She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Page 155)

As the girl sent out notices, and news spread out, and expectation increased, there was also an increase in the apprehension of some of those who were responsible.
They trembled before the possibility of a new swarm of people, followed by a dismal disaster. October 18th was still fresh in their memories!
I wrote letters.

But Father Valentín, who doubted that the miracle would happen, told me not to write any more letters, since perhaps it might not happen.

And there was a man in the village, Eustaquio Cuenca,(26) who told me the same thing as Father Valentín, that I shouldn't write any more letters.

And I said to them that the Virgin and Angel had told me to predict the miracle.

But the people of the village didn't believe it.(27)
As can be imagined, on the days before July 18th, which in that year fell on Wednesday — as the previously heralded October 18th had fallen on Wednesday — the influx of visitors to Garabandal began. Many set out on the way, taking advantage of the previous weekend, and so many came on Saturday, July 14th. Among these was the attorney from Palencia, Luis Navas Carrillo, who this time came accompanied by his aged mother. All were able to assist on that same night at a long, very interesting, and moving ecstasy of Mari Loli . . . But they waited in
vain for one to happen to Conchita, who never missed having one on Saturday. When they retired for sleep, it was 5 o'clock Sunday morning. And they had to get up early, since the only Mass of the day, celebrated by Fr. Valentín, had been scheduled for 9 o'clock. They could take, if they were able, a long siesta to make up for the loss of sleep at night.
All Sunday long pilgrims continued to arrive. Luis Navas remembers that at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, while they were waiting for the beginning of the rosary in the church, the fine rain typical of the Cantabrian mountains was falling. In the village appeared a large gathering of people «who came from Córdoba and other places, also a priest from El Aaiún,(28) who accidentally found himself in the neighboring village of Celis.»
The following Monday, July 16th, had a special distinction, since it was the feastday of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Luis Nava's notes for this day read:
«We celebrated the feastday of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, but without a Mass, since the Mass on that day took place in the village of Cossío. This made me think of a Communion by the Angel. Since there was no priest to distribute Communion, it could well be expected that the Angel would come as on other occasions to give Communion to the girls.
I went up early to the Pines; there I was enjoying the marvelous view and the pleasant temperature, since it was a sunny day . . . Looking down, I made out one of the visionaries, without being able to distinguish which one of them it was, seated in the Cuadro, together with two or three other persons. I supposed that she was waiting for Communion, and I went down in a hurry . . . It was Mari Loli who was praying her morning rosary; I joined devoutly in the prayer and waited . . . Nothing happened and I went down to the village. I soon learned that Conchita hadn't gone to the Pines, as I had hoped, because she had forgotten and eaten some bread; but that she would go up a few hours later, toward one o'clock.
We accompanied her there. Some clouds began to appear in the sky while we were waiting. We prayed a Station to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, later an entire rosary. Some birds that were flying back and forth accompanied us with their singing.
As the clouds thickened, the sun gradually faded, as did my hope of being able to see — only one time! — the extraordinary phenomenon of the Mystical Communion about which I had heard so much said. Conchita waited standing up, sheltering herself against one of the nine pines there, protecting herself from a wet breeze that began to blow, and which was turning cold. The sky became completely overcast and the Angel didn't appear, in spite of waiting until about four in the afternoon.
Rather disappointed, we went down to the village to eat. And I took a siesta, expecting that later, most probably, we would have to spend the night standing up.
The rosary in the church was not at the time for holy days, but instead at nightfall, as on working days. Hardly had the girls gone outside, when Mari Loli went into ecstasy near her house, accompanied by Jacinta.»

__________

We are familiar with what followed since it has been repeated so many times: walks through the streets of the village, marvelous ascents and descents on the trail to the Pines (frontwards, backwards), prayers, songs, holding out the crucifix to those present . . . As almost always, the episode ended in the church courtyard, and Luis Navas tells us about the ending:
«It was a moving scene that penetrated to the depths of my heart when the girls with angelic smiles, completely transfigured by a radiant beauty, raised themselves lightly on their toes, offering their two cheeks to the Vision's kiss. And after this, alternating, each one effortlessly lifted up the other in her arms to reach the mysterious Apparition, and again kiss and be kissed.(29)
Previously during the rosary the girls had recited the Credo; and, as was their custom whenever they prayed it in ecstasy, they added to Catholic Church the words Apostolic and Roman. In a similar way, they introduced an innovation in some final invocations. In place of saying True Apparition of Our Lady, Queen and Patron of the Montaña, they said, Our Lady and Queen of all Creation.(30)
This universal title makes me feel that Our Lady is sending a call to all her children. She makes it understood that her messages here do not have a restricted or local character.»

__________

There was still more as the night of July 16th wore on. Navas Carrillo terminated his notes like this:
«I came to the conclusion that mere curiosity, if it could well be the initial reason for making the trip to Garabandal, soon dissipates, since it does not have its proper place there. What is felt here brings one little by little to prayer and sacrifice, to taste the peace and serenity of this little Mount Tabor.»(31)

