The Light: 
The One They SeeWe have indicated that at the beginning they only saw the angel. Then, as is logical, it was difficult for them to explain the series of people and things that formed the apparitions. They describe what they see with more ease.
The Virgin: She is very tall. She wears a crown of brilliant stars, round but open (in the style of a diadem). The dress is white with white flowers. The mantle is very blue. She does not wear a veil. Her hair is long and very dark brown, almost black. When the girls ask, sometimes she opens her mantle so that they can see her dress. The Virgin is about 18 years old. They don’t see her feet. Her eyes and eyebrows are black. She is very beautiful and almost always smiles.
These visions began on June 18, 1961. They happened in such a way that they grew. There are some days at the end of the month in which the girls did not have visions. The vision was still not speaking at this point. On July 2nd, for the first time, they heard words coming from the vision. The girls were still and kneeling in a reverential posture. The first falls, the ecstatic marches, the ones we talked about then, began around August 3rd.
And the Angel appeared to them. Later they identified him as St. Michael the Archangel. He didn’t speak at all the first days they saw him. It seems that he came to announce the Virgin. The apparitions happened like this. We will tell the condition in which these apparitions occurred, even though they’re good, profound and serious visions.
The Happenings
According to what we have known, the girls left to listen to an explanation of catechism, “The good angel tells us to do good and he helps and defends us. The bad angel, the demon, pushes us to do bad.” They were playing happily. They had a strange idea: to take fruit from an orchard. “We won’t do it. Because the bad angel has inspired us to do this. The good angel tells us that…”
Sept.-Oct. 1962
My school Sept.-Oct. 1962
Synthetic Report
“Does the Virgin act visibly?”
“What is occurring in San Sebastián de Garabandal, Santander?”
“San Sebastián de Garabandal is a village situated on a mountain about 7 kilometers above Cossío. From this point of reference, Cossío, the highway passes closer to San Sebastián de Garabandal.
It is a varied countryside on a mountain with Pines, in whose skirts the simple village rests. Its inhabitants are peaceful, honorable workers. Until the events, which we are going to discuss, the village represented a dark place with old traditions. One is like ours: at sunset, a woman—she’s the mother of one of the seers, Jacinta—runs through the streets ringing a little bell to invite her neighbors to pray for the souls in Purgatory. They also pray the holy Rosary daily in the Church.
There is not the remotest feeling of religious fanaticism.
The roads that go through the country are full of crops in the stony wilderness. There is a riverbed that is full of boulders that rests below the mountain of pines.
The Actors
The names of the girls are:
María Concepción, 12 years old (Conchita).
Jacinta, 12 years old.
María Dolores, 12 years old.
María Cruz, 11 years old.
We will add that none of the girls are sisters or cousins.
Besides María Cruz, the others have enjoyed strong health and robust complexion. Their mental development at this age is normal for the villages. Compared to a child of this age who has been educated or is from the city, they would seem about 9 or 10 years old.
They are poor, humble, working families. Their fathers are normal, with the temperaments of men from the north country, from Santander.
They have an excellent and prudent pastor, full of zeal for his parish. The young boys and youth have the virtues and vices customary to their ages. Everything is normal.
The girls are not distinguishable from the others in their manner of being, nor in their performance in school, nor in catechism, nor for anything exemplary. This also includes mischievous occurrences normal for their age.
