Saturday, August 30, 2014

Memoirs of a Spanish Country Priest (Chapter XXI)



CHAPTER XXI

The Girls’ Penances
“It is necessary to do much penance…”
(First message of October 18, 1961)
“The Most Holy Virgin wants us always to do penance.”
(Conchita’s Diary)
Here is a chapter which will forever remain incomplete. Who can completely describe all the little girls’ penances? We well know that they were performed, that they were many, but how many? Of what type? Many remain forgotten, hidden to mortal view. God alone knows the number and the details…
I want to relate here the history of a “cilice” (a wire girdle with sharp metallic points to irritate the skin) of which Conchita was the heroine, and of which I was the eyewitness.

This was a part of the story of Garabandal that was totally spontaneous. Conchita, in her love for the Most Holy Virgin, inspired by a desire to follow her counsels, went on to perform this type of penance to the point of blood.
In the summer of 1962, I was passing some time in Garabandal, and I was lodged with Maximina, the aunt and godmother of Conchita.
In the morning I got up and went to the bathroom. Maximina thought that I had left for church and went into my room to clean it. On the night table, I had placed a cilice — made up of metallic points — which is worn around the waist. Maximina had never seen or held in her hand such an object, but she had heard it spoken about. She was somewhat surprised. About the same time, Conchita came to the house of her aunt, who said to her, “Look Conchita, this is what one must do to become a saint…”
I was unaware of all this conversation. I finished washing, returned to my room, and then left to accompany Conchita to the pastures. I used to accompany the girls — one day one, another day another, and the members of their families — to help them as I could, in the gathering of hay.
That day, I had to go with Conchita to a place called “Piedrajita” located about 5 kilometers northeast of Garabandal. Over a small bridge we crossed the Vendul river and began the ascent to the Piedrajita. Conchita carried on her shoulders a wicker basket as the mountain people are accustomed to use in the valley of Pas (province of Santander). She was carrying lunch for all those who worked in the fields that day.
To me it seemed somewhat ungallant to permit a 13-year-old girl to carry 20 to 25 kilos of food and dinnerware, so I asked her to hand me the basket. She was about to give it to me without any discussion, when she laughed and said to me:
— “No, you can hurt your waist…”
At that time I didn’t know the reason for this remark, but Conchita’s words got me thinking. We took some rest on the way, for the pasture was rather far away and the sun was beginning to be felt. I don’t remember any more the exact words of our conversation; but I know that Conchita tried very skillfully during the course of it to lead me to the subject which interested her. Thus she was talking to me about certain priests who performed penance by wearing around their waists types of belts made of iron wire with protruding sharp points, doing this for mortification. She said to me then:
— “You want to carry the basket?”
Gladly I answered affirmatively, but she:
— “No, you will hurt your waist.”
I knew then that she was aware of something and I asked her:
— “Who told you about it? The Angel, the Virgin, or your aunt Maximina?”
Very surprised, she answered, “My aunt Maximina told me.”
Then she recounted to me how she had learned about it, as I have previously described. Then she asked me in a very confidential way to give her the cilice. But I told her that I would bring her a new one on my next trip to Garabandal. She insisted on having the same one that she had seen. On returning to the village, I gave it to her and she was very happy.
On the first trip I made after that to Garabandal, I brought several new cilices with me. My intention was to take back the one Conchita wore, to keep it as a souvenir, but it was not easy to obtain. Conchita showed a very unusual intuition and it turned out to be very difficult to fool her.
I asked her to make an exchange of the new cilice for the one which she was wearing, but she responded that she preferred the former one. Then I made the remark that it was desirable, for reasons of hygiene, that she have a new one. She told me that she cleaned it every day with alcohol…
I was about to admit myself defeated, and I did not know what more to say to achieve my aim, when she decided suddenly to give me the cilice without more problems.
From this cilice, there only remain a few fragments, which I conserve carefully. The remainder has been distributed in France for souvenirs.
I am certain that Mary Loli also used the cilice that I gave her. Jacinta’s mother forbid her to wear one. I did not give any to Mari Cruz since she was younger, smaller, and in less robust health.
I pointed out to Conchita that these penances were not the best, that interior penances were preferable. Nevertheless, she afflicted herself often with this type of mortification in her desire to obey the Most Holy Virgin because She “wants us always to do penance” as Conchita reports in her diary.

