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

March 4, 1962

San Sebastián de Garabandal

Dear Fr. Andreu,

Now I’m very happy. Since the 18th I’ve seen the Most Holy Virgin almost every day. Yesterday, Saturday, I saw her at four. Now Mr. Emilio wants to bring us to a high school. My father won’t let me go. The Virgin says that if we go, we’ll still see her there. Since my father won’t let me go, I don’t know if I’ll stay here alone. I think the others will go. The Virgin says to obey my parents, and my father won’t let me go, and there is still no sign so that everyone will believe in the Virgin.

I’ll say goodbye only saying that I love you.

Jacinta González

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

8th Diary

August 2nd─3rd, 1961

Summary:

August 2nd. In the Pines. They prayed the Station. Mari Cruz was on the balcony. August 3rd. Ecstatic fall. They said that Conchita would come. They were not on the carpet in the presbytery. They had different ways of announcing their visions.

August 2, 1961

On August 2nd I was absent and I could only use the references, among which I have the bravest from Fr. Valentín’s diary. He transcribed them and made notes.

August 2nd

They went to the Pines at 9 and it lasted until 9:15. They didn’t receive the sacrament.

Note: This sentence “they didn’t receive the sacrament” could have various interpretations. It could mean that they didn’t receive the sacrament from St. Michael’s hands. It could mean that they didn’t receive the sacrament from Fr. Valentín’s hands. Sometimes it happens that they don’t receive the sacrament because of difficulties with Fr. Valentín’s schedule, who was in San Sebastián but had to go to Cosío, where he is the priest as well.

“The Virgin told them that he would come at 1 and Jacinta said: ‘No, at ten, because I have to bring the food,’ and this repeated once or twice.”

Note: To bring the food means to go with the food to the field. Jacinta’s family’s field is four or five kilometers down the road toward the mountain, in the direction of Peña Sagra. It’s a beautiful mountain road and in some places the ground is covered in rock while in others there are beautiful prairies. The winter stables are in the the field, which are constructed of stone that they use to store the hay. It is near Mari Cruz’s family’s winter stable, which is on the other side of the same valley if you follow the road. To bring the food means to go with the food for those who have been working in the field since morning. It’s very possible that on some occasions recorded in notes or diaries, the Virgin appears while they carry the food, or in the road—“I have found this twice”—a bad interpretation of the girls’ words. They don’t say that they “went for food”—only that “they went to bring the food.” The meaning of this is as on December 8, 1961, when at 7:15pm Conchita told the Virgin that she had to go “for dinner,” which means that Conchita would have dinner and then return.

“When she gave a stone Jacinta also said that the Virgin told her: ‘This is for Mr.’ and then added, ‘Juan.’ They told the Virgin that I was there with some stones. They prayed a Station with the Virgin in front of them.”

Note: The manner of waiting corresponds with the fact that the girls had given some small stones to the Vision to kiss for Fr. Valentín.

The fact that the girls pray ed the Station to Jesus in the Sacrament is one that repeats many times from the beginning and is also going to be one of the notes in the message that will be public on October 18th, a recommendation of visits to the Most Holy. They have done this, prayed the Station to the Most Holy, while in a trance and in different locations: in the Church, in the road, in the Pines, etc.

“Mari Cruz was alone on the balcony from 9:50 until 10:10. She prayed a Station, the Creed, and a Salve with the people. Several priests and about 200 people were there.”

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Two, Post 7

In order to complete August 1st we have to appeal to Fr. Valentín’s diary, in which we see the following:

“Mari Cruz was on the balcony, it lasted 20 minutes. She said: “Why? Yes, yes, I don’t know, I don’t know, yes (she laughs). A priest told me to pray for the priests and seminarians (it was true)—I don’t know, etc.” She prayed a Station, a Creed, and a Salve.

This is the reference to the ecstasy that Mari Cruz made, which took place at the same time that Loli and Jacinta were having a vision in the Pines.

The Marquis of Santa María was in San Sebastián de Garabandal that day and he personally referred to me when talking about this vision that Mari Cruz had. He talked to me like this:

“While in the Pines, Loli went up to warn that Mari Cruz was in ecstasy in the balcony of her house. Fr. Juan, the priest, was with her. I arrived there and prayed with the girl. The girl went to pray a Station and I asked; we supposed it would be there with the Vision and not with one of her companions who was in the Pines:

“Should I lead the Station or will you?”