* * *

On July 17th, Tuesday, the arrival of pilgrims took on an accelerated pace, as would be expected, and everyone's thoughts were on what was going to happen on the next day . . . according to Conchita's prediction . . .
Our lawyer from Palencia seems to have dedicated the hours of this day to reflecting on the unusual normality of the girls who for more than a year had been plunged into the daily abnormality of most unsettling phenomena:
«I spoke to the pastor of the village, and he told me that he had just received a report, completely favorable in this regard, from Doctor Ricardo Puncernau, a psychiatrist from Barcelona. This doctor had associated with the girls for several days, both individually and collectively. He had taken walks with them. He had expressed his impressions and doubts to them, which they always received with friendliness and good nature.
My study was limited to observing them, especially when they played with the other girls. I was pleased at the way Mari Cruz fought with a girl who was bothering her. Actually, she fought with a certain mildness, and only insofar as was necessary to stop the girl's annoying attitude.
In the prayers that they said in the normal state, I didn't notice anything special. I even had the impression that Conchita, for example, did not pronounce the words clearly, especially the Ave Marías, and she reminded me of some persons who pray from the pulpit as if they were in a hurry to finish. With regard to punctuality, that was not a quality that characterized them. Many times I saw them come late to church, sometimes one, sometimes another. I assisted at two of Jacinta's rosaries in the Cuadro at 6 in the morning; and besides the great sacrifice that could be supposed for a girl of her age to get up so early, her prayer had nothing special about it; frequently she opened her mouth and yawned.(32)

26. It has already been said that this man was an indiano of the village, and different from the others by his better economic situation.
27. The attitude of firm resistance that the people of Garabandal had against the girls’ phenomena has been shown enough; their hearts were too hard to believe in the truth of those things.
On July 14th, 1962, Luis Navas set out to take down impressions throughout the village «from the greatest number of persons possible.» He spent a long time with Mari Cruz’ mother who made this revealing statement: «I believe my daughter when she says that she sees the Virgin; but I’m not so sure that she actually does see the Virgin.»
In September of 1963, Jacinta’s mother, María, said to Fr. Laffineur: «I certainly believe when I see an ecstasy; when the ecstasy is over, I don’t believe anymore.»

28. A small town on the African coast. It was the capital of Spanish Sahara.
29. These positions, which undoubtedly were due to the Vision being elevated in front of them when they wished to reach her to give the final kiss, are seen in several photographs taken by the spectators.
30. From the days of the holy bishop of Santander, José Eguíno Trecu (†1961), there had been established in the diocesan churches the practice of concluding the rosary with the invocation Our Lady of the True Apparition, Queen and Mother of the Montaña, pray for us. This invocation was repeated three times, followed each time by a Hail Mary.
It is due to this bishop that Mary, under the title of La Bien Aparecida (The True Apparition) was proclaimed patroness of Santander, a territory covered with Marian sanctuaries. The sanctuary of Our Lady of the True Apparition is perched on a gorgeous hill overlooking the valley of the Asón River with views of Udalia and Ampuero, and is cared for by a community of Trinitarian fathers. The statue was taken from Santander during the last years of Bishop Eguíno Trecu’s episcopate to be solemnly crowned in the sanctuary.
31. Mount Tabor in Palestine is considered the mountain of Our Lord’s Transfiguration, where His glory was shown to three of His apostles.
32. As already was pointed out in another place, only those unfamiliar with the life of the spirit would be scandalized by the girls’ weaknesses. A basic tenet in theology is Grace does not destroy nature. It does not destroy it, nor does it change it . . . suddenly. And the condition of our nature is rather pitiful. The special graces that a soul receives (even those very special graces that could be expected in Garabandal) certainly create a necessity or requirement to change, to go on from better to better; but they do not cause it . . . and souls can respond with various degrees of fidelity. Some might say, If the apparitions were truly authentic, the girls, after such a long time of close contact with the Virgin, would have to be different than they are.
Actually, the apostles were in close contact with Jesus for a longer period of time — three years — and at the hour of His death, what were they like? If anyone does not know, the Gospel tells the story.
I do not pretend to make saints out of the visionaries since they unquestionably have many faults. I only mean to say that their real and apparent faults and weaknesses cannot be used as a proof against the ecstasies which they said they had, and which so many others were able to observe.

Two new books about Garabandal translated into English and available as downloadable ebooks (Two new books about Garabandal translated into English and available as downloadable ebooks)

English: A Picture of a eBook Español: Foto de eBook (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Antonio Yagüe wrote:  
Dear friends of Garabandal, finally, after three years of publication of the Spanish version, and more than two million printed and sold ebooks, I have an English translation of my book on Garabandal events and its symbolism attached to the Holy Scriptures. The title is "Garabandal, 50 years later" and can now be downloaded as ebook in English http://www.garabandal.org.es/ index.php / discharges #! / ~ / Product / category = 2591531 & id = 32843607 . (priced at € 12) Revenues will be used mainly to cover the cost of translation costs and keep my site on Garabandal, a Youtube channel at http: / /www.youtube.com/ sedes333 which already has more than a thousand visitors a day and its future updates to better spread the message of Garabandal. Based on the timing information given by our heavenly Mother in Garabandal for the Miracle and the notice as well as information from the appearance Guadalupe, Scripture and knowledge Astronomy, I recently wrote a new ebook with updated information on the Garabandal events and prophesied that knowledge is explained throughout the development period of the End Times Tribulation, we are about to live. The Secon title of this ebook is "Sacred Astronomy and End Times (Part I)" and is subtitled "The wisdom of the sages at the service of the Second Coming." This ebook can also be downloaded in English this new two ebooks in English will help better understand the message of Garabandal worldwide and love more our heavenly Mother. Antonio Yague

She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Page 154)

The News Spreads;
Expectation Mounts

Luis Navas Carrillo left Garabandal without knowing anything of the little miracle (milagrucu) that the Angel had foretold. But on the same day as his departure, Monday, July 2nd, 1962 — the anniversary of the first apparition of the Virgin — a person came to the village who was going to be the first to know about it, after the girls.
The first person whom I told that the Angel was going to perform a miracle was a priest: Fr. José Ramón García de la Riva.