Monday, August 25, 2014

Memoirs of a Spanish Country Priest (Chapter XX)


CHAPTER XX


The Most Holy Virgin at Garabandal
This chapter has exceptional importance since it concerns the Most Holy Virgin, the Envoy of Christ in this village specially cherished by God.
I will limit myself to excerpting some quotations from Conchita’s Diary — the manuscript — that relate with marvelous simplicity all that we can know of Our Mother of Heaven at Garabandal.
It was on the first of July, the eve of her first apparition, that Conchita tells us for the first time of the Virgin. That day the Angel said:

“I come to announce to you a visit by the Virgin under the title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, who will appear to you tomorrow, Sunday . . ."
“I will return tomorrow with the Virgin . . ."
The Virgin appeared to us with an Angel on each side.
That day, we talked much with the Virgin and she talked with us. We told her everything. We told her that we walked to the pastures, that we were tanned, that we gathered the hay into stacks.
And she laughed.
We said the rosary while looking at her. And she prayed with us in order to teach us to pray well.
When we had finished the rosary, she said she was leaving.
And we told her to stay a little while, since she had been there only a very short time.
And she laughed, and told us she would return on Monday.
When she left, we were sad.
That is how Sunday, July 2, ended.
A very happy day, because we saw the Virgin for the first time.
For we are always with her, whenever we want to be.
Conchita then gives us an admirable description of the Virgin.

The Virgin comes in a white cloak, a blue mantle, a crown of little golden stars.
The feet are not seen; the hands are open and there is a scapular on the right one: the scapular is brown.
Her hair is long, a dark chestnut brown color, wavy, parted in the middle;
The face somewhat elongated;
The nose also somewhat long, and fine;
The mouth, very beautiful with lips a little full;
The color of her face tan, much lighter than that of the angel, different.
The voice very beautiful, a voice very unusual.
I don’t know how to explain it.
There is no other woman who resembles the Virgin, either in the voice or in anything.
Sometimes she carries the Baby in her arms.
He is very small, like a newborn baby, with a round face the same color as the Virgin’s.
He has a very small mouth, and hair slightly long.
He is dressed in something like a blue tunic.

Conchita recounts with simplicity the apparition of the Virgin and the Child Jesus that took place on the next day, July 3, 1961. The girls played with the Child, but the Virgin did not let them hold Him.
As soon as we arrived at the Cuadro, the Virgin appeared to us with the Child Jesus.
But the angels did not come.
She came with a broad smile, and the Child was smiling too.
And the first thing we said was, “Where is St. Michael and the other Angel?
And she smiled even more.
The people and our parents who were there gave us articles so that we might present them to be kissed.
And she kissed them all.
And since we liked to make up games for the Child Jesus, we picked up pebbles.
And I put them in my braids, Loli put them in her sleeves, and Jacinta gave them to Him.
He did not take them; He only smiled.
----------
And she said many things to us.
But she didn’t allow us to tell these things.
----------
The apparition started at 7:30 and ended at 8 o’clock. Then she said, “Stay in God and in me also.”
That made us sad.
We said, “Adios!”
The last thing she said,
— “Tomorrow you will see me again.”
----------
The 4th of July came . . .
The Virgin was smiling as usual.
And the first thing that she said was,
— “Do you know the meaning of the writing the Angel carried beneath him?”
We spoke out together, “No, we don’t know.”
Then she said to us,
— “It gives a message that I am going to explain to you so that you can tell it to the people on the 18th of October.”
And she told it to us.
----------
On the following day she told us she would explain it later.
Later she explained what the message meant and how we had to say it.
She indicated to us that we had to say it at the door of the church.
And that on October 18th we should tell it to Fr. Valentín, so that he could say it at the Pines at 10:30 at night.
The Virgin told us to do it this way.
On August 17, 1961, something took place which we are going to mention, which shows us the Virgin’s kindness for her four angelic little girls. Conchita wrote:

On the next day and at the same time as the previous day, the Most Holy Virgin appeared to the four of us.
And for several minutes she was smiling very much.
And she didn’t say anything to us.
After a few minutes, darkness came upon us, and we heard a voice call us.
Then Mari Cruz said, “Tell us who you are; if you don’t we will go home.”
While we were hearing the voice, it was very dark.
And we didn’t see the Virgin.
But afterwards she came.
And it became very light.
And she said to us, “Don’t be afraid.”
And she spoke to us for a while.
And that night was the first night that she kissed us, one by one.
And then she left.