It could be that someone asked this of her companions in the Pines because they had the same vision at approximately the same time, according to those who can prove this because of their watches. The girls in the Pines asked the same question about praying the Station.

The Marquis of Santa María told me this, elaborating on what he had written in his agenda, which said this:

“The girls are in ecstasy in the Pines and the other is on the balcony of her house. The fourth is in Santander.”

The distance from Mari Cruz’s house to the Pines could be half a kilometer.

The reference to “the fourth in Santander,” refers to Conchita, who was in Santander, and did not have a vision there on that day.

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Two, Post 6

7th Diary

August 1, 1961—Third Vision

Summary:

Third vision—they offered medals and stones. They said: “Caracas.” They held the Child. They showed a paper that had the lyrics of the songs to St. Michael. Mari Cruz took the crowns on the balcony.

August 1, 1961

Third Vision:

It took place at 3:45 in the afternoon. In order to give a more complete report of this Vision I’ve transcribed Fr. Luís’ notes and combined them with Fr. Cipriano Abad’s notes as well as those of Fr. Andrés Pardo. I’ve added clarifications and convenient additions to them since I was also a witness of this vision.

“After 2:15 we were together, when we went up to follow the girls. They waited there playing with the public. At 3:44 Jacinta entered the Vision, then Loli after a second.

They showed rosaries, offered them, and gave medals to be kissed. They asked for two kisses. They offered stones to be kissed and said:

“For Victoriano, for Amelia, for Ricardo, for Francisco, for Severiano, this one. This one for that one, for this priest’s brother. This is for the brother. For Ceferino. For Miliuca. For María Jesús.”

Loli crossed her hands in front of her chest. She moved her white fingers erratically.

Note: On this occasion, the white fingers like this came from having her fingers interlaced in her two hands and squeezing. Other times, she held her hands lazily.

J: “Should we pray a station? Loli was in front and I was behind. This one was for the wealthy man and this one (she gave a stone). I don’t know who it is for. Oh! Where? Where is this priest? In the Canary Islands, I was going to say—how, how? This in—I don’t know. You said it. Caracas! (One of the people in the road had said this in a low voice). I know that it was something about the Canary Islands or Caracas.”

Note: This scene impressed everyone present because the allusion was that Fr. Cipriano Abad had come from Caracas and that he was going to return there. This was the exact reference. The girl struggled to remember the name of the city. One of the people present said something to another person in a low voice. All of these words began upon arriving and hearing the girls. However, the girls didn’t catch it and continued struggling to find the name without succeeding. Several seconds passed while a person begged of them: “You say it.” There was a silence in which they were listening, the two at once, while they smiled, pronouncing with extraordinary clarity the word “Caracas.” This impressed the people because they “saw” like the girls “heard” this word from the Vision. At the same time they were accused of hearing it at the same time.

“Her name is Valeriana, but they call her Vale. Severino and Ceferina went to eat and didn’t return.”

“I think I’ll bring a medal.”

J: “Oh! You’ll bring the Child now, will you leave him with me a little? Now, will you leave him with me?” (She gestured to take him and give two kisses). “Do you want him, Loli?” (Loli took him).

Note: When they take the Child, we always observe a gesture of receiving through the movement of the arms upon feeling the weight. First they go down a little and then they rise up a little.

“This is your song, St. Michael. Bring him so that…”

J: “Put the lyrics for you. Like this.”

“Francís wrote it.”

Note: During the time that we were at the Pines, he wrote the lyrics to sing to St. Michael. They showed it to the Virgin. Because of this they said to reverse the lyrics. They all manipulated it without stopping looking at the Vision.

“We were going to put the glasses on. They were the student’s and the priest’s—should we take them off?”

Note: This allusion refers to the sun glasses. One pair belonged to Fr. Andrés Pardo, and the other belonged to Fr. Ramón. They had left them with the illusion that they made them and in the middle of winning the confidence of the girls to obtain a response to the questions that they made.