And on the same day I told it to Mari Cruz, Loli, and Jacinta too.(19)
Conchita does not give the date or the circumstances of her communication; we know them, thanks to the Memorias of Fr. de la Riva himself:
«On the 2nd of July, 1962, I went up to Garabandal, desiring to spend several days of vacation.
During the course of the afternoon, I was with the young visionaries at the Pines. They were playing and I was seated next to them, very pleased to note their happiness; they were playing a game called los tios.(20)
Their happiness at this moment was equal to that which they felt, but tried to hide, when they had their famous calls.
Suddenly Conchita came up to me and said unexpectedly:

— I am going to tell you what the Angel's miracle consists of.

Certainly curious, but refusing to show my feelings, I told her that if it was a secret, she shouldn't reveal it to me . . . She was thoughtful for a few seconds, then she returned to the other three girls, as if to consult them:
— Shouldn't he be told?
All three, from the place where they were playing (near what was called the Virgin's Pine), answered in a single voice:
— Yes. Yes.

Then I got up and said to them:
— All right, but you are going to tell me individually.( 21)

Conchita spoke first, then her companions. And they all told me the same thing:
— They are going to see the Host . . .

On coming down from the Pines, Loli told her father about the news and the nature of the miracle. Learning this, Conchita was very angry:
— Now — she said to her mother — there certainly won't be a miracle because Loli has mentioned it to her father . . .

Then I learned what the predicted miracle would consist of, and I had the chance to be the first to know about it; but I didn't know the date on which it would take place. On the eve of July 5th, I returned back to my parish in Barro and Conchita still didn't know the date.»

____________

I think that my fellow priest from Barro is in error because we have seen how, during the ecstasy of June 29th, the young girl heard the voice that said to her:
July 18th would be when the miracle would occur . . . the little miracle(milagrucu), as you say.At the time the girl still could not reveal the date. This can be seen from her diary:
During the Communion that the Angel gave me, I asked when I would be able to tell that there was going to be a miracle and what it was going to be.
And he told me in the fifteen days before.(22)
When the apparition ended, the people from the village asked me if the Angel had told me anything about the miracle (since I had already said to the village that the Angel was going to perform a miracle) . . .
But they didn't believe much.
When the day came in which I had to announce the date, I told it to the village and I wrote letters . . .
I have seen the text of some of those letters and they are similar to the one printed in the Mexican edition of Conchita's Diary:
«A few words to tell you great news for me, and I think for you also. The Angel told me that he was going to perform a sign; and the sign is that — when I receive Communion — the Host will be seen on me. It is soon, during this month, on the 18th.
For me it really doesn't seem a miracle; since I thought that they always saw it on me. Will they believe then?»

This letter is dated July 6th, the day after Fr. de la Riva had left Garabandal. Four days later, Conchita wrote to Dr. Celestino Ortiz in Santander:

Ave María

San Sebastián, July 10th, 1962

Dear Doctor Celestino,

Just a few words to tell you that the Angel told me that on the 18th of this month they are going to see the Host on my tongue when I receive Communion.

Well, nothing more. Love,(23)

Conchita González

Mr. Ruiloba had gone up to Garabandal during those days, something he did frequently. On saying farewell to Conchita, she gave him a letter to give personally to the Reverend Father Francisco Odriozola, the «factotum» of the Commission.

Plácido Ruiloba faithfully fulfilled what was asked of him; and he learned the contents of the letter since the recipient himself, Father Francisco, read it to him. The letter said the same as the others that we know; but it added some lines strongly requesting Father Francisco to come to Garabandal on the day foretold . . . «Don't worry and come, since even the children in the village won't recognize you.»(24)
Doctor Ortiz, after having received the letter, used his first free day to go up to Garabandal to better inform himself about what was so tersely written by the girl. He was able to converse alone with her and spoke in this way:
— Conchita, I don't know if you understand the importance of all this. A miracle predicted for a fixed date is a very great miracle . . . (25)
— But to me this seems to be a very little miracle. Later the Virgin's miracle will come, and that will be a MIRACLE! Then there won't be any doubt.
— Maybe. I just don't believe that the miracle that you mention will happen . . .
— You don't believe? Then do me this favor. You know Father Francisco Odriozola. I've written him to come . . . But in case he hasn't received the letter, you go in person to tell him . . . So that he doesn't miss coming on July 18th! He will see the miracle. I assure you that nothing will happen to him because here in the village even the little children don't know him.
— Conchita, do you know how distasteful it is for me to tell news like this to a man whom I barely know . . . Besides, he is secretary of the Commission . . . And on top of everything else the village says terrible things about him, since he doesn't believe in the apparitions . . .
— If it is distasteful for you to do what I ask, offer it up to the Virgin!

* * *

19. According to the text, it would seem that Conchita had revealed the date of the miracle first to Fr. De la Riva, then to her companions. But by what follows and by other information available, one arrives at the conclusion that her companions were the first ones notified; afterwards, by mutual agreement, the girls informed Fr. de la Riva.

20. Similar to Hide and Seek.

21. A very shrewd decision by the priest; thus it was easy for him to discern if it was something fabricated by the girls.

22. Strictly holding to 15 days before, Conchita could have been able to tell Fr. de la Riva the date of the miracle before he left Garabandal on July 5th. Why did she not do it? Was she waiting for some sign to begin spreading the news? Or did she have some other reason for hiding the time from the priest?

