During the few days that Conchita was in Santander they cut her braids. This fact serves to localize the time or period that corresponds with some photographs. There is an incident of a card in the beauty shop where they cut Conchita’s braids. Since I don’t have sufficient facts to reconstruct it, I prefer to indicate only what I can make clear about the existence of this fact for someone who wants to be informed about it.

The Recorder

“After 24 minutes María Dolores returned to the normal state and looked at Jacinta, laughing, and suddenly fell into ecstasy and put on the Child’s crown. After 30 minutes the ecstasy left her. There was a man, the Director of an Insane Asylum in Salamanca, who had a recorder and he questioned them, asking what they had seen and they answered that they’d seen Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and the Angel. While standing like that, talking into the microphone, they fell into ecstasy again and María Dolores showed the microphone, holding it as high as she could and said: “Go on, talk so the people will believe.” And she asked: “Why not? Talk, go on, yes, talk.”

Note: This scene of the recorder was written in the first phase by Fr. Valentín. He is not an eyewitness but he wrote this fact down; it was told to him by those who had seen it. As a result, in order to clarify these things better or to verify them, I’m going to transcribe the testimonies of seven witnesses:

To be continued . . .