“They sing to St. Michael. They bless themselves and make the sign of the cross as though they’re seeing who did it. They pray a Station. Loli leads it with the new form of the Hail Mary. Loli gets confused during the second Our Father, when she forgets to say the Gloria. She passes her hand over her eyes. They don’t move. They have prayed six Our Fathers. Then they pray to the Guardian Angel. Then they pray a Salve to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Then they pray a Creed to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. They bless themselves and make the sign of the cross again.

J: “I’m going to take another stone for Fr. Valentín; he told me that the other was very small.”

“Don’t go.”

J: “Loli, give me the crown, Loli. How does it look on me? It’s large on me. Now the Child’s. It won’t go any lower. Loli made a drawing of a Priest.”

Note: These sentences, as in all of them that I cite from dialogues such as this one, are not pronounced one after the other, but have pauses, sometimes very long pauses. The allusion to the drawing of the priest refers to the time that we were in the Pines before this vision and Loli painted a picture on a paper which she said was Fr. Ramón. I saved this picture on the paper that the girl painted. Jacinta alludes to this in her sentence.

Loli’s face seemed to be of stone. They passed hands in front of her face and she didn’t blink. At 4 there was total silence. They looked fixedly. They passed hands again and she didn’t blink. Loli withdrew her hands into her chest. Jacinta had her arms crossed. Loli almost lost her balance. Jacinta and Loli blessed themselves and made the sign of the cross as though seeing who did it.

At 4:04 Jacinta said: “Oh, she left.” The Vision ended.

The document that Fr. Luís combined with Fr. Andrés Pardo’s notes and Fr. Cipriano Abad’s notes ends with these words. Fr. Luís’s, Fr. Andrés Pardo’s, and Fr. Ramón’s notebooks and notes were like this as of August 1st.

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Two, Post 4

6th Diary

August 1st—1st and 2nd Visiones.

Summary:

Schedule. First Vision. Second Vision. The tendency of the priests. She formulates a Hail Mary. We have St. Michael. Does the Virgin pray the Hail Mary? They give medals to be kissed. They give stones to be kissed. To go to the field or to see the Virgin? There is the sensation that time passes quickly. They sing the Hail Mary. The scapular. Black eyebrows and long hair. The student’s stone. You don’t tire of kissing?

August 1, 1961

Combining Fr. Luís María’s notes, Fr. Andrés Pardo’s notes, and my own notes, as well as Fr. Valentín Marichalar’s personal diary, we obtain the following vision from August 1, 1961.

First Vision: Time: 10:44am

Place: the Pines

Seers: Jacinta and Loli

Source: Fr. Valentín Marichalar’s diary

Finished: 11:15am

Second Vision: Time: 12:14pm

Place: the Pines

Seers: Jacinta and Loli

Source: combined document

Finished: 1:10pm

Third Vision: Time: 3:45pm

Place: the Pines

Seers: Jacinta and Loli

Source: combined document

Finished: 4:04pm

According to Fr. Valentín’s diary, Mari Cruz had an ecstasy in the balcony of her house that lasted 20 minutes.

First Vision

According to Fr. Valentín’s diary, the ecstasy began at 10:44am and lasted until 11:15am. I don’t have any references other than the diary. I will cite it, what it refers to.

August 1st

Loli and Jacinta went to the Pines after Mass. They received Communion at Mass and the apparition began at 10:44 and ended at 11:15.

They prayed a Station with the Virgin in front of them. They gave stones to be kissed. It seemed like the Virgin said that they’d given her enough and Jacinta said: “Look, only this one.” She had already given six to be kissed. She put on the crown, gave medals to be kissed, and Loli stayed a few minutes longer. It ended at 11:15.

(This is all I have that makes reference to the Vision).

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Two, Post 3

Vision in the Afternoon

As a result of this dialog that Ceferino, María Dolores’ father, helped us to obtain with the three girls, we stayed until the afternoon. We were passing through different roads for a little while until I arrived and sat down on a rock near Mari Cruz’s house. It was about 8 at night.

Jacinta and Loli were on the balcony for more than an hour—it was a balcony in Loli’s grandmother’s house. A similar thing happened in Mari Cruz’s house, where they found the girl after some time had passed.

Around 8 Fr. Valentín passed next to me and said to me: “Let’s go and ask Mari Cruz if she is going to see the Virgin.”

We entered the house and I recorded the questions and answers in my notebook that day:

P. “Is the Virgin coming?”

“Yes, sir.”

