Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Three, Post 33



Miracle

The child Juan Fontanillas Buj had an accident on October 1st. He slid down the hill and was taken in an ambulance in grave condition to the Hospital of San Pablo. The doctors believed that his condition was hopeless, and few had the hope he would be saved; in addition to wounds on the body and face, he had brain failure.


On the 9th, after 8 days without regaining consciousness, the renowned Dr. Durán operated on his head. The boy continued in the same state and his pulse weakened until it became the minimum before entering into a hopeless coma.


On the 14th, 13 days after his collapse, and still unconscious, they put a cross that had been kissed by the Virgin during the visions of the four girls at San Sebastián de Garabandal on him. On the 15th and the 16th, Conchita prayed for the Virgin to heal this child. On the 15th, he regained consciousness and from that moment an enormous change occurred. He knew everyone, and his first impulse was to get up and go to the crucifix which was on the wall to give thanks to God for his healing and then to kiss his parents.


For all that has been exposed, it could be a miracle through Divine intercession from the parish priest of San Sebastián so that we can be reunited with the promises of these visions that have been cast away; it is because of this that we pray for the parents of this child, for the nuns that helped in the hospital and for the sick, and especially for Dr. Durán, who attests to the veracity of these facts with his signature so that the Ecclesiastical Authority can express an opinion about the visions and miracles that take place in San Sebastián de Garabandal.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Three, Post 28



1st—From 9P.M. to 8 A.M. last night they went in and out of ecstasy.

2nd—They called the Virgin “Mother.”

3rd—“The miracle is so beautiful!” “When are you going to do it?” Do it soon for those who believe. It’s all the same for those who don’t believe.”

4th—“A priest from the country? Oh, he isn’t a priest and he comes as a country man?” (It was a Marist brother).


5th—“Mother, what do I have that’s bad? Oh!” (And she went to her house to take off a bracelet).

6th—The report, 60 topics, etc.

7th—A man who wants to give a gift of a statue of St. Michael from Bilbao.

8th—General Director of Security. 4 watches.

9th—A Dominican was there.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Three, Post 27




To Fr. Arama, by telephone—on a day in September 1961


1st — Small crucifix on a rosary, lost on August 15th and found on September 5th.

2nd—María Cruz is not called until Monday.

3rd—There will be a miracle, but we don’t know what or when.


4th—Fr. Luís spoke. The rosary was sung through the houses.

5th—The seers act as mediators for others.

6th—There was a vision in the pines at 2:30.


7th —The girls’ security.

8th—They play hide and go seek with the Virgin.


9th—The people present are persecuted. The Virgin told them: “You already see the laugh, they persecute the priests, making them fall.”

10th —During the whole vision there was something religious.


11th —The Virgin has told them when they go to speak with Her that they should not wear rings or necklaces. As a result, Conchita took off her necklaces. If they have a ring in their hands or on their fingers that was given to them by another person, they throw it when they have the call.

12th—The Virgin does not want them to ask about certain things in the visions; they can only ask about things that have to do with spirituality.

13th—She asked if the American who lived in Madrid believed in God and she responded that yes, and in the Virgin? And she said “very little, but he will believe.” (He was Protestant).


14th—A little known man who gave a crucifix through a third person had it returned directly to him with the girl’s back to him.

15th—Luís told the girls that her niece was there and that Ramón had her seated on his knees and they had laughed a lot.


16th—In one of the visions they asked if she wanted to see their dolls and the vision said that “it wasn’t the time for dolls.”

17th—About twenty people were there when the seer began to make the sign of the cross in front of everyone and made it to the Andreu family, including Fr. Ramón; when this happened, we were surprised.


18th—An older man (Mayagray) knelt and asked for the conversion of his son-in-law. The girl came near him and said: “Yes.”

19th—They told José Mari that he came from Caracas. (These things took place on September 4th and 5th).


20th—They bless everyone except for one who was the only one who had blessed himself in the morning. They asked and it was true.

21st—They visit the sick to give them the crucifix to kiss.

22nd—They pray the “Oh, My Jesus” and to the young children they pray the Salve.


Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Three, Post 26

From 2 to 3:15 yesterday two girls had apparitions in their house. They opened the doors of the room and went out to the dining room. Within the house were the girls’ parents, two priests and a grandmother.