23. The girls at this time were disposed to be friendly to everyone, especially those whom they met most frequently there.

24. Because of his actions, Fr. Francisco Odriozola was well aware that the people in the village did not hold him in high esteem. Conchita is trying now to give him confidence, with the indication that sufficient time had passed so that many
things would be forgotten.

25. Besides the value that the miracle might have in itself, it had another value of no less quality: that of prophecy.

She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Page 153)

Dr. Puncernau with Mari Cruz and Loli at the Pines

On the day she left, I had the opportunity of taking her photograph with Mari Loli, and I sent it to her so that she could forever remember, in her distant native land, the unforgettable moments of her visit to Garabandal.(15)
As previously with Conchita's rosary, this one also ended in the courtyard of the church with the singing of a Salve Regina.
My curiosity led me to ask why the girls in ecstasy came so often to the church, knowing that for them, in those circumstances, it was always closed. The answer had been given sometime before, through the voice of the girls themselves:
The reason is that the Virgin likes to go near to where Jesus is.»

__________

In days like these, the presence of priests and religious could not be missing. With regard to their presence, Luis Navas says in his report:
«I was greatly pleased to see the deference that the girls held toward priests; it was worthy of St. Teresa of Jesus. There were four priests there in the village on that Saturday, June 30th; and the Virgin had to be happy since, according to the girls: The Virgin likes priests and people without faith to come.(16)
During Loli's vision in her home, a Passionist Father and a Carmelite Father stayed respectfully on their knees. The girl gently lifted both of them up, making them stand on their feet. On the following day the Passionist Father told me, I weight 78 kilos and on top of that, I used force to make myself stay down; nevertheless, the girl raised me to my feet with the greatest of ease.(17) The Carmelite Father edified me with his humility and silence. He had come that very afternoon from Burgos and he spent almost his entire stay with the people, distributing and investing scapulars. I felt nostalgic, recalling the month of May in my student years at the Instituto de Burgos.»

__________

On Sunday, July 1st, much the same history took place as on the two previous days. Luis Navas tells of it:

«On this day, we had a longer wait. The first apparition, which was Conchita's, began at ten at night. The people had left her home, thinking that nothing would happen. I had the good fortune of going out at the time to seek a paralytic girl, whom I had advised to remain at Conchita's house until the people came to pick her up. There I met Doctor Puncernau from Barcelona. (18) Conchita fell violently on her knees and began the vision. She offered the crucifix to us to kiss; when the doctor's turn came, the girl did something different: with a single movement of her extended arms, she gave it to him three times to kiss.

Before the vision began, I had complained to Conchita that she had never offered me the crucifix. Because of this, I felt a considerable consolation on seeing how she presented it to me, since I well knew that the girls don't act by their own volition in giving the crucifix to kiss or in holding up holy cards and rosaries toward the Vision; they do it according to the directions of the Virgin. This helped me to understand something I had read about Padre Pio, Many times God makes me forget certain people for whom I had intended expressly to pray, and He presents others to me for whose salvation I should intercede.
The doctor had handed Conchita a letter in order that she might ask the Virgin for the cure of a patient. On the following day, I saw the girl write the answer she had received; later she gave it to the doctor with the request not to open the letter until he was in the presence of the sick person, who was dying of an incurable illness according to what I heard.»

__________

From what Luis Navas described of the second apparition which concerned Loli, this is what seems to have the greatest interest:
«The time for giving the crucifix to kiss was thrilling. Kissing it themselves first, as was their custom; then, giving it first to the Virgin and then to the person . . . When it came to the time for eight persons who had come that day from Cádiz, I was really edified by the reverence and faith with which they kissed the crucifix.
Loli's ecstasy had lasted an hour and twenty minutes. Eighty minutes that seemed to me to be ten! Something very strong must have held my attention to lose the notion of time like this.
After a clear, moonlit night, I awoke to a magnificent dawn. It was the day of departure. I made up my mind once again to keep the resolution made on the previous trip: to recite daily the holy family rosary, remembering in difficult times and lukewarmness the words transmitted from the Virgin by the visionaries: Hail Marys are the flowers that please her the most.

With a farewell to the Passionist priest and a great desire to return again, we ended our stay at San Sebastián de Garabandal on Monday, July 2, 1962.»

15. Dr. Puncernau, the neuro-psychiatrist from Barcelona, described his experiences in this case in the pamphlet, Psychological Phenomena of Garabandal, but he puts Conchita in the place of Loli:
«In Ceferino's tavern there was a young woman from Uruguay who worked in the Follies Bergère of Paris. We soon started up a conversation. She told me that she not only didn't believe in these supposed apparitions, but she didn't believe in anything about religion. She had come to Garabandal simply out of curiosity. After a while I suggested going outside to see what was happening with the visionaries.
We saw them at a distance (being hidden ourselves in the shadows of the house) as they headed toward the little village church, praying the rosary. From our hidden observation point we saw what was happening.
Soon we saw Conchita, in a trance, detach herself from the procession and make her way -—walking normally, but with an unusual swiftness — toward us, who were all staying hidden in the shadows, leaning against the wall of the house.
She was carrying a little crucifix in her hand.

