Book 1 Chapter 8 continues
... THE FIRST DEATH AT GARABANDAL
Beyond the Twilight
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
|
* * *
In the sight of the unwise, [But
the souls of the just are in the Hand of God: and the torment of death
shall not touch them.
In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die; and their departure was
taken for misery;
And their going away from us, for utter destruction; but they are in peace.
And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full
of immortality... God has tried them and found them worthy of Himself.
The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds.
They shall judge nations and rule over people; and their Lord shall reign
forever. (Book of Wisdom 3: 1-8)]
it seemed that everything was finished for him, and that it would have
been much better not to have undertaken an adventure so unnecessary,
in
which none of the many wise ecclesiastics would have prematurely
involved themselves.
"Father Luis' funeral rites were completed in Oña."
They closed his eyes and read
the prayers for the dead; they placed him in a coffin and his relatives
and friends wept; they lowered him into the grave and May he rest in
peace. On the next day those still alive went back to their work and
play, talking from time to time about poor Father Luis. The noble
Spanish soil fell over the poor coffin [He was buried at
Oña behind the ancient roman monastery church that now is a parish
church, in the part of the cemetery holding the remains of the Jesuits
who died during the years that the theological seminary was there.
Fr. Luis Andreu
was born in Bilbao on July 3rd, 1925. He was ordained a priest at Oña
(Burgos) on July 30th, 1955 by the missionary bishop Federico Melendro,
who had to leave his diocese in Anking, Chizia when that gigantic country
was overrun by Maoistic communism. He sang his first Mass on the following
July 31st, the feast of St. Ignatius, at the Igna-tian sanctuary in Loyola.
He was 6 years a priest, and 36 years of age at the time of his death.]
of a poor religious who owned nothing. Soon he would be forgotten and there
would only remain a simple wooden cross painted black to indicate to the
few visitors the name of someone who could have been or done so much in
his life . . .
The twilight of total darkness
is only for those who live within earthly limits. For Father Luis was not
to remain a prisoner to the darkness. He would pass mysteriously from the
nightfall of life to the dawn of a day that would know no sunset.
The trumpet of triumph would sound
for the body that had departed on the route to Reinosa. 'Exsultabunt Domino
ossa humiliata.' The bones that have been humbled will rejoice in the
Lord.
But it will not be necessary to
await the final trumpet to have proof of his new life. Here are some notes
from his brother Fr. Ramón:
«Father Luis' funeral
rites were completed in Oña, and after spending a couple of days
with my mother who lived in Bilbao, 1 went to Garabandal on August 14th.
On entering the village the four girls came out to greet me, since they
had seen me coming up the final stretch of the road.
They told me that on hearing
that Father Luis had died, they had cried with sorrow . . .[Conchita
writes it down in her diary like this:
The following
day the four of us went to sweep out the church.
And while we
were sweeping, Jacinta's mother arrived very upset, and said to us, Father
Luis Maria Andreu has died.
And we didn't
believe it since we had seen him the day before.
We left the
church half-swept and went to find out more.
They said that
when he was about to die his last words were, Today is the happiest
day of my life. What a most good mother we have in heaven!
And he died.]
That the Virgin had also spoken to them about the death of my
brother, and that they had said to her, Why don't you tell us, since
you know? The girls said, The Virgin laughed. So much! And they
made gestures illustrating 'So much!'
Then Loli handed me the ring
rosary that she had received from my brother to give to the Virgin to kiss,
and which she had later lost. The Virgin told me so clearly where it
was that I found it right away by doing no more than lifting up a few stones.»
* * *
The conversation with the girls
was pleasant and extensive. They told him:
«That at the third
call they felt something inside that they couldn 't stop . . . That the
Virgin was always the same, although she appeared sometimes with different
garments and under a different title . . . That since a few days
before August 8th, she had appeared to them individually . . . That
she didn't have the same visions with Mari Cruz as with the others . .
. That had been because her mother had kept her shut in the house at times.»
The pleasure that Father Ramon
felt from this first meeting was soon disturbed. He was interviewed sometime
later by the French editor of Conchita's Diary.
«It was August 14th. I
had come from burying my brother Luis. On arriving at Garabandal, a boy
from Burgos came up to me and said, The children have said during an
ecstasy "What a pleasure! Are we going to speak with Father Luis?" I
became depressed. And I thought that this had to be a typical case of auto-suggestion.
My brother's death had made an impression on the children and the result
could be seen! I wanted to leave Garabandal.
—And yet you stayed?
FR. RAMON: Actually I did stay. But it was because
those who had accompanied me didn't want to leave . . .
— What happened then?