“When?”

“I don’t know.”

“Where is she going to appear?”

“Wherever I am.”

Fr. Valentín commented to me: “If the child says that she will see the Virgin, it is because she will, you can be sure.”

At this, at 8:30pm Fr. Rafael Fontaneda Pérez came to me and said: “Father, the children who are upstairs (Jacinta and Loli) have already had two calls, that’s what a woman who was with them said.”

As he was telling me this, Mari Cruz passed in front of us with her mother on the road where the other girls were within a house. Her mother said: “But, if no one is there,” and she answered: “Yes, the two girls are playing on the balcony.”

At about four meters from the door of the house, they fell to the ground on their knees and went into ecstasy. The vision began like this. I describe it according to Fr. Luís’ narration, who combined his observations with those of Fr. Cipriano Abad and Fr. Andrés Pardo. I will add clarifying notes to the events I witnessed, and also in the first line of this trance.

July 31st. “8:55 in the afternoon. They fell to their knees at three, their vision fixed. Mari Cruz was hurt. They murmured something. Loli had tension in her neck, she murmured words. Mari Cruz laughed. Jacinta, immobile, began to blink. It ended.”

“They offered the rosaries, took out the medals, and offered them. They offered them one by one. Mari Cruz did it insistently. Mari Cruz spoke, but indistinguishably. Tears. Jacinta blessed herself. Mari Cruz swallowed saliva with difficulty. (It seemed to be because she had gum in her mouth when the Vision surprised her). Loli almost fell. Jacinta took great breaths and Loli almost fell.”

M. Cruz—“Yes.”

(Jacinta laughed and kissed. Loli kissed something. Mari Cruz kissed also. Jacinta lifted her hand).

L. “What?”—she said—“Yes, good.”

They blessed themselves. They prayed the Act of Contrition, beating their chests. They prayed the Hail Mary, mumbling it. They said: “Yes.” (laughing).

“Huh?”

“I’m going already (they blessed themselves, first Loli who was in the back and then the others).”

M.C.: “For the glory of the good adventuress, the Virgin Mary.”

“Yes, the Catechism.”

“10 or 11.”

“I don’t know.”

“I don’t know.” (Loli’s eyes were completely filled with tears, then fell to her chin. Jacinta didn’t cry. Mari Cruz recited the Our Father and laughed).

“Ask for a stone.” (They offer crosses and rosaries).

“You kissed the rosary before, now it’s…”

“You have kissed it?” (They offer the rosaries again, Jacinta prays a Hail Mary).

Note: “What happened here, I have witnessed many times. After the girls offer the Virgin something to kiss, I frequently hear the girls say that it’s already been kissed. They say it in conversation with the Vision. The Vision tells the girls this, and then they repeat it like a question, or half-question, half admiration, as if they leave it: “Then, you’ve already kissed it? Oh! This as well? Well, kiss it again.”

J: “Where is Loli? Loli, Loli, are you sick?” [Jacinta puts her arm on Loli’s neck (which is behind her). After, Mari Cruz does this. Loli seems immobile. After putting her arm on the neck, none of these three girls put their gaze back to where they’d had it. They formed a triangle. They talked to Loli. They laughed].

“Did I pray in a hurry before?” (They made the sign of the cross).

J. “Throw it.” (She said this when Mari Cruz put her arm on the shoulder. Mari Cruz laughed. They talked: Loli cried with her face like stone while Jacinta said: “Pity, pity”).

Note: In this trance, Loli stayed for a long time, around 20 minutes, separated from everyone, like two of her companions. Her face was like stone in its immobility and pallor, but it wasn’t rigid, like a statue. The other two, although still in the trance, indicated that they were worried about Loli, who was behind them, where they couldn’t see her. Suddenly, they guessed the oscillations were coming from her body, like any other movement. The impression was Loli that was abstracted and elevated in these long minutes. She followed a more elevated rhythm.

“One.”

“Yes.”

“Oh, what a thing, it gives me pain!”

“Why are you telling us?”

“Why?”

M.C.: “I should throw it away?” (She throws a piece of gum away).

“Why? Eat it, no, I’ve never eaten it.”

