1-5c) The Protagonists

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

«As has already been indicated, the four children in their ordinary state, that is to say, outside of their ecstasies or trances, show themselves to be completely normal. So they appear to the doctors, especially to those who have shown themselves most careful in their examination. The four children are completely normal to any other observer, just as they are to their immediate families, to the parish priest, and to all those who have known them for some time.

With the arrival of the events, the only ones who suffered healthwise, because of worries and troubles, were the families. The children themselves, on the contrary, after three long months of ecstasies and almost daily occurrences, while being awake so many hours of the night, have remained completely normal. They play and converse like the other children, make the long walks to the pastures (some of them five or more kilometers), do the household chores, and act, to put it briefly, just as any other young girl of their age and environment.»

Continuing on, Father Ramón mentions a letter written to him on August 24th, 1961 by a pediatrician, Doctor Celestiro Ortiz Pérez of Santander. This letter attests to the absolute normality and good health of the visionaries and refutes certain points of view of a Doctor "X" [This refers to Doctor Morales, a well-known psychiatrist from Santander, who, as we will mention later, was named to be a member of the Commission appointed by Bishop Doroteo Fernández to study Garabandal.] who was trying to give a naturalistic explanation of the unusual occurrences at Garabandal. He ended with this revealing episode:

«One day, in the village, a young girl suffered an attack of nerves (showing itself in gestures and mannerisms of great excitation), pretending that the Virgin had already given her a call. They brought me without delay to the home of Ceferino, where we were together with Loli, Jacinta, a doctor and several other persons. She was given a sedative, and the doctor and all those present could see the tremendous difference there was between the agitated and most nervous aspect both in speech and appearance of the young girl who was suffering the attack and the customary calmness of Loli and Jacinta, who then were smiling and helping to calm down the young girl. After being taken aside and put to bed, she slowly came to herself. A little later, in a vision, the two girls were heard to say: So she pretended that the Virgin had called her! Ah, that is because she is sick. How she frightened us!»

Concerning his observation of the children, he wrote down the following:

«1. They have no desire to be spectacular. On the contrary, they prefer to get away from the people who come to see them. One day Loli and Jacinta, coming down from the pasture, on arriving on a hill from which they could look down on the village, said to one another: What a pain. How nice it would be for us to be by ourselves. So now once again with the crowd.

They said that the Virgin told them to remain in their homes and not go out more than to do their shopping, that is to say, that they were not to walk in the streets during the night hours when the crowds gathered. The Virgin didn't tell them this every day; nevertheless, they carried it out well.

2. On the contrary, the children were pleased that the crowds came, so that they might believe. However they did not seek after them when they came.

3. One thing that could not be denied was the fact that the majority of the visions took place in public, where a superior force led them out and brought them. But it is certain that as soon as they came out of their ecstasies, they hurried to get back in their homes.

4. They were not disturbed at all when there was no ecstasy even though many people had arrived, and the visitors went away disillusioned and dissatisfied.»

These opinions of Father Ramón are confirmed by the following article written by Miguel González Gay in the weekly Que Pasa? on the fifth of April, 1969:

«On the afternoon of July 25th, 1964, feast of St. James the Apostle,[A holy day of obligation in Spain.] there was a fiesta in the village of Garabandal. From afar one could hear loud voices that were partly drowning out the thundering of a storm. It was nightfall and gathered together in the kitchen of Mari Cruz' home were her family, a woman lawyer from Madrid and a man from Santander. The kitchen being almost dark, the man from Santander easily placed a tape recorder under the table and led the conversation toward the happenings experienced by the girls. Mari Cruz' mother revealed many confidential things. Among other matters she said:

She, Mari Cruz didn't want anyone to see her. Don't think that Mari Cruz sought to be seen by the people; she wanted to be left alone. Look, one time it happened that the child went to gather nuts with a girl named Pili, the daughter of Mingo and Nati. They were in a field on the mountain, farther away than from here to Cossio. The young girl was calmly gathering nuts, when all of a sudden she started saying that she had to go to the Pines. She began to run and the others weren't able to follow her. And she said to them: "Look, if there are no people there at the Pines, you can leave me alone. But if there are people, tell my parents"

Escolastico, the father of Mari Cruz, interrupted to say that his daughter's comrades had asked how she had been able to run like that, since they were not able to follow her. She answered them, "At the time it seemed to me I was sitting down."

She arrived at the Pines and Matutano was there; she fell into ecstasy. When they arrived, the other young girls said that they were exhausted from running, while she was as if nothing . . .[According to Fr. Valentin's notes, this episode took place on the 20th of September, 1961.]

And see if she did this to be seen. One day she was in Torrelavega. Her cousin came home and found her alone there in the kitchen in ecstasy; and God knows the time she was held like that. On another day Nisia, coming from eating at the La Cuenca, found her alone like that at the Pines. And she was happy; she preferred to be alone.»

There is abundant evidence that the visionaries were not attached to exhibitionism or spectacularism. Nor did the ecstasies depend on whether or not there was a crowd, although the events came of course for the common good.

Aniceta recalls one night when the weather was very bad —« a horrible night » as she put it— during which she had to accompany her daughter in ecstasy to the cemetery. The good woman admitted that she was afraid, and for nothing in the world would she walk alone at night, and much less take the path that led to the graveyard. This fear disappeared when she went with one of the girls in ecstasy; then she felt different. Now this night she and Conchita, completely alone, went through those solitary, dark, and muddy paths. They stayed for a long time praying for the departed at the gates of the cemetery.

Then coming back to the village, still walking alone in ecstasy, Conchita started to run down the streets and alleys, singing the rosary to which her mother responded the best she could. (She has said that Conchita ordinarily sang very bad, « almost as bad as Father Valentin », but while in ecstasy she changed and sang magnificently.) Finally, some people came out of their homes and joined them.

«There is another very interesting point» —continues Father Ramón—«with regard to the visionaries: the concordance of their answers. Many times tricky questions were put to them in order to lead them into contradictions. To evaluate their answers better, the following should be taken into account:

A) The children, when speaking in the normal state, could have all the weaknesses proper to their condition, their situation, etc.; thus they could have memory lapses, inaccuracies of speech, weariness, even going to the extent of telling a lie.

B) Since all four did not have the same visions, it is natural that some of the girls gave information and details that the others did not know.

When it consists of describing things that they have seen, I have noticed that they were all in agreement, provided that they were speaking about things that they had all four seen. On the contrary, there were little hesitations when it concerned naming the dates on which certain events had occurred. It was on this score, more than anything else, that some of them did not agree exactly with some of the others.»

Continuing on, Father Ramón quotes some texts from masters of mystical theology in order to shed light on these experiences, and he ends the discussion with an interesting fact:

«Talking on one occasion with the children, I asked them if they remembered what they had seen in their visions. And changing the words of my question a little, one answered this way: What the Virgin said to us I remember well; concerning what I myself said—not so well.

In order to explain some of the phenomena that took place in them, the visionaries were accustomed to using negative expressions. Thus, for example, speaking of the Virgin's voice: There's no voice like hers. Or in wishing to describe what the calls were or what they felt during the marches: Well, the thing is something like this, or I don't know.

With regard to the marches, they told me: We go as though we are in the air, as if we are lying down. I don't know, like in another world; but in the daytime, and with the sun. Compare this with St. Theresa.» (lnterior Castle, Chapter 5)