You haven't heard? . . . What they saw? . , . Yes, that's what they said; but you'll have to find out for yourself! , . . Anyhow, something strange must have happened to the children because . . . What happened? . . . I am going to ask Maria and Aniceta ...

Reprinted with kind permission from St. Joseph Publications from the book She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Book 1) NOTE: All excerpts from Conchita's Diary will be in extra-bold type

    When we got up, the people had begun to talk:
    —Those four girls saw something, since they came down with such expressions!
    —it could have been one of those big birds, since it was dark . . .
    —Or perhaps some little boy surprised them while they . . .
    —Or they were dreaming ...
    —Well, everyone had his own idea about the thing.
    It was a day in which they talked about nothing else.

    Not surprising! Nothing like it had ever happened at San Sebastian de Garabandal. While the people there were used to thinking about God, they never would have thought that they would come in contact with Him beyond His mysterious veil — on a streetcorner! Every Sunday, while reciting the Credo at Mass, they alleged their belief in an all powerful God Who had created not only the world of visible things, but also another world of invisible ones. But how could anyone expect something that had never happened before to happen suddenly now? How could they comprehend that four children of their village were able to view the light of His invisible world?

    If what the girls said were true, it could have the most unexpected consequences for everyone . . .

    They asked us to describe what we had seen.
    And very happy with the beautiful figure, we were glad to tell them, since there were some people who doubted that it was true.
    We told how he was, how he was dressed, very brilliant...
    Most of the people laughed at us; but it was all the same to us because we knew it was true.

    As the young girl described, the conversations were animated in the early hours of the morning. And the girls could hear the people talking as they walked to school [The schoolhouse is not in the center of the village, but on the perimeter near the church.] where the doors opened at 10 o'clock.

    When we arrived at the school, the schoolmistress asked us, My children are you certain about the things you said yesterday?
    We answered together: Yes, Senora. We saw an Angel!
    The other children from the school who surrounded us were amazed at what we were saying.

    I can imagine that there was great excitement among the other young girls accustomed to the monotony of their day to day life. Who would not envy their four schoolmates? Oh, if they could be part of such a thrilling thing too!

    It is doubtful that there was much studying done on that morning in the young girls' school at Garabandal. However, Conchita writes, We acted the same as always, undisturbed. If tranquillity resulted in them from the apparition, it should be recognized that this is a sign it had a good origin. Neither the devil, nor neuroses, nor hallucinations leave peace. 

Fr. Valentin with visionaries

    When we left school (a little before the dinner hour), each one went to his own home.
    Jacinta and Mari Cruz went together and met the parish priest, Father Valentin Marichalar. [Father Valentin resided in Cossio where he was the parish priest, but he had to go up to San Sebastian frequently since he was also in charge of that parish.]
    —Very alarmed, he said to them: Look here, look here! Is it true that you saw an angel?
    —They answered together: Yes Father, it's true.
    —Perhaps . . . Perhaps you may be mistaken.
    —Smiling they said to him: No. Don't be afraid that we saw an Angel. [Although Father Valentin did not hold the same feelings as the old Israelites for whom it was impossible to see an angel of Yahveh, and not die, he certainly could not exclude the possibility of an angel's supernatural intervention in the village. What consequences that could cause!]
    Then they went toward their homes.
    The parish priest walked around to see where he could find me.
    Finding me near my home [Conchita's house was at the extreme end of the village, directly opposite the church and school, with a view upwards towards the Pines and downwards toward the valley where the Molinos River flowed.] he became very nervous and said to me, Conchita, be honest. What did you see last night?
    I explained everything to him .. . and he listened very closely, and finally said to me:
    Well if you see him tonight, ask him who he is and why he is coming.
    See what he answers.

    The priest's reaction was perfectly logical. He knew that what the girls said was completely possible. God concerns himself deeply with His human creatures, especially within the church. Although His concern comes to fall almost always within what we call ordinary providence (that is, without recourse to spectacular intervention), there is no difficulty for Him to go beyond the ordinary when it suits His pleasure and is helpful to His creatures. And the angels are His ministers above all to protect and aid mankind. Father Valentin could not have forgotten those beautiful texts from the liturgy of October 2nd that set down so highly the ministry of the angels on our behalf.

    Yes, what the girls say is very possible, although not so easy to believe. Why would an angel come to Garabandal? And did he really come? That was the most important: to establish the truth of the matter. It would be just as foolish to believe everything right away as to close one's mind in an obstinate It cannot be. Father Valentin had to know the first lines of the last book of scripture: TheRevelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to make known to His servants the things which must shortly come to pass: and signified, sending his angel to His servant John. (Apocalypse 1: 1) He must have read too that passage from the book of Exodus: (23:20-21 Behold I Will Send myangel who shall go before you, and keep you in your journey, and bring yon into the place that I have prepared. Take notice of him, and hear his voice.