I thought, She has found out that I am a doctor, and now is coming to make something of it. But how could she have seen me?
But no, she headed toward my companion and put the crucifix very forcefully on her lips so that she kissed it once, twice, and a third time.
The Virgin Mary was for the dancers of the Follies Bergère too.
Afterwards Conchita, still in the trance, joined the other girls and continued praying the rosary.
My companion, the ballerina, was weeping unstoppably, with deep heartfelt sobs, so inconsolable that I thought she was having an attack. I accompanied her to the wooden benches propped against the outside wall of Ceferino's tavern.
The crowd gathered around. I tried to calm her down.

She was finally able to tell that she had thought in her mind, "If it is true that the Virgin is appearing, then let one of the girls come to give me a sign."
— Hardly had I thought this when Conchita came running toward me to give me the crucifix to kiss. I didn't want to kiss it, and I held her hand back. But with exceptional strength she forced the crucifix against my lips, and I had no other choice but to kiss it once, twice, and a third time — I, the unbeliever, the atheist, who believed in nothing. This shook me intensely.
We met days later on the train back to Bilbao. And I know, since we wrote each other several times, that she left the Follies Bergère and went back to her family in Uruguay.»
16. As in so many other points, Garabandal was coming in advance to warn about the other imminent crisis of doctrine concerning the priesthood. The furious desacralization, that soon would show itself in the clergy, could not at that time be foreseen.
17. Maximina writes about this in her letters to the Pifarré family; but she says Conchita was the one in ecstasy, similar to the misnaming of the visionary in the case of the woman from Uruguay.

18. This doctor, an eminent neuro-psychiatrist, who practiced and taught in the capital of Cataluña, tenaciously studied the affairs of Garabandal and came to the conclusion, repeatedly expressed by him, that «from the medical and scientific point of view, I have found no satisfactory physiological or psychological explanation for these events which have produced such extraordinary phenomena.»

She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Page 152)

“The girls were walking through one of the streets, already in ecstasy.”

An Unforgettable
Holiday Weekend

Among the many people who came was a lawyer from Palencia named Luis Navas Carrillo. Not satisfied merely with devoutly living those days, he also made a report of them, which now serves us well for that period of the year 1962:
«After passing through the mountain pass at Piedras Luengas and from there viewing on the left the fantastic panorama of the Picos de Europa mountains, we told the narrow and tortuous highway that went down to the rapids of the Nansa River. And it was well into the afternoon when we came to Cossío. It was June 29th.
We began the ascent to Garabandal. The temperature was pleasant and the sky clear. During the way up, I couldn't put out of my mind the memory of another day that was very different — the dark and stormy October 18th that I had experienced in the same place. Today the soft mountain breeze purified our lungs and prepared our spirits for the possible beneficial actions of the Virgin Mary.
In the village, we had time to rest about an hour and a half. Afterward, at nightfall, they told us that the girls were walking through one of the streets, already in ecstasy. We easily found them and joined a group of people who were following them toward the Pines. We lost them from view a little beyond the Cuadro since — according to the instructions that had been given by the Most Holy Virgin, as they said — we all were to stay at a distance.(9) There we were waiting, a little anguished, since some heard, or thought they heard faint shrieks, that in the silence of the night and darkness had to remind many of the screams on the night of Corpus Christi.
After a while the girls appeared and they came down toward us. And they stayed rather close; sufficiently close so that with illumination from a powerful flashlight we were able to observe how they fell and how they got up off the stony ground. The beams of light from the flashlights that the girls themselves carried, and with which they had gone out of their houses to come to the rendezvous with the Virgin, lent a special charm to the scene. Not far from them, Mari Loli's father and Jacinta's mother could be distinguished slightly in front of the others.
The silence, which seemed a strange echo on that serene and starry night, helped us to meditate.(10)
After the ecstasy had ended, the girls showed tears on their faces and serious and sad expressions that contrasted with the joyful countenances that they usually had.
The impressions from that first day tempered my spirit so as to understand better this array of things that were beyond reason and the senses, that only could be comprehended by opening wide the eyes of faith.

June 30th, Saturday

This was the most moving of the three days that I spent at the time in Garabandal.
At the beginning of the evening, we were waiting in Conchita's house. Her mother told her to put on her boots, sensing that the time was drawing near. A little later the girl fell into ecstasy, went out from her home, and drawing with her all the strangers and many from the village, went praying the rosary through the streets and alleys. Some of the decades were recited, others were sung. The voice of the girl in ecstasy, so musical, so full of real, sincere and profound piety, penetrated into us, and immersed us in a sensation of well-being and serenity.

I had never seen the girls walking backwards; but I had heard talk about it, and actually with a certain repugnance bordering on ridicule. Now I can testify that that by its harmony, by its grace and rhythm, appeared to be a thrilling celestial dance.

She stopped and made the sign of the cross on the hood and windshield. It occurred to me that perhaps the Virgin wanted to bless and show her approval this way to the only taxi driver who, at the time, was taking the risk of bringing people over those dangerous roads.
Not long afterwards, the visionary went to search for Mari Cruz. The door of her house was locked. Conchita knocked on it forcefully and persistently until it was opened. Then she went up the steep staircase, came to the place where her companion was, and put the crucifix on her lips. It appeared that Conchita didn't forget Mari Cruz even during her vision, asking the Virgin to appear to Mari Cruz with the same frequency as with the others.
Afterward, to my great surprise, she took us to the cemetery, through those solitary and somber trails. In front of the gate, she stopped for a while and solemnly made the sign of the cross toward the inside, as imparting a blessing upon the graves.(11)
On returning, she entered the house of her aunt Maximina. And finally came the time for the race, which for me was a genuine novelty. Before starting it, she stopped and extended her arms slightly; she went like a wind through the winding path, without touching the walls, the fences, or the stones that were scattered everywhere — without forgetting the low balconies, against which one could hang his head, as happened to me. We couldn't follow her, much less
catch up to her.
When she returned, we all went toward the church, and in the churchyard itself a remarkable rosary concluded what had lasted so long and contained so many incidents. There the Salve was sung and the Credo recited. My attention was certainly attracted when the girl, after Holy Catholic Church, clearly added Apostolic and Roman. They told me that she only did this when she recited the Credo in ecstasy.(12)
Mari Loli had the second vision of that Saturday night. I was there to see the beginning in her home. She went up some almost perpendicular stairs; she began going through different rooms, and right away her father sensed that she was looking for her rubber sandals. He put them near the girl's feet. She had hardly put them on when she fell violently on her knees, and leaned backwards till she struck her head smack against the floor. Her father Ceferino, told Jacinta, who was present, to ask her:(13)

