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

"They cut her hair"

Narration of Mr. Jerónimo Díez Serrano

Mr. Jerónimo Díez Serrano, 38 years old, from Cabezón de Liébana, a province of Santander, said the following:

“I heard a little. I was in the Pines. I saw that one man put a microphone up to the girls. Some people said not to go near so they wouldn’t be bothered. There were two girls.”

“When the girls finished speaking, they told the man that they heard some gossip and that the two girls laughed when they heard the things they had talked about with the Virgin. One said to the other: ‘You said it, etc.’ And then they began to say that they had seen her with a blue mantle and a crown and with the Child. They said the same thing to each other.

“A spectator said: ‘Have you seen the angel with a sword?’ The girls said: ‘No, this is a lie, we haven’t seen any sword.’ At that moment the Virgin called the girls again and took them with the microphone still in hand. A spectator said: ‘Take it from her!’ They tried but they couldn’t do it.”

“They stayed with their backs to the Pines, and they said to one another: ‘You say to speak,’ they said it many times until it ended.”

“And it was then that they played the tape and I heard the conversation and heard some words that they said: ‘Conchita has come, and she’s ugly!’ They cut her hair, and her skin was dark, she’d been to the beach, etc.”

“In these moments I separated a little and then returned and they were still talking on the tape. It arrived at the end when she said: ‘No, I won’t speak.’ The voice was smooth. To me, it seemed to be a woman’s voice, refined, and it made me wonder to hear the girls say to one another: ‘Oh! We have spoken to the Virgin.’ This is what made me wonder the most.”

“What voice left when the tape ended.”

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

Padre Valentin and the four seers.

Narration of Mr. Guadencio Cepeda Palacios

Mr. Guadencio Cepeda Palacios, 33 years old, is from Torquemada, a province of Palencia, etc. He dictated the following:

“In the Pines, the girls said that they’d seen the Virgin. The man that carried the recorder gave the girls the microphone and when he surprised them, they were sitting with their backs to the Pines, with their heads raised.

The girls continued holding the microphone in their hands and they asked the Virgin to speak so that those present would believe, or if she didn’t want to speak, that she’d let the Child speak. This thing happened to the girls.

Then we rewinded the recording to hear the girls’ whole conversation.

We were listening, and the whole conversation continued. When the tape ended, and only the red of the tape was visible, the part that did not have any recording on it, we heard a melodic voice; it was smooth, refined, and it seemed to be the voice of a woman of about 40 or 45 years, but it was a sweet voice that said only: “No, I won’t speak.”

“She pronounced the syllable ‘no’ twice. When this happened the girls got up, saying that it was the Virgin’s voice. Everyone was impressed, and stood up, then fell on their knees. I had goose bumps.”

“We listened to the tape again to verify that we had heard these words, but we did not hear them again.”

Fr. Ramon Andreu's Notes: Part Two, Post 10

9th Diary

August 4, 1961

Summary:

August 4—The recorder.

Various testimonies.

Reconstruction of the facts.

Appendix.

August 4th

The facts that belong to this day, August 4th, are taken from references given by Fr. Valentín that I added to some testimonies. It is the diary.

August 4, 1961

(It was Jacinta and María Dolores).

It lasted 33 minutes. When they arrived they fell into ecstasy and began to show rosaries and medals.

Note: All of the description that he makes in his diary and that corresponds to August 4th, it seems refers to the testimonies that I have in relation to the scene with the recorder. According to the idea that I formed on the date on which this happened, it was August 5th. Upon seeing what Fr. Valentín records in his diary for August 4th, I asked casually what I found one day. He responded to me that he could be mistaken regarding the facts that happened on the day before. This could be a mistake in reference to the date, but it wasn’t a mistake with regard to the facts.

Since right now I don’t have the elements needed to obtain absolute certainty about the exact date and whether it was Friday the 4th or Saturday the 5th, it is more interesting to pass on the facts only.

Supposing that the day of the megaphone seems to be the day that Loli and Jacinta went up to the Pines, where they fell into ecstasy and proceeded in their usual way, giving medals and rosaries to be kissed. It was like this that they mimicked receiving the crown and kissing the Child.

“They acted like they were going to wear the crown and kiss the Child. Then they fell on their knees backwards, first Jacinta and then María Dolores. After 30 minutes they knelt again. Jacinta told the Virgin about Conchita:

“She already came and they cut her braids and she’s very beautiful like you; she’s dark because she went to the beach.”

Note: During the few days that Conchita was in Santander they cut her braids. This fact serves to localize the time or period that corresponds with some photographs. There is an incident of a card in the beauty shop where they cut Conchita’s braids. Since I don’t have sufficient facts to reconstruct it, I prefer to indicate only what I can make clear about the existence of this fact for someone who wants to be informed about it.

The Recorder

“After 24 minutes María Dolores returned to the normal state and looked at Jacinta, laughing, and suddenly fell into ecstasy and put on the Child’s crown. After 30 minutes the ecstasy left her. There was a man, the Director of an Insane Asylum in Salamanca, who had a recorder and he questioned them, asking what they had seen and they answered that they’d seen Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and the Angel. While standing like that, talking into the microphone, they fell into ecstasy again and María Dolores showed the microphone, holding it as high as she could and said: “Go on, talk so the people will believe.” And she asked: “Why not? Talk, go on, yes, talk.”

Note: This scene of the recorder was written in the first phase by Fr. Valentín. He is not an eyewitness but he wrote this fact down; it was told to him by those who had seen it. As a result, in order to clarify these things better or to verify them, I’m going to transcribe the testimonies of seven witnesses:

To be continued . . .