J. “Is gum bad? This is why Mari Cruz threw it away.”

Note: All that refers to the gum in this scene had a previous explanation for me when I asked what the Virgin told them. It was like this: in a particular moment during the ecstasy the Virgin told them to throw away their gum. The girls chew gum when someone from the village or one of the people who comes up to the village gives it to them. The reason the Vision asked them to throw away the gum was not because it was bad, but because it might choke them, like on this occasion. When I asked the girls whether the Virgin had told them not to eat anymore gum, they responded no.

“Don’t go, wait a little.”

“Many, four. I don’t know, I don’t remember, but about four (we conjectured that this could refer to the four priests who spoke with Mari Cruz in her house).

“We have to ask forgiveness, yes.”

J. “The priests told me that they were going to America to see if many people would convert.”

Note: This refers to Fr. Cipriano Abad who went to Venezuela, and Fr. Ramón Andreu who was going to go to Nicaragua).

“She has to kiss one.”

“We were in Ceferino’s house the whole afternoon.”

Note: This allusion is to the interview we had in Ceferino’s house, who was Loli’s father. It lasted quite a while.

(They took stones after feeling for them. They offered them to the Virgin).

“See, I found stones.”

M.C.: “It’s large! Look how large it is! (M.C. put the stone in her pocket).

“Should we pray the Litany?”

(Loli tries the crown on. She offers it, then does not move. M.C. prays Hail Marys. They’re illuminated by the lanterns, but remain impassive. They hit their chests).

M.C.: “Nobody, you already know. Well, as it is called without.”

“Oh, of course! Her name is Amalia.” (She waves goodbye).

“It’s just that I like to see them.” (They are immobile for a time).

“Yes, you have to be there a lot.”

“Little one, little one,” (She gives kisses).

“Don’t go yet, wait a little while, just a little while.”

“It seems that you’ve been—but it couldn’t be a lie.”

“You’re—a total of 42.”

“Yes, stay to complete the 42.”

“The Station, a rosary (they tell them). (Loli offers something. The three girls offer it. They bless themselves. Mari Cruz and Jacinta finish having the Vision. It’s 9:27 in the afternoon. Loli continues, and it seems that she is praying with great fervor. The others are not worried about her, they look at her smiling. All of them pray a Station in a loud voice at Mari Cruz’s and Jacinta’s prompting. There were hundreds of people there. Loli didn’t hear, and remained impassive).

L. “Why—I don’t know.”

(9:40pm—Jacinta has another Vision. Mari Cruz leads the Station alone. Loli blesses herself. Mari Cruz is not having a Vision. The village prays the Creed in a loud voice. The girls do not hear it, nor do they accompany the village, except for Mari Cruz, who leads an Our Father to the Guardian Angel after the Creed. Mari Cruz says that the girls have to go to the Church: it seems that she was indicating that they should go alone even though it is difficult when the village wants to accompany them to pray the rosary in the Church. Mari Cruz also indicates that she will wait for the others. Jacinta shows the rosary. Loli makes the sign of the cross. Loli shows a cross. Jacinta raises her hand toward the Vision. Loli offers the rosary and medals; she gives them one by one. Jacinta offers the rosary).

J. “Why? Mari Cruz doesn’t have it?” (Jacinta blesses herself. Kisses. She places her cheeks to be kissed).

J: “Yes, where? Why? No. Yes, yes. Why not? I want you to see (maybe the sentence was: and I think that you laugh). Mari Cruz, why not? I don’t want to.”

Jacinta blesses herself. Jacinta, without seeing Loli who was behind her, puts her arm on her shoulder when Loli looked like she might fall. Loli had an impressive aspect; she seemed like an alabaster statue. Jacinta grabbed Loli and held onto her tightly. Loli cried, and her tears fell, reaching her chin. Loli was shaken from the fall. Jacinta held her again. Loli’s mother sat in front of her and dried the tears on her daughter’s chin. The two girls breathed and Jacinta says: “She fell.” Loli shook again after another fall and Jacinta held her and exclaimed again.

J: “Loli, Loli.” (They talk, but we didn’t understand what they said). “Yes” (she offers the rosary). “Yes, she fell. Loli, is it over already. I’m going to fall. Oh! I’m afraid! Loli, Loli, Loli.”

L: “What?”

J: “Has it left you already? It’s left you already? Loli, Loli, has it passed?” (At 10:03 Jacinta jumps toward Loli. Together, they continue in the same attitude toward the Vision. Loli wavered, almost losing her balance.