One hundred people witnessed in the street.

One of them was not allowed to leave her house and did not have a vision.

Conchita did not have a vision at this time, and the two girls in ecstasy neared the vision.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Three, Post 25

Telephone Conversation with the Fr. Rector, Arana

August 31, 1961

1st—The visions continue.

2nd—They had Conchita locked in her house for three days and yesterday they let her leave. She went directly to the Church. It was locked. She was in ecstasy for a while. Conchita said that she would have another vision that night.


At Sunset: Conchita left and her brothers accompanied her to defend her. She went toward the Church and had an ecstasy in the road. This was around 11 at night. Upon arriving at the door she fell to her knees, then fell on the ground and sat up. After she sat, she went within 15 meters of the Church. Her dress didn’t move, and always stayed to her knee, and she didn’t get dirty with dust, and afterwards she returned to the same posture and to the place where she had begun.


During this time you could see the whites of her eyes.

During Conchita’s vision, Loli and Jacinta were in her house.

3rd—Jacinta and Loli were in Jacinta’s grandmother’s house. They let the Marquis of Santa María and a sick woman who’d had 12 operations come up. The girls prayed for the sick woman and they gave her the crucifix and the rosary to kiss; they returned it in a state of ecstasy. The sick woman almost fainted.


4th—The Virgin has advised Lolita to lengthen her dress a little.

5th—Many people went and many were impressed.

6th—The people who went, in general, were very devoted. They finished the hosts in the village and the pastor asked us to send for an urgent shipment of hosts.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Three, Post 24

My school—Magazine dedicated to the young people from high schools of Immaculate Mary for the Domestic Service and Protection of the Young.

Address—Fuencarral 99—Madrid.

Choice of the Small Ones

Gregorio XV, in the bull about the canonization of St. Theresa, 1622. During the following centuries, God deigned, in predetermined times, to visit his people through his servants; in general he chooses the small and humble to communicate great things to the Catholic Church. It is this, in effect, to those who according to the promise, reveal the mystery of the Reign of the Heavens, that are hidden to the knowledgeable and prudent.”

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Three, Post 23

When their vision ended, the girls said that the Virgin smiled when they asked her to speak into the microphone.


We know that some conversations were about Protestants and Jews.


After this message was transmitted by the girls to Fr. Luís’s mother—as given after his death—she became a religious. She took the habit in San Sebastián (Guipúzcoa) on 18-IV-62 (April 18, 1962).

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Three, Post 22


Recorder

There is a scene that happened in the first days of the month of August, that refers to the recorder. A man carried a recorder with batteries and recorded what the girls said in a trance in the Pines. I have the reference to this incident from Mr. José Salceda, from Aguilar de Campoo, who was a witness to what I tell here.


When they finished the vision they marched with the recorder so that the girls could hear it. Finishing what corresponded to the rapture, they took words from the girls in normal conversation and they told them to ask the Virgin to speak into the microphone so that the voice would be recorded.


While they were having this conversation, the girls entered into the vision suddenly. In this state they asked the Virgin to speak into the microphone so that her voice would be recorded.


When they finished the vision and went back to their homes in the company of their parents, the girls stayed there; it was enough. The recorder worked to show how the trance had been. Upon arriving at the girls’ sentences, in which they asked the Virgin to speak, “an unmistakable voice was heard.” These are textual words from Mr. José Salceda: “It was the sweetest voice that came from the apparatus saying: ‘No, I won’t speak.’”


The emotion was enormous and many people were crying and saying that this should be taken to the Pope. They played it again and in the middle of the emotion, when they arrived at the cited sentences, we did not hear anything.


They went down to Conchita’s house disconcerted. She had not participated in the mentioned vision but she’d heard what her companions had said. When they arrived at the cited sentences we heard the voice that said: “No, I will not speak.” Upon hearing it Conchita smiled and said she was very happy and that it was the Virgin’s voice. They listened to it again, but I don’t know if they heard it again.


Felix de Corta, S.J.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Three, Post 21

The Calls


The phenomena of the calls or touches that begin the ecstasies, are given to the girls in the following way: generally we can say that they are always three calls:


― They can have them at the same time when they’re together.