In the last part of Chapter VII, I mentioned how the little girls kissed the Virgin tenderly on each cheek at the end of the ecstasies. The Virgin never stopped being a mother in showing signs of maternal affection.
It is in this passage that I just quoted that Conchita mentioned the Virgin’s first kiss to the young girls in ecstasy.
Conchita continues.
The next day, (August 18th) almost at the same hour, the Virgin appeared to us again. The first thing that she told us was to recite the rosary.
Since we had never led it, she told us: “I’m going to lead it and you answer.”
She prayed very slowly.
Coming to the “Salve,” she told us to sing it, and we sang it.
When we finished the rosary she kissed us, and before leaving she said, “I will come back tomorrow.”
The following day, (August 19th), as she had foretold, she came and she told us the same thing as on the previous day, “Recite the rosary.”
And we began the rosary.
And that night we went to the places where the Virgin had appeared to us at the beginning.
And after our ecstasy the people said that we had gone up to the Pines, and that we had gone from pine to pine on our knees, praying.
Conchita then reveals to us an important detail.
Up to then, in all the ecstasies, we have been the four together. Jacinta, Mari Cruz, Mary Loli, and myself.
But then we started to have ecstasies separately, each one in her home.
And so the Most Holy Virgin called us even though we were not together but separated. But we always saw the Most Holy Virgin in ecstasy.
Another sign of maternal tenderness to note:
And during that ecstasy, while we were seeing the Virgin, Mari Cruz, who had seen an apparition earlier, was in bed.
And we told the Virgin that she should tell us a song to sing to Mari Cruz.
We would compose some words, and the Virgin would aid us with others.
The songs were the following:
Get up Mari Cruz!
Here comes the good Virgin
With a basket of flowers
For her little child.
Mari Cruz, Mari Cruz!
How sad you make us.
Pray hard to the Virgin,
So that she will return to you.
Mari Cruz, Mari Cruz!
Do you smell the lilies?
The Virgin has brought them for you,
So that you will be better.

That night the Most Holy Virgin stayed with us from nine in the evening until 7 o’clock in the morning.
That night, we played Los Tios (hide and seek) with the Virgin. Two of us hid and the other two searched.
----------
The Most Holy Virgin commanded the four: Loli, Jacinta, Mari Cruz and myself to recite the rosary at the Cuadro.
We went some days at 6 o’clock in the morning; and some days later.
Jacinta and Mari Cruz went at 7 o’clock in the morning.
Loli did not have an hour fixed.
As Mari Cruz did not get up so early, she decided it was better to go at 8 o’clock.
Jacinta went at 6 o’clock, accompanied by her mother and people from the village who always accompanied us.
During Holy Week, I was ordered to go at 5 o’clock in the morning, which I did, since the Most Holy Virgin wants us always to do penance.
***
It might be mentioned here — to emphasize Conchita’s remarks — that when the children were asked why the Virgin came at such late hours, they answered that the Virgin told them that it was at that time most of the sins of the world were committed and that they should do penance . . . And for them it was a penance, and not the smallest, to stay up until the Virgin came to visit them, late in the night, or very early in the morning. They performed this penance because the Virgin wanted it and also because they wanted to see her again.
They stayed awake then, or else they slept on a chair or stool, leaning against a wall or a table, but out of bed. Unless, of course, their parents had decided otherwise, since the Virgin had told them that they ought to obey their parents above all.
***
From the beginning of the apparitions, the Virgin adapted herself to the children to capture their attention and gain their confidence, achieving her planned purpose that way. A mother does not stop being a mother when she plays with her young children; that is even one of her duties.
Some of the priests and faithful saw reasons in this to deny the supernatural character of the actual happenings.
Afterwards, the Virgin concerned herself with their spiritual life, teaching them the life of grace, and certain virtues, always adapting her instruction to their level of understanding.
***
The Virgin always performed the role of a priest in regard to “extraordinary” instruction when the priest did not perform his ministry or could not perform it. She watched maternally over the spiritual life of her young children.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Memoirs of a Spanish Country Priest (Chapter XIX)