J: “You, Loli. Has it passed? (Loli is impassive, she doesn’t blink. At 10:06 Loli breathes).

J: “Loli, come here, didn’t you tell me that it had passed?” (Loli cries, the tears falling to her chin. She breathes deeply).

J: “Why did you give Loli something so bad?” (At 10:08 Loli wavered, almost falling).

J: “Loli, has it passed? Huh? Loli, why are you feeling bad? Did you fall?”

L: “No.” (She stands up).

Note: The shakes, or oscillations that Loli experienced, worried Jacinta. Jacinta, though she was behind Loli and had her back to her friend, came next to Loli a little after she took note of the oscillations. She could put her arm on Loli’s shoulder even though it made her fall forwards. She called Loli several times and asked her if it had passed, looking at the Vision the whole time.

(At 10:10, they attempted to fall. They breathed deeply together three times. Jacinta placed her cheeks, kissed, and they breathed).

“Don’t go.”

In all this time Mari Cruz, who was sitting on the ground when she awoke, was in wonderment at the state of the other two girls. At 10:11, Loli moved her head. At 10:12 her head began to shake, but she controlled the trembling.

”

L: “Already.”

“Don’t go.”

At 10:13 the girls stopped having the vision at the same time. They went toward the Church and they all prayed the Rosary there. The girls led it, making mistakes that were typical of their age. Fr. Luís’ document was used until this point, completed by him with the records of Fr. Cipriano Abad and Fr. Andrés Pardo.

In Fr. Luís’ notebook #2, you’ll find a brief description of the state of the girls after the facts about this vision.

“Loli’s face lit up, and it contrasted with the dark street. Jacinta and Mari Cruz seem normal, but their faces have a lot of color. The people make them sit during the rosary. They say it with pronunciation mistakes typical for their age. At the end of the mysteries they kneel. They begin the Litanies. They join hands. They pray in Castellano, and when they finish the Litanies they cross their arms. They finish the rosary at 10:38.

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Two, Post 2

July 31, 1961

For a description of the different happenings that took place on July 31st, I will use Fr. Luís’ notes, combined with notes from Fr. Cipriano Abad and Fr. Andrés Pardo. I will put these notes together with personal explanations taken from my own notes and my memory.

Responses of the girls:

On July 31st we made time to interrogate the three girls who were in San Sebastián de Garabandal. Conchita was still in Santander. I cite the document:

“We wanted to ask the girls a few questions to clarify some of the things that they’d said. Loli’s father brought the three girls to his house. In one of the rooms, the father was with Fr. Cipriano Abad, Fr. Ramón Andreu. The three girls gave responses to the questions that Fr. Luís Andreu asked them. The responses are the following:

1st: “Did you see the Virgin from the time of the first apparition?”

R: “We had to wait a few days to see the Virgin. We saw the Angel first.”

2nd: “Do you always see the same Virgin?”

R: “The first time it was Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Another time it was Our Lady of Mt. Carmel with a scapular here (they signal with their hands). She wore a thing like this (they made a gesture of a cinched cord that fell almost to her feet). The Child carried the scapular.”

Note: The identity of the Vision that appeared as one Virgin one day and another on a different day was indicated not by a change in the face, but by a change in the clothing she wore. The girls asked the vision before who all of the Virgins were. She responded to the girls that there was only one Virgin, which was her, María. The Virgin and the Child both carried scapulars.

3rd: “Did the Child say the same things as the Virgin?”

R. “The Child did not speak. He laughed. The Virgin kissed us and we kissed her.”

4th: “I heard that sometimes you have seen different angels.”

R. “The Virgin of the Angels also appeared to us.”

5th: “They say that the Virgin changed the secret that she had told the Angel, because she added some things.”

R. “First the Angel spoke of the secret and then the Virgin. But there are two secrets: the Angel’s secret and the Virgin’s secret. We never talk amongst ourselves about the secret because once the people heard us. On October 18th we have to tell the Virgin’s secret. We can tell the Angel’s secret already.” (To an insinuation of what we said to them then, even though it was private, they responded, “On October 18th we will tell the Virgin’s secret and ‘if we want’ we can tell the Angel’s secret as well that day, but only if we want to”).