— What did that smack on your head do to you?

We all saw the girl in ecstasy open her lips in a slight smile and answer:
— What smack?

A little later, Jacinta went into ecstasy too. The two went into the street and began their march toward the Pines while saying the second rosary of the night. On the hilltop they fell on their knees. Afterwards, they went backwards . . . By their attitude they gave the impression that the weight of the world was lying upon them and crushing them.
The descent from the hill, backwards, was amazing. Instead of coming down by the regular straight way, they took a transverse shortcut, without following any trail, after going over an almost vertical cliff of considerable height. It seemed to me that the future that they were seeing was moving quite gradually, so that they could glide slowly toward the village.
And down below, I don't think there was a street or alley that didn't see the passage of the night rosary procession. Even the young men singing and drinking in a tavern couldn't avoid it, since the girls entered the tavern and gave them the crucifix to kiss; they certainly took on an attitude of complete respect.(14)
During these marches back and forth, Mari Loli lost one of her sandals; a little later, she began to retrace her way back, while walking backwards, until her bare foot touched against the lost sandal. Without lowering her head and without using her hands, she put it on her foot.
Seconds later, graciously raising her arms, she began to run at dizzying speed, avoiding all types of obstacles. Suddenly she stopped beside a stranger of elegant appearance: this was Concepción Zorrilla, a member of the cast of a foreign theatrical company that had performed in Madrid several days previously. This woman, before returning to her native Uruguay, had detoured from the route to Paris, desiring to go up to that remote spot on the Spanish map in search of . . .
What she was searching for — certainly an answer to her doubts and worries — she must have found when the girl in ecstasy, with her gaze upwards and without turning her head toward her, held out her arm, giving her the crucifix to kiss. She refused it two times, but had to give in to the sweet persistence of the girl and put her lips on the sacred image, while big tears ran down from her eyes. She herself confessed later that, if she had held back from the crucifix, she had done it only because she considered herself completely unworthy to give it her kiss.

9. It may have been during the ecstasy at the Pines that Conchita heard the voice that was foretold, telling her the date of the milagrucu (little miracle); or it may have been during the day while she was walking alone through the area.

10. The affairs of Garabandal always brought those who were watching them, and who were not too frivolous, to this attitude of respect, silence and meditation.
11. Christians realize that the dead are not in the tombs. The dead in the essential part of their being — their soul or their spirit — are in another location. What is in the grave is not the person but his remains or dust, which deserve great care, and from which afterward will come the restoration and the life after the resurrection.
12. The Credo that is ordinarily said outside the Mass is more brief than this; in speaking of the Church, it only says: I believe in One Holy Catholic Church, without the Apostolic and Roman. Perhaps the child, inspired from above — and therefore not comprehending the reason — was warning in advance against certain ecumenical attitudes that were going to come and which would lead the Church into confusion.
13. As has already been mentioned in the early chapters, the girl in ecstasy was not able to establish communication with anyone except another visionary in the normal state.
14. The young men’s attitude is not unexpected. Rather negative toward the practice of religion as all those of that age and environment are inclined, they were furthermore habituated to the things that were happening in their village every day; perhaps also, a little tired of them. How could they be expected to renounce all their leisure time!

She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Page 151)

“When is the miracle?”

BOOK THREE
CHAPTER ONE

EUCHARISTIC MIRACLE
or SACRILEGIOUS
FRAUD?

About the same time as the feast of Corpus Christi on June 22nd, 1962, began an event that has, more than anything else about Garabandal, aroused discussion and doubt; an event that would be named the Miracle of the Host.

Returning to Conchita's diary:

As we had so often insisted that the Virgin and the Angel perform a miracle, on June 22nd,(1) when I was receiving Holy Communion from the Angel, he told me:

I am going to perform a miracle. Not I: God, through my intercession and yours.(2)

And I said:

And what is it going to be?

And he told me:

When I give you Holy Communion, the Sacred Host will be seen on your tongue.

And I thought it over(3) and said:

Surely when I receive Communion from you, the Host is seen on my tongue!

And he told me that it wasn't so, that the people around me didn't see It; but that on the day when he would perform the miracle, It would be seen.

And I said to him:

But that's very small!(4)

And he laughed. And that day, after telling me this, he left.

On the following day, as there wasn't a Mass in the village, after reciting a rosary in the Cuadro,(5) I went to pray a Station at the church.

And before I went inside, the Angel appeared to me, smiling very much, and he spoke to me as usual:

Pray the "I Confess" and consider that you are going to receive God.

And then he gave me Communion.

And he told me to say the "Soul of Christ" with him. And I did it.