CHAPTER XIX


Levitations
I know of many cases of levitation that took place at Garabandal.
One case was photographed, and its copy on slides has been spread throughout the entire world. It is interesting to note that the photographer noticed the actual phenomenon only after the film was developed.
Another levitation took place at the very small bridge — now gone — which was in front of the church. On that day, the brook that it crossed was full. The four girls, in ecstasy, were holding arms. The bridge was not wide enough to permit the passage of the four girls abreast, which is what they did nevertheless; one or two of them consequently had to pass outside of the bridge on the water, without, however getting their feet wet.
Another time I was in Conchita’s kitchen, with 2 priests, a young Mexican, the well known commander of the Civil Police at Puentenansa, Dr. Celestino Ortiz from Santander, and Aniceta.
In ecstasy, Conchita had an obvious levitation, properly observed. She was stretched out on the ground, her whole length, her arms a little extended from her body, the palms of her hands pointing upwards.
We saw her rise up to the height of about ten centimeters (4 inches) while holding the same stretched-out position. After that she made three movements of balancing, from front to back and from back to front, as if to show us that she was really separated from the ground.
After a minute and a half — we checked the time — she started to descend very slowly, her body always completely and modestly stretched out until she came down to the ground.
We all signed a report of this extraordinary fact and we gave it to Father Valentín for him to send it to the Bishop of Santander.

Monday, August 18, 2014

THE NEAR FUTURE

WHAT IS GARABANDAL? |

Originally posted on Emmanuel Hermitage:

“God does nothing without telling his servants, the Prophets”                                                     (Amos 3:7)

As a hermit living in the margins, I
don’t follow the mainstream media but I’m attentive to the signs of the
times and to the whisperings of the Spirit who speaks to today’s
prophets. 




Below there is a video interview to one of these contemporary
Prophets, a Polish priest, Father Adam Skwarczynski, a member of the
Marian Movement of Priests. He is interviewed by Father Artur Migas, a
priests serving in Barcelona, Spain, at the Parroquia-Basílica de la
Purísima Concepción y de la Asunción de Nuestra Señora.



Fr. Adam as a child saw his own future life against the backdrop of
the future of the world. In this interview he explains what he saw
concerning…


View original 82 more words

Saturday, August 16, 2014

HOUSE OF SANCTIFICATION FOR RETREATS IN GARABANDAL UPDATE

Dear Readers,
I am writing today, having finished a whole week Home Alone, with one more day to go.  During my Home Alone week, I have learned some unique ways of dealing with kitchen affairs.  I don't think I'll tell them to Kathy, though. 


Concerning the Garabandal items:
1.   Those of you who participated in the building of the House of Sanctification Retreat House in Garabandal back in 1999 and 2000 by giving donations for that project and also were issued a letter from our Center for the Divine Will that explicitly stated that you are on the eligible list for a place to stay at the House of Sanctification on the day of the great Miracle that will happen at 8:30 PM on a Thursday in one of the months of March, April, or May between the days of the 8th and 16th of the month, please locate that letter you received back in the years 1999 or 2000 and contact me by email. Please do not call.   My email is tomfahy@comcast.net.
2.    Those of you who have ordered from us the book,"Suddenly and Unexpectedly—the End of our Times," please contact me by email; there are some emendations that would be good for you to know. Please do not call. Send an email.
3.    A new Van for the House of Sanctification has become necessary. Back in 2002, we bought a small Mitsubishi sedan for the House of Sanctifcation in Garabandal, and we have used it practically everyday when someone on our staff was present in Garabandal. Ann Ellison was there 8 months out of the year from 2000 to 2007. Since 2008, Ann and other members have been there during several weeks in the spring of each year. The Mitsubishi sedan has been used not only for daily practical purposes, but for going back and forth to the airport in Santander and Bilbao to pick up visitors as well as making many short runs back and forth to the church for visitors when it is raining, etc.
This past spring, it came to the realization that our small, aging Mitsubishi sedan would no longer be sufficient. We felt that a newer and larger vehicle is now necessary as we approach the time period of the Great Miracle and afterwards, when many people from all parts of the world will be coming and coming and coming.
This last March two of our staff, on the Eve of the Feast of the Annunciation, went to look for a van. We prayed to Our Lady to lead us to the right place. We got some directions in a large city from a local resident and tried to follow the verbal directions as best we could. Suddenly we saw a car dealer's sign. When we drove into the dealer's location, we immediately saw a new, white van in a special location in front of the dealer's place.  We got out to look at it. It was a FIAT! It had a blue interior. So on the Eve of the Feast of Our Lady's Annunciation and her Fiat to God, we are looking at a White FIAT with a Blue interior.  But there was a big problem: The price!  Yes, it was a roomy vehicle with lots of luggage space for visitors, but the price was 28,860 Euros or $39,940 (exchange rate at that time).
Well, I knew that was too much money. So we talked to one of the salesman about other options. He tried to get us to choose from, some nice, roomy cars, but they didn't seem to fit our needs. So, we went looking for used vans, but nothing worked out. We went home and waited and prayed on The Feast of the Annunciation. That night, I got the inspiration to offer 25,000 Euros, hoping that the tentative promises of some relatives of one of our staff members would come through to to help us buy a bigger and better vehicle than the old Mitsubishi, when we got Spain this past spring.
I went back to the big city dealer alone, on the day after the Feast of the Annunciation. I asked the salesman if he could get us a good deal on the FIAT van. He went to talk to his boss, and I waited a good long time.  Finally, he came back and took me to his desk, looked at me straight in the eye, and said, "Today and today only, we can let you have that van for 22,000 Euros." Keeping a poker face, and a happy soul, I shook his hand!  We got the new, White FIAT with the Blue interior and lots of space for passengers and baggage. 22,000 Euros = $30,140 (exchange rate at that time). We have it parked in a nice, safe garage outside of Garabandal.
Back home last May, we got in touch with one of the relatives of one of our staff members about the tentative promise to help pay for a new van. We learned that the most we would receive from those relatives would be $10,000. We are very grateful. Now, we will only need $20,140 to pay for the new van.
It has been very hard for the Center for the Divine Will to break even each year due to the moratorium on new printings or reprintings of Luisa's writings, while the Church works on the official edition.
Therefore, we could use some assisting donations to help pay for the new van and also our annual real estate taxes and insurance for the House of Sanctification. Persons can send donations to Center for the Divine Will - P.O. Box 340 - Jacksboro, TN  37757 or call Kathy at 423-566-5178. Please give this your consideration. Thank you.
____________
Concerning the next Pearl of the New and Divine Holiness, I should be able to send it out tomorrow.
God bless you all and Fiat Semper,
Thomas Fahy