Note: When October 18th arrived the girls didn’t tell the Angel’s secret. On the next day, October 19th, I asked them if they wanted to tell me the Angel’s secret. The girl I said this to was Conchita, and I said it in the sacristy of the Church. She told me that since the 18th had passed, and she hadn’t told it, she didn’t know if she was allowed to say. She didn’t tell me. The impression that I took away from this encounter, as from others, is that when an infantile reaction is about to occur, there is also a manner of behaving that is like a transmission between the Virgin and the girls, not quite transcendent, nor is there the feeling that the words have been transmitted. This manner of acting gives the girls authenticity.

6th: “When the Virgin appears to you, do you laugh to each other?”

R. “No, we laugh when one is in ecstasy and the other isn’t.”

7th: “Does the Virgin frighten you?”

R. “No. One day we were frightened when we saw a glow and we didn’t see the ground.”

8th: “What is the Virgin’s voice like?”

R. “There isn’t any voice like hers.”

9th: “And the Virgin, how is she when she appears?”

R. “She appears on her feet, on a wreath or in the air. Always standing, like this, near (she makes a gesture).”

10th: “Are there many angels?”

R. “There are five angels, including St. Michael.”

“How do you know?”

“She told us that she was the Virgin (Queen) of the Angels.”

Note: The Queen of the Angels, the Queen of the Rosary, the Virgin of Perpetual Help, etc. These titles correspond to the same person in the minds of the girls, who is the Virgin, María. The Virgin herself explained it like this. When coming with angels, normally she would come with St. Michael. The girls would ask: “Why do you come with angels today?” And the response was like this: “It’s because I am the Queen of the Angels.” Something of an analogy would occur then with the scapular, and with the other titles that the Vision received.

11th: “Do you have to ask for a miracle or a sign from the Virgin.”

R. “She becomes very serious when we ask her for a miracle.”

This dialog that is summarized in eleven questions, didn’t seem like an interrogation, but rather a simple conversation in which they spoke of non-transcendent things, like what games they wanted to play, names of family members, etc. In this way they tried to create a climate of cordiality that made this easier. This was the first time that we’d talked with the girls in such an extensive manner. The questions corresponded with the points of view and problems that we planted in the first impression that we received. The people also tried to confuse them with capricious questions, but they couldn’t. This dialog took place in the afternoon according to what I can remember now.

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Two, Post 1

5th Diary

July 30, and 31, 1961

Summary:

To ask for a test to prove what the girls see or feel. “You come where no one laughs at us.” They marched in ecstasy on their knees. Loli’s father and the pastor were very nervous. The Virgin told them when it was time for the “Gloria.” July 31st: The girls answered about the identity of the Vision, and her voice, etc. They said something about the secret. They stayed where the vision happened when they were in ecstasy and when they left the ecstasy. They gave many titles for the vision. There was a vision in the afternoon. Mari Cruz was certain. The Calls coincided. At 8:55pm the vision began, and they offered it objects and they cried. They recognized a rosary that had already been kissed. “Mercy, mercy.” The crown. The child. It was 9:27pm. The two girls left the vision and Loli followed. It was 9:50pm. Jacinta entered into ecstasy, but Mari Cruz did not. Loli was still, then she cried absentmindedly. Jacinta was worried about Loli. They prayed the rosary in the Church.

July 30, 1961

I ascended for the second time on July 31st, the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, in the company of members of the Fontaneda family and Fr. Andrés Pardo, who was a seminarian at that time. My brother Fr. Luís and I signed at Mari Cruz’s house and we tried to understand what had happened the day before, on July 30th. What I wrote down in my notebook says:

“On the 30th they revealed it in the Church and also in the grandmother’s house.” I find more detail in Fr. Luís’ second notebook. There is a reference made to Loli’s mother: “At 9:30, upon leaving Mass, near the street, next to the school, they revealed it. They had received communion. When they don’t receive communion, St. Michael comes to give it to them. Mari Cruz stopped during the revelation.”

“They asked for a test: ‘Make it rain, make it snow.’ The seer says: ‘It has already rained enough.’ Upon waking they say that they have to go to the Church to pray the Rosary.”