FR. RAMON: I came back near the children in ecstasy,
and I heard again the conversation with Father Luis. After a little while
I didn't know what to think. I was truly astounded. The girls were repeating
in front of me the words of the Vision. And I heard them describe my brother's
death and funeral rites. They were giving a number of very precise details
about the special rites of a priest's burial. They even knew that some
exceptions to the traditional regulations in the dress of the deceased
had taken place with Father Luis. For example, a biretta had not been put
on my brother's head, and the chalice, which should have been held in his
hands, had been replaced by a crucifix. The girls also gave the reasons
for these changes.
On another occasion, I heard
the girls in ecstasy say that my brother Luis had died before making his
profession. They also spoke about me and my vows. They knew the precise
date, the exact place where they had been pronounced, the name of a Jesuit
who had made them at the same time.
You can understand my amazement
and my confusion in the face of this string of rigorously exact details,
since I definitely knew the girls could not know these things, at least
not through human intelligence.»
* * *
It appears that all the things
that Father Ramon responded to his French questioner, as a whole, did
not happen or were not heard on the day of his arrival on August 14th.
Part of these things at least must pertain to what happened on the following
days.
"The chalice, which should have been held in his hands, had been
replaced by a crucifix."
"After the death of Father Luis, the Virgin told us that we were
going to speak with him."
Concerning the first vision on
August 14th,[«On the 14lh of August Father Andreu came
another time; he was with the girls almost all day and during the night
up till 3 o'clock. Also in the village on that day were Alberto Martin
Artajo (former Minister of Foreign Affairs), Father Lucio Rodrigo
(a
Jesuit professor in Comillas). and many people.» {Father
Valentin's notes)] which was about 10:00 at night,
we have his brief notation:
«The girls went outside
in an ecstatic march, their heads turned upwards. They went thru the streets
of the village, sometimes joined together, sometimes separated. When they
joined together at some spot, they broke out in cries of joy.
And so it was for two long periods,
from 10:00 until 12:00. The people followed them, praying. But it is hard
to walk everywhere with them because they go so fast. And they never stumble,
even with the many stones that are there, or with the mud, or with anything.
I followed them at times, and at times I waited at some location, because
their paths through the village are identical: in all directions and through
all the streets. On one of my stops, some very excited people came looking
for me at once, because they had heard the girls talking about my brother
and saying, Then we will hear him speak? Oh, what a pleasure! He was
very good!»
* * *
Many times after this date, the
girls felt the presence of Father Luis in ecstasy and heard his voice,
holding conversation with him, although not seeing his face. Conchita wrote
in her diary:
Several days after the death
of Father Luis, the Virgin told us that we were going to speak with him.
"He called as one after the other. But we didn't see hint; we only
heard his voice."
On August 15th, the feastday
of Our Lady, there were many tourists who had come to amuse themselves
and they were causing scandal.
That was the day that the
Virgin told us we would talk with Father Luis Maria Andreu.
But since there was a scandal,
he didn't come.
At 4 in the morning on the
next day, at the same time that Father Luis had died, the Virgin appeared
to me in my kitchen and said to me: Father will not come today,
but he will come tomorrow?[From the report of Fr.
Ramon:
«Cases
of this have been repeated. When the public were very numerous and had
a picnic attitude, with drinking and music or worldly songs, the Vision
did not take place. And the public was disappointed.
The first time
that I observed this was on the evening of August 15th, 1961, the feast
of the Assumption. That day all the crowd waited in vain. At the sight
of the crowd comporting themselves as if it were a party, on hearing the
worldly songs and seeing the state of semi-drunkenness in which some were
found, several people from the village — simple people — said to me, There
surely will be nothing today. This happened another time. And here we are
glad that nothing occurs when they come this way.
On another day,
Amaliuca, the 11 year old sister of Loli, called me to tell me in secret
that Jacinta was seeing the Virgin in her home. I went and found her there
in a state of trance ... I heard what she said to the Virgin, Why are
you going so soon? Oh! Just like on the day of Our Lady . . . They are
singing . . .
I went out on
the street and asked, Is someone singing here?
Yes, they
answered me, There is a group here that is having a party.
And there was
no vision until that group that had come in a bus departed. This has happened
on other occasions. 1 have been able to ascertain five at least; and on
the five days the visitors' impropriety and irreverence were obvious.»
On the 15th day
of August a person, who would become one of the most qualified witnesses
of what was happening, came up for the first time to Garabandal: he was
Doctor Celestino Ortiz Pérez, a pediatrician from Santander. He
wrote me:
«I came
with my family. I was there from 7 at night until 6 in the morning when
I had to leave to be on time for work. I didn't see anything. My family
stayed in the village until 9 in the morning, at which time they were picked
up. It was during this visit that we got to know Father Ramón Maria
Andreu; on learning that I was a doctor, he showed great concern that I
examine the girls.»]
On the next day between 8:00
or 9:00 the Virgin appeared to us, smiling very much as usual, and said
to the four of us, Father Luis will come now and speak to you. PHOTO: Fr. Luis and brother Ramón
And after awhile he came,
and he called us one after the other.