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Memoirs of a Spanish Country Priest (Chapter XVIII)


CHAPTER XVIII

Feigned Ecstasies
It appears to me that what might be called the “faked ecstasies” deserves a special chapter.
Conchita mentions these ‘ecstasies’ in her diary and it is good to cite extensively what she wrote:
At times the three of us wanted to be together. As our parents didn’t allow us to be out of the house at night, sometimes when we went outside after the rosary — having already had two calls — we looked upwards as if we were seeing the Virgin.
And so we went together down the street with our parents and the people. And later, the Virgin came and we were together. We always ended up seeing the Virgin.
We never faked the entire ecstasy.

We are coming to a definite fact that I would like to point out.
We are in 1961 when I think no one would have suspected such actions. One day, I remember it well, I was in a state of consternation. I had the impression that Jacinta and Loli had pretended to be in ecstasy — during a part at least — although during the day the other ecstasies had been real.
Here is how I became aware of this. While the children were running very fast, a youth with a good sense of humor, through his jokes was making everyone laugh, including the visionaries!
I noticed another unusual thing. He and I sometimes were talking in a loud voice. If he said, “They should turn to the right.” And I advised them to turn to the left, the girls would always listen to my advice. My companion was amazed. He could not have been aware of how I was hurt by what I was observing. He even said to me, “How did you guess that?” I wanted to say to him, “If you would pay more attention, you would understand.” But I kept quiet, waiting for the right time to come.
It did not take long.
This “ecstasy” finished, the two visionaries and I were at Mari Cruz’ home.
She was sitting on her bed with a cold. Her mother Pilar was at the foot of the bed. Loli and Jacinta were sitting on the bed; Jacinta on my left, Loli on my right. Taking a place in front of them and looking into their eyes, when they least expected it, I told them point blank:
— “Today you faked the last ecstasy!”
Instantly becoming red as a beet, hiding her face in her hands, her elbows on her knees, Loli exclaimed:
— “Oh! What a thing!”
Jacinta started crying:
— “I’m going to tell my mama that you don’t believe that we are seeing the Virgin.”
“It isn’t that,” I said to them. “Yes, I believe that you are seeing the Virgin; but right now you have pretended to be in ecstasy . . . Because of your age, that doesn’t have too much importance, since you aren’t aware of the harm that you can cause.
“But suppose that some day a theologian or an important doctor would come here to study the events. And if he would see you — as I have just seen you — pretending an ecstasy, and if he could not come to see you later, no one could affirm that there were real ecstasies here, for a person could not be convinced of the opposite of what he would have seen with his eyes!
“I could have been fooled today, but I don’t think so. I know this time you have been faking. And it is not necessary to be a fox to recognize it.”
Mari Cruz’ mother also scolded them for their conduct and quickly left her daughter’s room.
Three months later I was with Loli and I knew that during the interval one could sometimes still recognize one or another simulation.
— “Then, Loli, have you been faking with Jacinta?”
— “Do you know what Jacinta said when you left Mari Cruz’ house?”
— “No.”
— “What a rascal! How he caught us!”
***
I mentioned at the start of the chapter that Conchita informed us about the faked ecstasies in her diary.
She gave me other reasons or explanations on this subject; here are some of them:
— “During one of the pretended ecstasies, God punished me. While coming down from the Pines, I had a terrible fall. I thought I was going to die of pain. I don’t think I could have suffered more by dying. I hid the pain and no one noticed it. After that fall the Virgin came for real. I was really fallen into ecstasy.”
— “Father, we only pretended an ecstasy before persons we knew and residents of the village.”
— “We only did it if we knew for certain that the Virgin was going to come later.”
— “We only did it a half hour before the apparition. The Virgin would punish us by coming later than the hour set, and she would always reproach us severely for our conduct.”
— “She knew that if we sometimes pretended, it was because of the irresistible desire we had for the joy of seeing her.”