― They can have time around the same time, but not exactly, when they’re together.

― They can have them at the same time when they’re separated.

― They can all have them, or only one girl, or two, or three, or all four.


In the calls they don’t hear words. They insist that they are within and do not have words. In the trance they hear syllabic words, including those whose meaning they do not know.


They don’t see anything in the calls; during the trance they see light, people, etc.

These are the three principle differences.

The meaning of the calls:

The word “call” has surged from the girls who say this:

“The Virgin hasn’t called me today.”

“Today she called me.”

“I have had one call, two, etc. They said goodbye: ‘Until tomorrow.’”


The third call represents a difference between the first two calls that begin it and end in ecstasy. It grows. The girls can warn that the third gives a certain margin of time, as they said on one occasion: “Father, you have time for one more lines.” I was writing, and that’s how much I wrote.


Other times they say: “Father, we’ve had two and a half.” This “half” is the beginning of the third.

The girls didn’t tell anyone that they had calls except their parents, priests, etc. when they asked.

From the third call they pass into the trance.


Thursday, March 13, 2008

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Three, Post 20


Knowledge of Consciences

I saw that one of the girls was in a trance and she went on her knees directly towards one person. This person was leaving, but the girl, still on her knees, met him in the corner. “The girl smiled there and after a few moments, she left.” The impression that this scene left in the person who had followed the girl was so great that he knew what should be normal. The explanation that same person gave me was to tell me that they were anxious at the thought that he had not made good confessions and prayed to the Virgin and God like this: “If my past confessions were made well, let this girl come to me.” At the same time he finished this mental prayer, the girl, who was at the other end of the crowd, went towards this person on her knees and ignored the other people.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Three, Post 19


On August 8th, María Dolores lost a rosary belonging to Fr. Luís, which was about the size of a medal. She lost it on the path from the Pines to the Church. When she realized she’d lost it, she asked the Virgin where it was, and she found it the next day.


On August 15th, one of the girls was carrying a rosary I had given her, and I noticed that the cross was missing when she returned it. Faced with the impossibility of finding it, since it could be in any part of the village, I decided to leave it. After 20 days, on September 5th, I asked the girls to question the Virgin about the cross of the rosary. They did. I heard the dialogue in which they asked and learned the exact place the little cross could be found. When the trance ended, they went immediately and without hesitation and found the cross on one of the roads, under a stone and in the mud.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Three, Post 18




Another type of knowledge


On one occasion the girls knelt in a state of trance and prayed an “Oh, My Jesús” before each person. When they arrived before a boy and a small girl, around 7 years old, they prayed a Salve instead of an “Oh, My Jesus.”


One of the seers blessed a group of people but did not include one of them. This person was sad. The pastor asked the child when she was in the normal state why she had not blessed the person. The girl responded that the Virgin had told her that he was the only person who had not made the sign of the cross in the morning. He proved that this was true by asking the group, and it was.


A good person who had come and was indifferent to what they saw, gave a third person a crucifix so that he could give it to the girls and they could give it to the Vision to kiss. All of this was during the trance. The scene lasted two or three minutes. This third person passed it into the hands of the girl and she gave it to the Vision to kiss. The third person reached out his hand to take the crucifix from the girl, but she made a brisk movement and passed her arm over her shoulders and gave the crucifix to the owner with her back to him. He was visibly emotional.


A woman asked them to ask the Virgin if her husband believed in God. The response was: “Yes, he believes in God. He believes very little in the Virgin, but he will believe.” The husband of this woman was Protestant and lived in Madrid.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Three, Post 17


Knowledge of people

In the different cases I have given news on, I put in continuation one that I have witnessed myself.


1st—On September 4th, at night, my brother arrived in Garabandal. He came from America. When he arrived, two of the girls welcomed us: Jacinta and María Dolores. I told them that my brother had come from America to see them. While we were talking, Conchita came in a state of trance. She entered into Ceferino’s house, came in front of us and blessed herself. She went up to the first floor—while still in a state of trance—and there she responded to the questions the other girls asked her.


“Who has come?”

“Fr. Andreu and one of his brothers.”

“Where has he come from?”