When I had made my thanksgiving, I asked the Angel:

And when is the miracle going to be?

And he told me:

The Virgin will tell you that.

And then he left. This apparition was on June 29th.
Conchita, who frequently confuses dates in her diary,(6) seems to incur here an obvious contradiction. She has just told us that the meeting with the Angel was on the following day after June 22nd. For this reason, it would not have been June 29th, but June 23rd, which in that year fell on Saturday. This confusion must have been due to the fact that the following Friday, June 29th (feast of the holy apostles Peter and Paul), was the day on which she learned the date of the little miracle.

After the Angel told me that he was going to perform a miracle, I told it to the other girls: Loli, Jacinta, and Mari Cruz.

I told them that the Angel was going to perform a miracle with us.

At night on that date, while asking the Angel when the miracle would be, the Virgin came.

She came smiling very much as usual.

And I said to her:

The Angel St. Michael told me that through his intercession and mine,(7) God, Our Lord, was going to perform a miracle.

She didn't say anything to me and I said,

When is the miracle?

And she told me:

On Friday, the 29th,(8) you will hear a voice that will tell you.

And I said to her:

Whose voice will this be?

And she didn't say anything to me . . .

Friday came, and as the Virgin had told me, I felt a voice while at the Pines which told me:

July 18th would be when the miracle would occur.

The voice that I felt said to me:

The little miracle, as you say.

But let us not go too fast. June 29th, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, has always been held in Spain with great festivities. Falling that year on Friday, as has been indicated, it gave the occasion for a holiday weekend, leaving three days free for vacation, as the people were off work on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. A good occasion for people from the various distant provinces to meet in Garabandal. And actually that is what happened.

1. We have seen that Fr. Valentín noted on June 22, following the feastday of Corpus Christi: «There were no apparitions.» Was Conchita mistaken then as to the date? Or was this an error of the pastor who at times made his notes from what others told him? Conchita's short ecstasy to receive Communion could have occurred unnoticed by everyone or almost everyone since the ecstasies for the Mystical Communions were brief and frequently without witnesses.

2. One of Conchita's maladroit expressions. She should have said by means of us. The Angel told her that she and he would serve as instruments for the accomplishment of a prodigy. Conchita has often improperly used the word intercession.

3. The girl was very surprised by what she had just heard the Angel say. It had never occurred to her that the Sacred Host, so visible to them during their ecstasies, could remain completely invisible to the spectators.

4. The miracle announced by the Angel seemed very small to Conchita; she doubted that it would make an impression. She used the term milagrucu which signifies a very small miracle in the idiom of her country.

5. Since the preceding winter, on the Virgin's request, the girls had to go every morning to pray the rosary at the Cuadro, each one at her own time; the time for Conchita was 8 o'clock in the morning.

6. It should be taken into account that she wrote the diary many months after the episode that she is here relating.

7. Here should be repeated what was said in footnote 2.
8. In the original, crossed out and erased, there perhaps could be read 30, rather than 29; but there is no doubt that Friday was the 29th.

She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Page 150)

page from the Apocalypse

What could the girls have seen to break out like this with the shrill shrieks and screams that terrified everyone?
María Herrero de Gallardo, in Garabandal several months later, spoke with Loli on Sunday, October 7th, the feast of the Holy Rosary. She questioned Loli, among other things, about what the girls had seen during the feast of Corpus Christi:
«Oh!»—exclaimed the girl—«That was horrible to see. We were really frightened. And I know no words that will explain it.»
We saw rivers change into blood . . . Fire fell down from the sky. . . And something much worse still, which I’m not able to reveal now.

The message that we gave at the time said that we don’t expect the Chastisement, but that, without expecting it, it will come . . .
The Virgin asked everyone to confess and receive Communion.»

The girl did not say many words; what her few words said was enough.
In 1970 Fernando Corteville wrote in issue N°31 of the L’Impartial about the messages of the 19th and 23rd of June, 1962 — up to then unpublished — that Mari Loli had verified and presented to Mrs. Saraco.(13) Three years previously, these messages had been given to Father Morelos.(14) The girls had received them when they had seen visions of the Chastisement.
According to the text that Mrs. Saraco had in her possession (signed by the visionary), Loli said this to Father Morelos:

In spite of seeing the Virgin, (during the ‘night of
screams’) we began to see a great multitude of people
who were suffering intensely, and screaming with tremendous
fear . . .

The Most Holy Virgin explained to us that
this great tribulation — which was not the Chastisement
— would come because a time would arrive
when the Church would give the impression
of being on the point of perishing . . . It would
pass through a terrible test. We asked the Virgin
what this great test was called and she told us that
it was Communism.

Then she showed us how the great Chastisement
for all mankind would come, and that it would come
directly from God . . .

There will come a time when all motors and
machines will stop; a terrible wave of heat will
strike the earth and men will begin to feel a great
thirst. In desperation they will seek water, but this
will evaporate from the heat . . . Then almost
everyone will despair and they will seek to kill one
another . . . But they will lose their strength and
fall to the earth. Then it will be understood that it
is God alone Who has permitted this.

Then we saw a crowd in the midst of flames.
The people ran to hurl themselves into the lakes and
seas. But the water seemed to boil and in place of
putting out the flames, it seemed to enkindle them
even more.

It was so horrible that I asked the Most Holy
Virgin to take all the young children with her(15)
before all this happened. But the Virgin told us that
when it would come, they would all be adults . . .