Monday, August 11, 2014

Memoirs of a Spanish Country Priest (Chapter XVII)


CHAPTER XVII
Returning the Kissed Articles
The girls frequently returned rosaries, medals and chains, crucifixes, holy cards, etc. to their owners during the ecstasies. They also put wedding rings on married people, on the proper finger.
One day, I left a white metal crucifix on the little table where Loli had placed the articles to give to the Virgin. Since she was not able to observe this, she searched all day to find the owner. On this subject, she questioned one of my friends from Cataluña, who could not answer her since she had not seen me either.
That evening, I was sitting in Conchita’s kitchen. Once again, Loli came in ecstasy, accompanied by her father and other visitors. She knelt down on the floor and held out her crucifix to kiss. She came toward me and she did the same, using the crucifix that she held in her hand. She remained in front of me, trying to give me something else.
Because of my poor vision and being more attentive to her face than her hands, I didn’t notice her intention.
“Father,” Ceferino said to me then, “She’s giving you another crucifix.”
It was the metal crucifix that I left in her home that morning without being seen by anyone. The young woman from Cataluña, astonished likewise, cried out in speaking to Loli, as if the girl could hear her:
— “Oh, see then to whom the cross belongs that has concerned her so much all day!”
That was one of the most moving moments of my life.

Friday, August 8, 2014

Memoirs of a Spanish Country Priest (Chapter XVI)


