CONCHITA’S DIARY - 5

1961-1963

The next day, at almost the same time, the Most Holy Virgin appeared to us again and told us to pray the Rosary [The girls have prayed the Rosary in Garabandal many times during their ecstasies. On some occasions it was simply prayed. Other times it was sung. Sometimes during their ecstatic marches they would stop in front of the doors of different houses in the village. Sometimes they went up to the room of a sick person during an ecstatic march. These Hail Marys that the girls prayed have been recorded on tapes, and so have some of the songs that they sang that invited the people to prayer and penance. When they pray the Hail Mary in ecstasy it is extremely slow and with a slight trembling in their voices. In the recordings that exist, we can hear the noise of the footsteps of those who accompanied the girls through the village while they prayed the rosaries.]

We said this as though no one told us, but she said to us:

─I’ll lead and you answer.

She prayed very slowly, saying:

─ Holy Mary.

We also said:

─ Holy Mary.

Then we prayed:

─ God has blessed you, Mary, the same as when we pray the Rosary, but very slowly.

When we reached the Salve, she asked us to sing it, so we sang it. When we finished praying the Rosary, she gave us a kiss and before she left she said to us:

─ I’ll return tomorrow.

As she had said, she came. And she told us the same thing as on the previous day:

─ Recite the rosary.

And we began the rosary.

That night we went to the places where the Virgin had appeared to us at the beginning. After our ecstasy, the people said that we had gone up to the Pines, and that we had gone from pine to pine praying on our knees…

Until this time, the four of us had been together in the ecstasies: Jacinta, Loli, María Cruz, and I. But now we had begun to have ecstasies by ourselves in our houses. The Most Holy Virgin called us whether we were together or separated. But we always saw the Most Holy Virgin while we were in ecstasy.

As Mari Cruz already had an apparition earlier and had gone to bed, we asked the Virgin to teach us some songs to sing to Mari Cruz. We would compose a word, and then the Virgin would aid us with the others in the following way:

Get up Mari Cruz,

The good Virgin comes

With a basket of flowers

For the little girl.

Mari Cruz, Mari Cruz,

How sad you make us.

Pray very much to the Virgin

So that she will return to you.

Mari Cruz, Mari Cruz,

Don’t you smell the lilies?

The Virgin brings them for you

So that you will be good.

That night the Virgin stayed with us from 9 at night until 7 in the morning. That night we played ‘los tios’ (hide-and-go-seek) with the Virgin. Two of us hid and the other two searched for us.

During one of our apparitions, Loli and I came down from the Pines with many people. And we saw something like fire in the clouds. It was seen by the people who were with us and also by those who were not. When it was over, the Virgin appeared to us and we asked her what that thing was.

She told us:

─ I came in it.

It was the Feast of Our Lady of the Pillar during another day of our apparitions, at which Loli and I were present. While we were looking at the Virgin, a star with a very long tail was seen beneath the Virgin’s feet. Several people saw this. We asked the Virgin what it meant, but she didn’t answer.

At times the three of us wanted to be together. As our parents didn’t allow us be out of our homes at night, sometimes when we went outside after the rosary—after already having had two calls—we looked upwards like we were seeing the Virgin. [Conchita’s explanation is clear. When the girls were asked why they pretended before actually falling into ecstasy, they invariably responded: “It is because we wanted to be together. Sometimes the Virgin scolds us for doing this.”], And so we went together down the street. Then our parents and the people followed us. And later the Virgin came, and we were together. We never faked the entire ecstasy.

When we were together, when one of us lost her shoe, the Virgin would say to the other:

─ Put her shoe on.

And one of us would put the shoe on the other.

And when we were alone, if we lost our shoe, we went the whole apparition without it. And at the end, the Virgin would ask us where our shoes were.

In our apparitions, we would ask the Virgin to perform a miracle. She didn’t say anything to us; she smiled. We told her:

─ Perform a miracle so that the people will believe, since no one believes.

But She continued to smile.

The Angel, St. Michael, gave us unconsecrated hosts from the beginning of the apparitions. We had eaten at the time, [Conchitawas referring to the Eucharist fast, which was then three hours] but he gave them to us all the same. This was to teach us how to receive Communion properly.

