1-1c) Temptation at Dusk

Reprinted with kind permission from St. Joseph Publications
from the book She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Book 1)

It was a Sunday evening, and we were with all the young girls playing in the plaza.[The Plaza is the name given to this place in the center of the village, since it is an open area from which many streets and alleys take their origin. But it should not be imagined that it is the same type of plaza as in a big city; the ground is unpaved and uncared for, dusty or muddy when it rains, full of loose stones, and covered with debris from the constant passage of men, wagons and animals.]

Suddenly Mari Cruz [Mari Cruz Gonzalez was the daughter of Escolastico and Pilar. She was 11 years old at the time, thin and dark-skined, and wore her hair very short.] and I thought of going to pick apples.

And we set off straight to the place where they were, without telling anyone that we were going to pick the apples.

The idea of picking apples was a real temptation. The apples did not belong either to Mari Cruz or to Conchita; so that this was an actual theft, that is to say, the sin of stealing. During those evening hours, the devil was in action among the inhabitants of Garabandal. He was luring two young adolescent girls to the tree of forbidden fruit — almost as in the beginning of time. We do not know if they, like Eve in the beginning, showed resistance to the tempter's suggestions; if there was any resistance, it had to be very weak.

The girls, seeing that the two of us were going away alone, asked us, Where are you going?

And we continued on our way, thinking about how we were going to manage to pick them.

Once there, [This place was a small garden leading out from the village in the direction of the Pines. Apparently the garden was not the property of the teacher, but of a woman called Pilar Cuenca] we started to pick the apples.

    And while we were having a good time, we saw Loli, Jacinta, [Loli (Maria Dolores Maz6n) was the second daughter of Ceferino and Julia, who had a large family. Ceferino was the mayor of the village, and besides having pastures for farming like everyone else in Garabandal, also owned a little store or tavern.
    Jacinta had the last name of Gonzalez too, just like Conchita and Mari Cruz. Jacinta's parents were Maria and Simon, two Christians of strong faith who bore with dignity the life of sacrifice imposed on them by an existence deprived of material possessions.
    Loli and Jacinta were 12 years old, and were likable children. The girl who came with them was Virginia, whom everyone called Ginia.] and another young girl coming to see if they could find us.

Seeing us picking the apples, Jacinta shouted out, Hey, Conchita, you are picking the apples.

Shut up, I told her, The school teacher's wife will hear you, and will tell my mother. [Aniceta Gonzalez, whom we have already mentioned, was an old-fashioned Christian who brought up her children very strictly. Her first offspring were boys: Serafin, who knew the hard toil of the coal mines at Santa Lucia (Leon); Aniceto, nicknamed Cetuco, who would die at an early age in 1965; and Miguel. It was natural that Aniceta concentrated her care on the youngest of them all, her only daughter! And that she would try to protect her from harm because of her Christian faith and her obligation as a mother.]

Then I hid among the potato plants and Mari Cruz started to run through the field.

Loli shouted out, Mari Cruz, stop running. We see you. We will tell this to the owner.

    Then Mari Cruz returned and we left our hiding place so that we could all be together. [According to confidential statements Loli made to Father Manuel Anton, the pastor of San Claudio in the city of Le6n, the four girls of our story were not always on the best terms with each other. They had recently quarreled among themselves, as happens frequently with children; and for some time had kept a certain coolness toward each other. They were accustomed to walk in pairs: Loli and Jacinta side by side, and Conchita side by side with Mari Cruz.
    I finally had the chance to question Jacinta:
    —For the Angel's first visit, did all four of you girls find yourselves together by chance? Since it is certain that you didn't get along very well, especially you and Conchita.
    —Well, we mere like children who quarrel as soon as they get together. We had certainly fought several days before the apparition.]

While we were talking, someone called the little girl who had come with Jacinta and Loli, and she left.

The four of us remained alone; and giving it more thought, the four of us returned to pick the apples . . .

While we were having a good time, we heard the voice of the school-teacher, [Francisco Gomez, who was partially lame] who on seeing the branches moving so much, thought it was the sheep, and said to his wife, Concesa, go to the garden. The sheep are wandering near the apple tree.

When we had filled up our pockets, we hurried off to eat the apples more at peace in the street, that is in the calleja. [The Calleja is a steep, winding, unpaved trail, which goes from the back of the village to a hill where the Pines are situated.]

Those apples in Garabandal certainly could not have been as enticing as the apples in the Garden of Eden. In places as high above sea level as Garabandal, apples in the month of June, even in years of an early spring, could not be anything more than half-ripe fruit, bitter, without juice, hard — suited to cause a toothache. But still they had an incredible power of seduction for the girls of the village who hardly ever saw any fruit other than that which the summers brought to the garden trees. Almost entirely deprived — at least during those years — of imported fruit, they eagerly went after the fruit from the village while it was still green. [The land containing the garden where the apple tree was growing, at the left of the unpaved Calleja that led to the Pines, was later purchased by the husband of Mrs. Garcia Llorente-Gil Delgado from Seville. The garden was in bad condition. Her husband, believing in Garabandal, in 1968 built a beautiful stone house there that is the largest in the village. From the beginning of construction he took the greatest care to preserve the tree of our story, something which he could only do half-way, since of the two limbs coming from the trunk, one was already dying and withered, which he trimmed to save the other. And so the tree was there, sheltered by the new house, until the winter of 1975, when a strong wind knocked it down. Now there only remains a small dead tree stump which can be seen at the right of the entrance to the house. The Garcia Llorentes told me that the last apple picking in September, 1974 was of magnificent quality, very delicious.]

However in spite of what Conchita writes in her diary, I would think that the schoolmaster's apples, rather than being taken to satisfy their appetites, must have been an exciting escapade for the girls on a dull Sunday afternoon. I would imagine also that the apples, rather than being eaten voraciously, ended up half-eaten on the ground. Many years later, I heard from Mari Cruz herself in conversation with the Argentine counsel, Carlos Espina Rawson, that the apples of our story, rather than being taken for eating, were taken to be thrown as projectiles on the dancers in the square.

When we were enjoying ourselves eating the apples, we heard a loud noise, like thunder.

That must have been an unusual sounding thunder. And it surely frightened the girls; people fear a storm, especially when it surprises them in an open field in the stillness of nature. The girls were in the middle of that stillness, outside the village although very near to it. They looked up to search for the place where the thunder had come. But neither close by, nor far away toward the heights of Pena Sagra [An imposing mountain range that closes off the Garabandal horizon toward the South. On the other side of the Pena Sagra mountains extends the varied landscape of Liebana, at the extreme southwest of the province of Santander. The region of Liebana with its extremely high mountains and steep hills separates the Province of Palencia, Leon, and Asturias. One of the attractions of the region of Liebana is the skyline formed by the imposing mountain tops of the Picos de Europa on their western face. But the real treasure of the region is the very ancient monasgtery of San Toribio, now restored adn run by the Franciscans. Here is kept the largest remaining single fragment of the True Cross, that is, of the wood of teh Cross of Our Lord. It can easily be understood why in the nearby land of Garabandal the Virgin came to remind men, Think of the Passion of Jesus.] which so often showed its face surrounded by dark clouds, nor in the neighboring hills of Poniente where the thunder storms gathered, could they find the least disturbance. What a strange thunder! What was going on?