“From Caracas—Where is that?—Oh, there is one here and another there. This one is blond.”


According to the facts we have, Conchita did not know that Fr. Andreu had come from Caracas even though it was possible that he had come from America, nor did she know that he was blond.


When I asked later, she responded that the Virgin had told her.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Three, Post 16

Here is a fragment from a Vision on August 8:


She went to make the sign of the cross but her hand was impeded. (They were holding her hand firmly). As you want—as you order—I don’t have more—we haven’t given any proof and the people don’t believe—if you want, at the time you want, I’ll go—I don’t know, but since I want to please you, I don’t want to know—I never thought—when you want and what you want—the same you give me to go to all sides now—(where she’d had apparitions). Because we throw stones and some believe but others don’t want to believe us—I heard some people say that it was a sickness that we had—that the more the people are pleased with us, the more we’ll do it—they say that we’re bad.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Three, Post 15




What the Virgin teaches them

From the beginning of the visions until August 25, 1961, the advice and recommendations the girls have received have been varied. They are here without chronological order, like smooth pieces collected until it is what has happened in the present.


Modesty

The girls’ modesty is shown in their manner of walking, running, looking, and in their movements, etc. They obey the advice repeated to them by the Virgin several times. The advice is “to be modest.”


They don’t like that the people come showing cleavage, that the women smoke, etc… We have to remember that once one of the girls didn’t want to take a picture with a woman because she was showing cleavage.



Indifference to fame

When the beginning of the afternoon arrived, the girls wanted to go to the field, at times, from the morning—or to lock themselves in their houses, only leaving in a sporadic and rapid manner. They say that the Virgin told them to be in their houses; they dispense with the public in general. They do not show any inquietude even though many people come and when there is no vision, the people are disillusioned. The reason why they like people to come is “so they will believe.”


Friday, March 7, 2008

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Three, Post 14

To be present

The girls are 11 and 12 years old. Regarding their psychological development, and their way of expressing things that are foreign to them (logical things) they might be considered serene and impartial and act as though they were 8 or 9 years old.


As a result, when they explain about some of these phenomena they said: “There is no voice like hers…” The calls are: “As though she says run, run, but within, without words.”

They are in agreement in all of these descriptions.


Kisses

During their visions, we saw the girls kiss something. From their gestures and their explanations, the girls kissed the Virgin, the Archangel St. Michael, and the Child. They are also kissed by these figures. As we have already said, they held the Child in their arms at times. The gesture of kissing, being kissed, and holding the Child or the crowns, are completely defined.


An eyewitness told us: “I have not seen, in all of the numerous trances I have witnessed, the simultaneous action of two or three girls kissing at the same time, needless to say successively.” “I have only seen them do it simultaneously when the kiss was not given but being blown from afar, or when the kiss was directed to a different person: the Virgin, Child, or Angel.”

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Three, Post 13


When we were in San Sebastián de Garabandal days later the girls told me that the Virgin had told them that Fr. Luís had seen the Her when he yelled: “Miracle, miracle” in the pines, and he was going to speak more. I witnessed the first of the different dialogues they had until that date with him, and all of the scenes they had in those painful moments on the morning of August 9, 1961. They had a special significance for me in the Providence of God and the love of Mary, who has played a very important role.


The words of Fr. Royo Marín come again, as commented the last words that Fr. Luís pronounced in this world: “This is the happiest day of my life.”


Fr. Royo Marín told us: “Truly the day that we arrive in God’s arms is the happiest of our lives.”


This day was August 9, 1961 and the time was 4:20 in the morning when we returned from San Sebastián de Garabandal.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

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


In Torrelavega we met another Jeep that had gone with people from Aguilar de Campoo, and was stopped. It was the Jeep that had brought us up to San Sebastián de Garabandal. We stopped to see if they needed anything, and José Salceda, who was a mechanic, went down with Fr. Luís and they spoke with them a little.


In this second return trip we spoke for a while and I said: “Father, why don’t you sleep for a little while.” He did this for about an hour, until a little after we arrived at Reinosa. When he awoke he said: “I have had a very deep sleep. I feel very well, I’m not the least bit tired.”


We were all tired because it was already four in the morning. In Reinosa we stopped at a fountain to get a drink.