One day he told us that we were to come to the Pines on the next morning—without eating anything—and that there should be a young girl with us [This was done from the very beginning. In some of the apparitions the Virgin only permitted one girl to go with them. The people in the village called these girls child witnesses because they were the only ones who could closely witness the apparition and hear what the girls were saying. They were very small, about six years old, when the apparitions began. The two girls who were preferred and almost always went were Sari and Mari Carmen, Jacinta and Loli’s sisters.]. And we brought the girl. And we did as he told us. When we came to the Pines, the Angel appeared to us with a golden chalice. And he told us:

─ I am going to give you Communion, but today these are consecrated Sacred Hosts. Say the “I Confess…”

We prayed it, and afterwards he gave us Communion. And after receiving Communion, he told us to make our thanksgiving to God… And after we making our thanksgiving, he told us to pray the “Soul of Christ” with him. We prayed it. He said to us:

─ I will give you Communion tomorrow too. Then he left.

When we told this to the people, some of them did not believe—especially the priests, since they said that an Angel could not consecrate.

When we saw the Angel again, we told him what the people had said. And he told us that he had taken the Hosts from the tabernacles on the Earth, and they were already consecrated.

Afterwards, we told this to the people. But some of them still doubted.

He gave us Communion for a long time.

The Most Holy Virgin told the four of us, Loli, Jacinta, Mari Cruz and I, to go pray the rosary in the Cuadro.

Some days we went at 6 o’clock and other days we went later. Jacinta and Mari Cruz went at 7 in the morning and Loli did not have a definite time. Later, since it was not convenient for Mari Cruz to get up so early, she went at 8 o’clock. And at 6 o’clock like us, Jacinta continued alone, with her mother and people of the village. During Holy Week, the Virgin told me to go at 5 o’clock in the morning. And so I went, since the Virgin always wanted us to do penance.

June 22nd

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

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

And I asked him:

─ 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.

I thought it over and asked:

─ 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! And he smiled. 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, 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 about to receive God.

Then he gave me Communion and he told me to say the “Soul of Christ” with him. I did it.

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

─ When is the miracle going to be?

He told me:

─ The Virgin will tell you that.

June 19th

After that, he left. This apparition took place on June 19th. 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 for us.

At night on that date, when asking the Angel when 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, God Our Lord is going to perform a miracle…

She didn’t say anything to me and I said:

─ When is the miracle?

─ On Friday the 29th you will hear a voice that will tell you. And I said to her:

Whose voice will this be?

But she didn’t say anything to me.

The first person I told that the Angel was going to perform a miracle was a priest: Fr. José Ramón García de la Riva [This priest is the pastor of Barro, near Llanes, in the Archdiocese of Asturias, which is not far from Garabandal. From the beginning of these apparitions he witnessed many ecstasies and he took photographs of them].

That same day, I also communicated this to Loli, Mari Cruz, and Jacinta.

July 18th

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

─ July 18th will be when the miracle or “little miracle” as you call it, will occur [A “little miracle.” This is a diminutive expression used in the region where Conchita lives.].

After the voice told me the date, I went and told my mother and my Aunt Maximina. I told them that the Angel was going to perform a little miracle, and I told them what it would be. They responded:

─ If this miracle really happens, then everyone will believe…

I make this explanation, but from then on I did not tell anyone else outside of the people I have already mentioned.

On one day on which the Angel brought me Communion I used the occasion to ask him:

─ When will I be able to tell the people that the miracle is going to happen and of what it will consist?

─ Two weeks before, he responded.

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 told the people in the village that the Angel was going to perform a miracle), but they didn’t believe.

July 6, 1962

When the day arrived in which I had to announce the date, I told the people of the village and I wrote letters [We will put a part of one of these letters here from July 6, 1962. It says this: “Only two words to tell you great news for me and for you also, I believe. The Angel told me that he was going to perform a miracle, and this miracle is that when I am receiving the sacrament, the Form will be visible. It will happen soon, this month, on the 18. To me, of course, this does not seem like a miracle, since I always thought they could see it. Will they believe then?] Fr. Valentín, who doubted that the miracle would happen, told me not to write anymore letters:

─ It probably won’t happen!... ─ he told me ─.