But we didn't see him; we
only heard his voice.
It was exactly the same as
when he spoke on earth.
And after giving us advice,
he also told us something for his brother Father Ramon.
And he taught us words in
French, and even to pray in Greek.
He taught us words in German
and in English too.
After a while, we didn't hear
his voice anymore.
And the Virgin spoke to us
and stayed for a moment and left.
It is certain that several times
in their ecstasies the girls pronounced words and phrases in languages
completely unknown to them. There are trustworthy witnesses of this. In
the French edition of Conchita's Diary, Fr. Ramón Maria Andreu's
statement is printed: PHOTO: "in foreign languages."
«The girls have certainly
spoken more than once in foreign languages. I myself heard one of them
recite the Hail Mary in Greek. I have in my possession a letter from Conchita,
in which I would like to point out certain parts in which she informed
me of what she had learned in French from hearing my brother during an
ecstasy.»
* * *
Some have expressed the opinion
that these words and sentences in foreign languages seem to be a game,
rather pointless, and even a little too ridiculous to be admitted as proceeding
from God. With due respect to their opinions, this observation can be made:
Everything coming from God has
its purpose, but not everything from God appears to us immediately perfectly
clear as to its aim or final purpose. God always acts toward us in the
realm of the unknown. His plans gradually reveal themselves, following
His designs and proportional to our acceptance of them, or at least to
our not putting obstacles in the way. When the Divine Hand is found in
any given reality as a whole, it is wrong to attempt to reject it because
all the details do not appear clear.
What does Scripture show to be
the style of God? He certainly does not always declare from the beginning
all His intentions and plans and give immediate explanations of everything
He is going to do. We must learn to trust in Him, and because of those
things that we understand, accept others that we do not understand. The
ideas of simple human wisdom have no value before God, especially if they
are bloated with pride and self-sufficiency.
The foreign languages that Fr. Luis taught the
girls from his grave show the universal significance of the events.
At times I have asked myself
whether these foreign tongues in Garabandal might not be connected with
the universal dimension of its mystery. Today less than ever would the
Virgin limit her action to local and national boundaries. Around her are
heard many languages because she has come for all, for those that are distant
as well as those that are near.
I cannot cease being filled with
joy that in these visits of the Celestial Mother the words of the Ave Maria,
the foremost Marian prayer, were pronounced in Greek. Was not this the
language in which it was originally written? Was it not from this language
that the prayer was translated to all the others? And the Greek language,
the language of the first ecumenical church, continues to be the symbol
of an important part of Christians of today, who ought to join with us
in the same communion of faith and love.
The Virgin is coming to us — through
Garabandal — in a great ecumenical hour. Perhaps these foreign languages,
besides their value as an inexplicable wonder on the lips of young uneducated
children, could indicate the mysterious scope of this new and most singular
Epiphany of the Virgin.
***************
The connection of the departed
Father Luis with the phenomenon of Garabandal did not end in the days of
August, and there are many witnesses of the girls to verify this.
But perhaps the most amazing thing
was what Conchita wrote Father Ramon in a letter on the second of August,
1964: (partial copy of letter below)
«On
July
18th (the village feastday of San Sebastian de Garabandal)
I
had a locution,[Locutions are one of the phenomena
of mysterious communication between God and the soul that are studied in
Mystical Theology.
Through a locution,
the soul receives interiorly what God wishes to tell it — without words,
but with complete clarity and certainty.] and in this
locution, I was told that on the day after the miracle your brother will
be taken out of his tomb, and his body will be found INCORRUPT.»
In 1976 the rumor was spread that
the remains of Fr. Luis had been disenterred together with the many other
Jesuits buried at Oña in the years that the Jesuit seminary had
been there — it has recently been relocated — and that the caskets had
been opened. It was reported that, "All the bodies were decomposed." This
information was immediately used as a new
proof against the authenticity
of the apparitions to discourage many of the Garabandal devotees and rejoice
their enemies.
And now we continue to hope ...
for certainly a proper explanation will come with time. It appears that
this is a failure of one of Conchita's prophecies. It would be good therefore
to carefully question her concerning this prophecy,
for some small
detail that might bring great light on this matter. But this failure
of a prophecy does not destroy -far from that- the overwhelming mass
of evidence that shows decisively that in few other places has the admirable
Hand of God acted as at Garabandal.
As can be seen, the first death
of Garabandal was permanently connected to the unfolding of its great mystery.
And we must thank the Lord that
He has shown us a new assurance of our fundamental Christian belief that
there is a new horizon beyond the last twilight.
"On the day after the miracle your brother will be taken out of his
tomb, and his bodv will be found INCORRUPT.
Publishers Comment
Fr. Luis' tomb has been opened
and his supposed remains transferred to Loyola. Those who believe Mary's
words will await the day after the Miracle at Garabandal when a tomb will
be found and opened to reveal Fr. Luis' incorrupt body.