We continued the trip and after driving for awhile we neared the city and Fr. Luís repeated the sentences that had characterized the conversation we brought: “I am full of words. What a gift the Virgin has given me! How lucky to have a mother like that in heaven! We don’t have to be afraid of the supernatural life. The girls have given us an example of what it is to know the Virgin. I don’t have the least doubt that what the girls say is true. How wonderful that the Virgin has chosen us! Today is the happiest day of my life.”


Upon saying this sentence he stopped talking. I asked him a question, and when he did not respond I asked him again: “Father. Has something happened?” I thought that he had left. He responded: “No, nothing, I’m tired.” He inclined his head and made a slight gesture.

José Salceda turned towards him and when he saw the priest’s eyes said: “The priest is very bad.” My wife took his wrist and when she didn’t find a pulse said: “Stop, he doesn’t have a pulse, and there is a clinic here.” I believed that this was just dizziness and I said: “Don’t worry, Father, it’s nothing, it will pass in a moment.” My wife said: “We are going to bring him to a clinic.” I responded: “Don’t say foolish things.” But she added: “He’s unconscious.”


We had stopped near a clinic, about five or ten meters away from it. We called and a nurse immediately opened the door. When she saw Father she said that he was dead. My wife said that this could not be, and to do something. The nurse gave him an injection.


In the midst of this, José Salceda went to find a priest and a doctor. The doctor arrived within 10 minutes. He was Dr. Vicente González, who could only establish that Fr. Luís was a dead. The parish priest arrived immediately after and administered Extreme Unction.

The comment that has been repeated when we were asked of what Fr. Luís died has been this: “He died of happiness.”


In the fraction of a second when he passed from life to death, a smile remained on his lips. There was no change in his exterior, only a light gesture after he said: “No, nothing, I’m tired.”


Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Three, Post 11


This descent to the church was vertiginous. The Reverend Fr. Royo Marín, O.P., advised those present to run to the Church where the girls were going and said this sentence: “Run to the Church so that you’ll be at the girls’ heels.”


Some of us made the descent from San Sebastián de Garabandal to Cossío walking and others rode in the Jeep. In deference to Fr. Luís, he went down in the Jeep. I observed that he was very happy. My family members who were in the Jeep with Fr. Luís on this trip told me the same thing.


Once in Cossío, we went in different cars and formed an expedition. Although we asked for my sister’s car, Fr. Luís preferred to come with me, since he had gone with me.


My wife Carmen, my daughter Mari Carmen, who was eight years old, and I were in the car. José Salceda and Fr. Luís were in front of us.


During the majority of the trip we commented upon what we had seen that day. Fr. Luís told me that he had spoken with Fr. Royo Marín and that they were in agreement. My wife, José Salceda, and I all observed a profound and intense happiness in Fr. Luís as well as a sense of security. He spoke without hurrying and repeated these sentences many times: “I am so happy! I’m full of things to say. What a gift the Virgin has given me! I don’t have the least doubt that what is happening with the girls is true.”

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Three, Post 9




On August 8, 1961, we met Fr. Royo Marín in San Sebastián de Garabandal. Fr. Luís María Andreu, S.J. came with us also; he had been to San Sebastián three times since July 19th.
Fr. Valentín Marichalar was the parish priest from San Sebastián who gave Fr. Luís the key to the Church and asked him to be the parish priest since he had to go to Torrelavega. I observed that Fr. Luís was very happy when he told me: “Faito, today I’m the pastor of Garabandal,” and he joked with me in this way.

The Mass was celebrated in the church in San Sebastián; the number of people who witnessed it was extraordinary, as were their emotions.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Three, Post 8

Angels:

The Archangel St. Michael was the first apparition. On another occasion the girls saw the Virgin surrounded by other smaller angels. There were five. Then the Virgin told them that the angels had accompanied them because she was the Queen of the Angels.


They Hear Voices: They don’t see people but they hear them. On these occasions they also see light like the sun that is or seems to be, fixed and it absorbs reality. It seems that they had heard a voice that they didn’t know how to identify.


The voice that they hear most frequently is that of Fr. Luís Andreu. They don’t see him, but they hear him.