A man named Eustaquio Cuenca was in the village and told me the same thing as Fr. Valentín: not to write any more letters. And I said to them that the Virgin and the Angel had told me to announce the miracle. But in spite of that, the people of the village didn’t believe it.

When July 18th arrived, the village was full of people. Everyone wanted to see the miracle. There was a festival in the village, and next to my house there was a dance. There were two things together: some were praying the rosary, and others were dancing. Some of these people wanted to stop the dancing, since they were afraid that if there was a dance, there wouldn’t be a miracle. And at one time, a man among those who wanted to stop the dancing, Ignacio Rubio, [Conchita refers to a gentleman from Andalucía, born in Córdoba; he came to Garabandal frequently, especially at the beginning.] asked me if I wanted the dancing to stop. I answered:

─ Dance or no dance, the miracle will happen…

And then they didn’t argue about the dancing anymore.

When night came the people were upset. But since the Virgin and the Angel had told me that the miracle would come, I had no fear, since neither the Virgin nor the Angel had ever told me a thing would happen without it happening.

At 10 at night, I had a call, and at 12, another. At 2 o’clock, the Angel appeared to me in my room while my mother Aniceta, my brother Aniceto, my uncle Elias, and my cousin Luciuca were with me, as well as a young woman from Aguilar del Campo, Marí del Carmen Fontaneda. The Angel was with me for awhile. And he told me, as on other days:

─ Pray the “I Confess” and think of Whom you are going to receive.

I did this. And afterwards he gave me Communion. And after giving me Communion, he told me to say the “Soul of Christ,” and to make my thanksgiving, and told me to hold out my tongue with the Sacred Host until he left and the Virgin came. And I did this. When the Virgin came she told me:

─ They all still do not believe. [We can consider this fact as one of the most important among the events that have taken place in Garabandal. It was July 18, 1962. It was announced by the girl in many letters 15 days before. The number of people who came up to Garabandal that day might have been between one thousand and three thousand. Judging by the calendar, the event took place on the 19th and it was exactly two in the morning on the 19th when it happened.

The people who are quoted as saying that Conchita was in her house when the Angel appeared are: her mother, her brother, Cetuco (Aniceto), and her cousin Luciuca, daughter of Antonia and Tomás. Antonia is Aniceta’s sister. They live in Cabezón de la Sal. Luciuca was about 11 years old when the miracle of the Communion occured. María del Carmen Fontaneda is also cited as a witness.

There were many witnesses present that day. Because of them, we have a definite report of the event.

Conchita fell into ecstasy in the upper bedroom of her house. She descended the stairs in this state and went out into the street. She turned to the left until she came to a small road where she fell on her knees. In this state and with her hands extended downward she put out her tongue, which had nothing on it. Suddenly, in a fraction of a second, the Form appeared. It was similar to those that are given in Church, but it seemed thicker. It was white. All who looked saw it, and the girl remained with her tongue out for two minutes or more.

Mr. Alejandro Damians y Damians is one of the principal witnesses of this event. He is Catalán, and he had the good fortune of taking the most interesting photograph that has been made of these events. He told us himself how this took place.

He left Barcelona with his family and passed through Zaragosa, where he purchased a reel to film in an 8mm camera. He confesses that he had never filmed before. The camera he carried was not his, but rather belonged to a friend who had given it to him as he was leaving.

He tells how he filmed it:

“I held the handle firmly, trying with all of my might not to displace that privileged location in which I was situated, and I succeeded.

“The pushing finally decreased and then stayed relatively calm.

“A little before midnight the clouds that obscured the sky dissipated and the blue sky was adorned with stars that shone around the moon.

“With this light and the large number of lanterns that lit the road, we could clearly distinguish that Conchita had her mouth open and her tongue out, in the classic attitude of receiving Communion. It was more beautiful than anything. Her expression and her gestures, far from provoking laughter as the most trifling sign of ridiculousness would, displayed a mysticism that was impressive and moving.

“Suddenly, without knowing how, without realizing it and without Conchita changing her expression in the least, the Sacred Form suddenly appeared on her tongue. It was totally unexpected. It did not seem that it had been desposited there, but you might say that it appeared there with a greater velocity than the human glance can perceive.