Loli’s words could be compared to those written in the Apocalypse (16: 8-12) about the effects that would result from the pouring out of the fourth, fifth and sixth chalices . . .
This is startling, shocking. It should make every person reflect on his salvation. But I am afraid for many . . . The charismatics of optimism do not see more in the actual situation of the Church today, in its convulsions, than a crisis of growth. They detect with certainty (I don’t know by what signs) the coming of a new springtime. And they regard everything that has just been mentioned as an erroneous prophecy. An erroneous prophecy from outdated medieval prophets
of doom.
The true prophets were sent to communicate to the people of God, time and time again, what it was necessary for them to know. And it cannot be denied that we have needed — more than once — the sternest warnings and corrections.
The words of the prophecy itself distinguish the false from the true prophet . . . It is clear that the people of God do not like to hear certain matters, even though they are conducive to their salvation, and their guides like to hear them even less. It was the same in Israel in the days of Jeremiah the prophet. The insistence on reform by that prophet of doom did not please the Israelites; they preferred instead the pleasant predictors of a prosperous future. But it is well known what then happened.
We can well imagine how the feast of Corpus Christi, the great feast of the Eucharist, was celebrated in Garabandal during that year of grace, 1962, after such a vigil and after such reception of the sacrament of Penance.
No one missed the solemn Mass and almost everyone received Communion. Later, during the procession of the Blessed Sacrament through the cleaned and garlanded streets of the village, there resounded the traditional hymns of homage to the hidden God in the Blessed Sacrament.
As if for the purpose of directing all attention toward the mysteries celebrated on that day, the visionaries did not present any spectacle.
«Mari Cruz went to the Cuadro»—Fr. Valentín wrote—«she went there in the natural state, and on arriving, knelt down and went into ecstasy; but she didn’t say anything . . . The other girls didn’t have an apparition.»
The following day, Friday, there was no apparition at all. But on the next day, Saturday, June 23rd, came the final statement from the nights of the screams; the second message from Loli and Jacinta(16) bears this date:

The Virgin has told us:

That the world continues the same, that it has
not changed at all;

That few will see God; so few they are, that it is
causing the Virgin great sorrow.

How unfortunate it is that the world does
not change!

The Virgin has told us that the Chastisement
is coming.

As the world is not changing, the cup is filling
up.

How sorrowful is the Virgin, although she does
not allow us to see it.

Since the Virgin loves us so much, she suffers
alone, since she is so good.

Everyone be good, so that the Virgin will be
happy!

She has told us that those who are good should
pray for those who are evil.

Yes, we should pray to God for the world, for
those who do not know Him.

Be good, be very good.

María Dolores Mazón, 13 years
Jacinta González, 13 years

13. Mrs. Carmela Saraco is a promoter of the cause of Garabandal in the U.S.A.

14. Father Gustavo Morelos, a Mexican, played a great part in the pro-Garabandal movement following the events. He came to Spain toward the end of 1964, with the proper authorization of his ecclesiastical superiors, as he himself stated in writing in 1965, to study the apparitions of the Most Holy Virgin in the in the village of San Sebastián de Garabandal.
First he collected all the information of a negative type that the Commission at Santander could give him, with a result that could be imagined. But later, on dealing directly with the visionaries and on hearing the eyewitnesses, he became convinced that what was occurring in Garabandal could not have any human explanation. Returning to my country, Mexico, I dedicated myself to informing our most excellent prelates . . . with the desire of making known — more than the "events" themselves — the "messages" that the four girls had transmitted to all mankind on behalf of their Vision.
For some time now, due to pressure by the upper ecclesiastical hierarchies (the passionate zeal with which the former bishop from Santander, Bishop Cirarda, attempted to finish with Garabandal between 1968 and 1971 should not be forgotten), he has come to keep silence.
As a tabulation of the actors, the fact can be pointed out here that there was an unusual procession of prelates in the Santander diocese from the beginning of the events of Garabandal. There were six bishops in the first 11 years. They were the following:
Doroteo Fernández Fernández: initially auxiliary bishop with Monsignor Eguino Trecu and afterwards, apostolic administrator; transferred in 1962 to Badajoz.
Eugenio Beitia Aldazábal: in 1962 took possession of the diocese as the titular bishop of Santander; not much later, for reasons not sufficiently known, he presented his resignation. This was accepted, although he continued for some time at the head of the bishopric as the apostolic administrator.
Vicente Puchol Montis: entered into Santander as a new bishop in 1965; he came with great hopes: he was rather young and had recently been promoted. On May 8th of 1967, he died tragically in an automobile accident.
Enrique de Cabo: elected vicar head on the death of Bishop Puchol; he was at the head of the diocese a little more than a year. Not long after finishing his service, he died suddenly.

José María Cirarda: came in the summer of 1968 to Santander as the new bishop; much was expected from him also. In December of 1971 he went to the diocese of Córdoba.
Juan Antonio del Val Gallo: in the winter of 1972, he took possession of the diocese of Santander, to which diocese he belonged and to which he was then returning after a short reign as auxiliary bishop to the archbishop of Seville.

With regard to Garabandal, although these bishops have officially upheld the negative position of the Commission, only two have fought openly against it: Bishop Puchol, who thought he had finished with Garabandal; and Bishop Cirarda, who tried to finish it with all his might . . .
I do not question their good intentions; undoubtedly they thought that they were doing God a good service.
15. It might be noted that Loli had little brothers at that time.
16. The reader can notice that Conchita was not taking a significant part in the important events occurring in Garabandal on the feast of Corpus Christi.