    The girls were talking about remarkable things; however Father Valentin knew them well, and it did not enter his mind that they invented this. Before anything else, he had to find out what had happened.

    Conchita promised that she would try to get the answer to his two questions. Then he directed his footsteps to Loli's home. [This was a typical ancient village house, looking out over a little square. Later the Mazon family moved into the house next door which also faced the little square; here their small business was continued.] PHOTO: Loli in her home

    Loli responded the same as the rest of us.
    And so he was more and more impressed because the four of us agreed in everything. [Through a careful interrogation, conducted separately on each girl, it would been impossible to find such agreement if all this had been only a game, and even less would therehave been agreement if these things had been staged or fabricated by the girls. Furthermore, Father Valentin knew them well, and was aware of their sincerity and great reverence for everything religious.]
    Finally he said: Good, we are going to wait two or three days to see what he will tell you and whether you are going to continue to see this figure that you call an Angel. . .
    Then I will go to the Bishop. [At this time, Bishop Doroteo Fernandez, the former auxiliary bishop under the recently deceased Bishop Jose Eguino y Trecu, was the head of the diocese of Sanlander. Bishop Doroteo had been born in Leon and was a professor at the major seminary there when he was named the Apostolic Administrator for the Santander Diocese. Certainly neither his assignment nor his arrival in the Capital of Santander could be called warm among influential ecclesiastics. Inspite of the fact that he had the rank of a bishop, he was placed somewhat out of the way, with his actions limited to being rector of the seminary of Corban, not far from Santander. Here after a few years the situation was in turmoil; these were the first advance signs of what later would become the general open confusion in the Church.]

    The girls ate, probably in a hurry as is the custom in the village, and with no more ceremony than to say grace. Then they went back to school which reopened at three o'clock.

    Toward 5:00 the classes finished, and the girls were free to play or do their housework.

    I went to the house of the woman from whom we buy milk, and she said to me, Is it true that you saw an Angel? Or is this a thing that the people are saying?
    — I answered, It's certain that we saw an Angel.

    This was heard by a stonemason named Pepe Diez,

    But the desire of meeting the marvelous apparition again attracted the girl too much, and she did not leave her mother in peace until she obtained permission to go to the calleja.

        Soon she met the other three, and joining arms, they went in the direction of the calleja. They encountered an unbelieving and hostile crowd that questioned them and made jokes about them, since no one believed in the apparition; or rather no one wanted to expose himselves to ridicule before the more sophisticated villagers by showing any belief in the strange story of the four little girls. [ The population of La Montana (Santander) are intelligent by nature and not easily taken in. They are serious people, hardly naive, and cautious to the extreme in not being taken advantage of in business or in assuming a stance that would have to be abandoned later.]

PHOTO: Conchita's brother Aniceto and mother Aniceta

    But people followed them secretly, especially some rude young boys who wanted to show their beginning manhood by vulgarly interfering with the girls. The four girls began to pray in the calleja; but it wasn't possible to concentrate on their prayers because of the little band of ruffians with disheveled hair and dirty faces, who started throwing stones at them, accompanying their missiles with laughs, insults and other words.

        It was a dark evening, overcast. The sky was full of clouds and it was very windy.

    Things finally quieted down and the girls prolonged their prayer, hoping to see the Angel come. But the Angel did not come. The calleja, which a little while later would be for them a little bit of heaven (as Conchita referred to it) was on the evening of June 19th, under a cloudy sky, with the derisive laughter, the stones, and the blowing wind above, an unpleasant scene of painful disillusion.

    Why didn't the Angel come? Would he perhaps come at another time?

    When it became late —it was 8:30— they lifted their bare knees off the stones of the rocky road, and went down toward the church.

    Before arriving there, they met the schoolmistress. She tried to raise their spirits with a childish explanation that they probably did not believe at the time:

    Do you know why he hasn't come? Surely it's because it's so cloudy.

    In the church they made a visit to the Blessed Sacrament.

    The girls themselves could not explain the unusual connection that seemed to unite the calleja with the church. In the calleja nothing had been said to them, not a word of explanation, nor a command, nor even a simple request, and they were uneducated children; but a mysterious instinct brought them from the one place to the other. Yes, what they had seen with their eyes of flesh, surrounded by light in the calleja, had guided them firmly and gently to the One there in the church, Who can only be found with eyes of faith amid the shadows of mystery. In the former place was the wonder of the vision; while in the latter was the true security of Him Who is always a Refuge, Who cannot deceive.