“I carried the camera on my wrist. Without paying attention to the protests and without remembering my cousin’s instructions, I pushed the record button and I filmed the last instants of Conchita’s Communion.

Mr. Damians tells how he was pushed and fell to the ground.

When he developed the film, he found about 70 photographs of 8mm in black and white, very bad technically, but sufficiently clear to see the presence of a host on the child’s tongue.

One of these photographs is the one that is so frequently exhibited in almost all of the publications about Garabandal.

The Bishop of Santander, Fr. Eugenio Beitia Aldazabal, was interested in this film and wrote to Mr. Alejandro Damians asking for a copy of it and saying that “it could be of great interest and do a great service for the Church.”

This film proved that what those present saw was not a hallucination, and that what they saw in the child’s mouth was real.

One of the other witnesses is Benjamín Gómez, who lives in Pesues. He says that he is a man not given to insolence toward the Church and that he had the luck to see this event very closely.

We have some facts from an interview in Burgos that was recorded on a magnetic tape.

Question: Did you see the child well?

Response: Perfectly. She was very close to me.

Question: Were you about a meter away?

Response: No, much less. About a palm’s width.

Question: Did you see how she stuck out her tongue?

Response: Yes. I saw how she arrived, and how she knelt with her hands extended downward. I saw how she stuck out her tongue. I want to say something here. Her tongue was clean, empty. I was surprised and I looked. I could see very well because as I said, I was very close, less than a palm’s width away. I looked at her tongue tranquilly; it was not hurried. I looked up and saw nothing. A cousin of mine who was behind me touched my shoulder so that I would change places with her so that she could see. I turned my head for a moment, and when I turned back, the Form was on her tongue.

Question: And what did the Form look like?

Response: Oh! That…is very difficult to say. It was white, but a white that is not of this world. Sometimes I have looked for a comparison but I haven’t found anything that resembles it, except from far away. It is like when it snows. When it snows and the sun comes out and reflects on the snow. But when that happens it hurts your eyes, and this kind of white did not hurt the eyes.

Question: What size was it?

Response: I want to say something here: to make a comparison it was about two 25 peseta coins, one on top of the other.

Question: Do you believe that the girl could have placed it in her mouth with her hand?

Response: Not at all. We would have seen. That girl didn’t move.

Question: Do you believe that she hid it in her mouth and then put it over her tongue?

Response: She couldn’t have done that. I looked inside of her mouth and there was nothing there.

Another witness of this event is the stone mason of Garabandal, named José Luís Diez. The principal difficulty of this event was given by Conchita, according to what Dr. Bonance made evident. All who saw the Form on the girl’s tongue said that it was a little thicker than normal. Only Conchita said that it was the same as in all of the Churches, like the other times the Angel had given her communion, and the times Fr. Valentín had given her Communion. If the girl had wanted to conceal a trick she had done, it does not seem logical that she would say that she had received a host that was different from how the others had described it. Conchita acted according to the truth.

In another point in her diary, the girl makes an allusion to this miracle and the explanations that the people gave. When the Virgin arrived after the girl received Communion she said: “Everyone still does not believe.” The girl wrote a comment about this in her diary.]

Afterward, she told me to pray a rosary, and I did.

Some saw this miracle that God Our Lord did through the intercession of the Angel St. Michael completely, but others only saw the Form on my tongue. In that moment, they believed firmly in what they had seen, and those who did not see it believed because of the reports from those who had seen it.

After a few days had passed, the people began to doubt and everyone said that I had put the Form on my tongue; there were other similar comments.

A Franciscan priest, Fr. Justo, didn’t believe what he had seen. And he said to the people that he hadn’t seen it, that it was a lie, that it was I who had done this. After two or three days, a letter arrived for me from this same priest, asking my forgiveness for thinking badly of me. He told me that it was the devil who had tempted him.

A few days after this letter arrived, three priests came from Fr. Justo. He had explained to them the things that had happened here regarding the Most Holy Virgin. These priests told me that this Franciscan priest had passed many sleepless days and nights thinking about the Sacred Form, but finally he had reacted well and he accepted what happened; he believed everything.