CHAPTER XVI


The Priests and the Visionaries

I have noticed and can testify that the girls had a great respect and actual admiration for the priesthood.
Generally, when they were in ecstasy in the houses, they knelt in front of the priests in order to hold the holy crucifix to their lips.
Sometimes they carried this politeness even further.
It was on July 3, 1962 . . .
After the recitation of the rosary, the four young girls were together in ecstasy. We went up to the Pines and made some walks around them. This was done in total darkness, by flashlight. Now I have poor vision. At the time of coming back down again to the village, I stayed behind the last person in order to walk undisturbed, clinging to the stones and high bushes. I was not concerned that the girls and their numerous following were getting far away from me. Certainly I would not be the first one down, but I knew that I would finish by actually arriving there.
Abruptly, the entire procession stopped, permitting me to rejoin it. Then it started up again, going away from me again. It stopped. I came up to it a second time. Soon the procedure began again and there was a third stop.
As I was rejoining the group, I saw people coming toward me. Thinking that the four visionaries were going up again to the Pines, I stepped aside to let them pass.
Not at all. The visionaries were coming to find me . . .
— “Father,” Ceferino said to me then, “They want you to kiss the crucifix.”
I heard a woman who confirmed this, since she had heard these things well:
— “Oh, the girls are waiting for a priest . . . ”
The girls never failed to show an attitude of respect, reverence, politeness, and preference for the priesthood.
***
Even more, one or another priest was at times heard by the girls during an ecstasy.
Ordinarily, in similar cases, the girls did not speak with persons around them. The girls did not hear the people speaking to them. They only heard their companions and only spoke with them, even if these were not in ecstasy. The latter were given the task of speaking to the girls in ecstasy if that was necessary or useful to the spectators.
Nevertheless, on several occasions, the girls responded directly to the questions and thoughts of Father Valentín. And this happened once to me.
It was in Conchita’s kitchen, on the day of the episode with Loli’s crucifix. Loli in ecstasy in the kitchen, went to the window to present the cross to be kissed. As she passed in front of me, I said to her,
— “And not to me?”
Lightening struck. Since she could not have appeared more amazed. She turned around swiftly, laughed loudly, And answered my request.
***
The visionaries obeyed the priests willingly and directly. Better than that, while smiling.
I was at Jacinta’s house. Loli and her sister, Amaliuca, had returned an envelope to me containing 2 postcards that I did not have the time to look at. I knew only that they had been dedicated and I intended to have them kissed by the Virgin . . . to have a relic.
Mari Cruz was at my side in the normal state. I used the opportunity to send her to meet Jacinta, who was in the village in ecstasy;
— “Tell her that she should come home to present my holy cards for the Virgin’s kiss.”
Jacinta did not wait. She came into the kitchen, fell on her knees, made her way toward me, still on her knees. She gave me her crucifix to kiss. She got up, took one of the two cards in her hand, raised it up high, as the visionaries had the custom of doing when they held some object to the Virgin’s lips. I saw her drop her arm. She raised it up again, dropped it down again, and for a third time made the same gesture.
— “She doesn’t kiss this one,” she whispered.
She offered the second and the Virgin kissed it.
Surprised by this, I finally looked at the two cards and understood immediately. The first, (this may have belonged to Loli’s sister Amaliuca) was not religious, while the other one was a picture of St. Pascal Baylon. I gave these two cards to Father Morelos, a Mexican priest, so that he would have the joy of possessing at least a souvenir from the Virgin of Garabandal.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Memoirs of a Spanish Country Priest (Chapter XV)


CHAPTER XV
Hierognosis
Several episodes of hierognosis (unexplainable recognition of religious relics or persons) happened in front of me at Garabandal. Without question, the visionaries recognized persons consecrated to God. They also knew the number of priests present in the village.
In her diary, Conchita points out a Dominican who was there incognito. During her ecstasy, she spoke of him and they heard her call him “dominicou.” Later she warned him on behalf of the Virgin that he should wear his habit . . . “So beautiful!”
***
Also, the girls recognized whether an object had or had not been kissed by the Virgin. While in ecstasy, always. A hundred proofs of this could be given. I can personally verify that, even in the normal state, Conchita knew this.
An example:
— “Conchita, during the next apparition, would you offer this rosary for the Virgin’s kiss?”
— “But it’s already been done.”
Since I was sure that she had never seen it, I insisted.
— “Be nice, do me a favor. Offer it during the apparition.”
— “But why do you want her to redo it, since it has already been done?” she answered smiling.
In my opinion, the kissed objects emanated perfume that could be perceived at times.
***
Later, many other people were equally favored by perfume from the kissed objects.
In 1961, before it was talked about, I noticed a strong, unrecognized fragrance when entering my room at Barro. At the same time, without knowing why, thinking about Garabandal, I looked around my room, sniffing here and there to discover the source of this perfume, so unexpected in my house. For years, I was never able to perceive it again.
But I found it a second time in Garabandal, at Loli’s house. With this difference: at the village I noticed it for a long minute; while at my house it only lasted a second.
It was June 18, 1965, the day of the Angel’s message to Conchita. I was speaking to Loli at the door of her kitchen. An old man came up to us. Having poor vision, looking against the sunlight, I took him for a beggar and I was getting ready to give him an alms.
He started to speak softly in French and I understood he was looking for Father Laffineur, who had just passed by. While speaking, he took from a plastic case holy cards, which must have been those that Conchita had dedicated for him. He took them out slowly and as he did, I smelled my perfume from 1961, which I have never again perceived since the 18th of June, 1965.
When the good Frenchman left, I questioned Loli:
— “Did you smell something, too?”
— “No, Father, nothing.”
— “Look, don’t deny it, since that fragrance was very characteristic.”
Loli repeated with a smile that she had not sensed anything.
Publishers note:
Sister Lucy said St Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, was present at the last public apparition at Fatima. It would be fitting for St. Joseph to be present mysteriously at the last public apparition at Garabandal.