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

August 3rd

I’m taking the report of this day from Fr. Valentín Marichalar’s diary. I’ve added some clarifications. I was in Valladolid where the Religious Adoration Exercises were taking place and I received a telephone call from my brother Fr. Luís, informing me of an event that had occurred for the first time: the ecstatic fall. Fr. Valentín’s diary explains it like this:

“At 1:07 Jacinta and Loli went up to the Pines. They began to pray a Station with the Virgin in front of them. They gave rosaries to be kissed. They tried on the crowns, gave kisses, and gave the rosaries to be kissed. They kissed St. Michael. “Return soon—at what time? When you call us?” It ended at 1:17.

“In the afternoon it began at 9:05. They prayed the Rosary, and at the first Our Father they fell into ecstasy and stayed like that for awhile, saying things that we didn’t understand. “Oh, come on!”—They sang to St. Michael.

“Today a strange thing happened. The girls fell backwards; Jacinta held onto her mother and Loli held onto the General Director of Security. They were like this for 10 minutes, and when they left the ecstasy they asked who had fallen. It ended at 9:40.

Note: This is the first moment in which the fall appears. The oscillations preceded it by days. Initially, the attitude of the girls was calmer. Little by little—as the days passed—the oscillations began. On this day, August 3rd, the ecstatic fall took place. The girls were unaware of their fall and position.

At this time I observed the same thing I’d observed before during the different falls and walks I’ve seen. Their posture was never incorrect nor was it immoral. It was just the opposite: on all occasions there was an extraordinary beauty and detail. Their skirts always fell in a correct position. Sometimes their parents, or the girls themselves, would pull their skirts down, but it was almost always an unnecessary precaution.

What is said about these falls can be extended to include the marches and the different meanings, which I will indicate in each case.

“They say that they have to go to pray in the Church. During the first Our Father they fall backwards on the wooden flooring of the Church. They were on their knees on the first level of the altar. They were like this for about 12 minutes, questioned by Conchita.

“Oh, she’s in her house.” (She had arrived then).

Note: In the notes written in my notebook, I have this sentence that was transmitted to me by telephone: “The day that Conchita arrived, they said during the Vision: ‘Oh, good, Conchita is coming’—By the time the Vision had ended, Conchita had arrived.

This sentence is in my notes and has an autonomous origin that agrees with the reference made by Fr. Valentín in his diary. Since I can’t take more notes from the sentences that the girls said in ecstasy, it seems that the two pieces of news refer to the same theme even though the telephone record is at the beginning and Fr. Valentín’s diary is at the end. Fr. Valentín already indicated in his diary: “They remained like this (fallen on the floorboards) for 12 minutes, questioned by Conchita.” The paragraph ends like this. In the beginning of the next one it says: “Oh, she’s in her house,” etc.

In this posture it seems that they woke up, according to the inference made in Fr. Valentín’s diary. They correspond to these two sentences like this: “Then they had arrived” and “They were arriving.”

Comments from before this had confirmed for me the impressions of those present in this moment of ecstasy, during which the girls commented on Conchita’s arrival in the minutes during which she was arriving.

“Oh, she’s in her house” (she had arrived then), after they finished saying that they had fallen. Jacinta had a small bruise on her arm.” (Elbow).

Note: Again, this lack of realization with regard to the fall. This small bruise on her arm or elbow could have come from an ecstatic fall, but it could also have come from another blow that she had received in the normal state. I make this clarification because I have seen them give enormous blows while in a trance without having a single mark. I will make mention of this another time. “After they prayed the rosary.”

Note: This rosary was prayed by the girls in the normal state and as a result Fr. Valentín could talk to them. When the girls were in a trance, they were isolated from other people in the sense that they could not establish contact with others. The only possibility that existed in this case was that the other seers who were not in ecstasy could communicate with those seeing the vision mentally, but not orally.

“I ordered them to pray as they always did on the carpet. The girls laughed and then I asked them why they were not on the carpet and they told me that the Virgin had told them that that place was Fr. Valentín’s, and that they should be on either side of him.”

Note: This carpet is one that is in the presbytery, in front of the altar, and it is not very large. When Fr. Valentín told them to go on the carpet, it was to help them stay warm in spite of the cold floor of stone and tile.

“Mari Cruz didn’t go to Mass and in the afternoon she didn’t see anything; it is the first time that this has happened. This occurred even though the night before she said that she would have one. Today Conchita comes from Santander.”

Note: It isn’t clear what is referred to with the sentence: “It’s the first time that this has happened.” It could refer to that Mari Cruz did not go to Mass, or that she didn’t see anything, or the connection between not going to Mass and not seeing anything, or it could also refer to that she’d said the night before that she’d have an apparition but didn’t have one. The hypothesis that she had an ecstasy in secret, without anyone knowing, also fits, since sometimes the girls were surprised by ecstasies when they were completely alone, and when this happened they didn’t say anything. I remember that this very thing happened to Mari Cruz. A family member surprised her when she was in a trance, completely alone in a room. She didn’t say anything about it.

Sometimes the girls’ family members and those near to them worried when they heard an announcement about the next Vision. When the girls said: “We’re going to see the Virgin today,” or also, “Tomorrow we’re going to see the Virgin,” they didn’t always have the same value. Sometimes they said it because the Virgin had said goodbye saying, “Until tomorrow,” or “until later.” Other times it was because they were accustomed to seeing her daily, so they supposed they would see her. Other times it was because they’d had the first “call.” It seldom happened that the girls had the persuasion that they were going to see the Virgin. It was seldom that they stopped seeing her after they’d had the first call. It never failed when the Virgin told them as a sure thing that she would come, but sometimes she said it as though it was probable, saying: “I’ll probably come.”

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.