Note: In asking for a test or a sign, things like that it would rain, or that it would become night, it is a reference to the state that the girls are in, where it isn’t night, it doesn’t rain, and it doesn’t get cold. As a result, sometimes we hear them ask as a sign: “Make it like night all of a sudden,” and they say this in the middle of the night. It is light where the girls are.

“Fr. Valentín asked for an explanation and they said that the Virgin and St. Michael were there. Then at five, in her mother’s house she said: “How do you come here without anyone seeing you?” “They come from so far away.”

Note: This “is her mother’s house” refers to Loli’s grandmother, who is the mother of the one who is telling this, that is, Loli’s mother. This whole passage from the 30th^h is below the epigraph, “Loli’s mother says.”

The sentence “how do you come here where nobody sees” corresponds with the general idea that it is better if they see in ecstasy because they believe better there. At the same time, it is supposed that they are victims of a phenomenon that they cannot control. There have been completely private ecstasies. They are surprised by them: Mari Cruz was alone, behind a wardrobe in her house when she went into ecstasy. For her to be surprised like this was a true coincidence. She was standing, and she believed that the ecstasies had taken place on other occasions when no one had witnessed them. At any rate, the girls are extremely reserved in talking about the number of times the ecstasies have happened as well as the topics of conversation during the visions.

“Oh, oh! You’re leaving,” she says, walking back on her knees from the balcony.

Note: I heard the people in the village talk about the 31st. They said that the girls went walking on their knees for a few meters from the bedroom where the Virgin appeared to near the railing of the balcony. The girls felt that the Virgin was drawing them away a little bit. It seems that this was the first time in which the people observed that the girls moved from one place to another while still in ecstasy.

“After this revelation they prayed a Station on the balcony, while still seeing the Virgin.”

Note: The praying of the Station to Jesús in the Sacrament was very frequent from the beginning. There was an agreement about this practice of praying to the Most Holy, which was one of the signs given on October 18^th in the girls’ message: “Visit the Most Holy often.”

“Upon finishing they said that they were going to pray a Rosary in the Church. It was full of people. There were doctors there who took their pulses. Loli’s father was angry, and wanted them to leave her alone.”

Note: It is understandable that the parents of the girls would feel nervous, and the pastor as well. The visions had been going on for almost a month and a half. Up to this moment, no one had spoken with clarity about these occurrences. Spontaneous doctors and others who passed for doctors though they weren’t, came near the girls and pinched and squeezed them, etc. At the end, it was evident that the girls were anesthetized to a degree because of the reactions of their reflexes that we observed. All of these tests, done without control by anonymous people, who disappeared without us knowing anything about them, annoyed the parents of the girls and made them nervous. Also, the journalists had already begun to give reports in various newspapers. They changed the news and distorted some ideas about the religiousness of the father of one of the girls.

“Then the girls went to the Church where they prayed the rosary without counting on their fingers. They didn’t make any mistakes. At night she told me: ‘The Virgin told us when to pray the ‘gloria’ and Jacinta prayed with the Virgin.’”

Note: All that the people have been able to obtain regarding the manner in which the girls pray the rosary with the Virgin is this: Sometimes the Virgin is with one of the girls, and sometimes they pray alone. The Virgin explains the fact that she prays the Hail Mary by telling the girls that she is teaching them how to pray. She told them when it was time for the ‘gloria’ and so they didn’t make any mistakes even though they didn’t count. They did not count the prayers when they prayed in ecstasy. We observed them many times. The observation in Fr. Luís’ 2nd notebook, together with the reference from July 30th, is valid for the 31st; she will see then and also on August 1st.

I took note of the summary of the 30th from a conversation I had on the 31st with Fr. Valentín. What we had said before this proceeds from the conversation we’d had with Loli’s parents. The summary of this conversation with Fr. Valentín is this:

“They were in ecstasy talking next to the school. The three girls were there, Mari Cruz had returned earlier. They asked for a miracle. Mari Cruz, who was in the normal state, laughed when she saw the other girls in ecstasy. The girls who were in ecstasy said: “Why did Mari Cruz leave?” Later, they prayed the rosary in the normal state. Mari Cruz had an ecstasy before this. The priest asked them for an explanation, and they all gave the same response.

That same day, in one of their grandmother’s house they said: “Why have you come here? Oh! How far you’re going,” and the girls left, moving until they reached the balcony.