2-02c) Letters in the Wintertime

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 spite of the current of disappointment flowing out from October 18th, people continued to go up to Garabandal. The flame had not smoldered out in everyone's heart, and the steady flow of remarkable phenomena was continuing.

We have presented some, but we can speak of many more. For example, an ecstasy occurred slightly after October 15th during which the girls descended a stairway backwards and almost upside down . . . and made their way on their knees through puddles of water that covered the streets without getting the least bit wet, as many eyewitnesses could observe.

    A memorable date was November 4th, and still more so, the 18th of the same month.[The month begins with two days which, liturgically and religiously, are very special. November 1st is the feastday of All Saints; November 2nd is the commemoration of all the Faithful Departed, known as All Souls Day. The village of Garabandal, which traditionally had given special attention to prayer for the souls of the departed, experienced that double feastday vividly. There was united the liturgy of the church with the activities of the visionaries who went so often in ecstasy into the houses to pray for the deceased in each one, and also frequently went to the cemetery to there recommend to the Lord all those who had their remains in that simple burial place.
    In the middle of the night between those two feastdays Dr. and Mrs. Ortiz were informed that Jacinta was in ecstasy in her home. Immediately they went there:
    «The girl, after presenting some holycards to the Vision to kiss, made a sign of the cross most reverently with the crucifix; and went out on the street. She went first to Loli's house, and presented the crucifix to be kissed by her and also by two or three other persons; from there she went to the church and in front of the doors began a rosary which she continued later through the muddy streets of the village ... It was truly a moving rosary. At that time, in that silence, illuminated only by some flashlights and lights from the houses!
    After the rosary, the girl recited the Credo and later sang the Salve Regina and various songs to the Virgin, some of these to invite the people to pray the holy rosary.
    Toward 1:30 in the morning, when Dr. and Mrs. Ortiz said goodbye to begin their voyage back to Santander, Loli was in her house waiting for an ecstasy. As a continuation of Jacinta's vigil she prayed a Station to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and various other prayers for the poor souls in purgatory.]

On November 4th the ecstasies began at eight o'clock in the morning. This was primarily because the Virgin had ordered the girls to get up every day early in the morning to say a rosary at dawn in the calleja. No one could understand better than Our Lady what was entailed in getting up so early during the winter season for those four normal young girls, prone to sleeping in like all young children. But she asked it for the express purpose of aiding poor sinners this way.[At Garabandal there are abundant proofs that the Virgin did not come for the congenial discovery of our latest teachers and educators of the faith who say, "Children should not be bothered, nor should any pressure be put upon them; they will receive when they feel like it, and concern themselves with God when it comes spontaneously from within!"] {The serious minded souls who can not accept the Virgin's games with the girls should not object to this.)

On November 18th, one month after the unforgettable day of the message {a certain predilection is noted for this date of the 18th), there was announced, officially as some might say, a winter intermission in the events of Garabandal. The Virgin said farewell to the girls; not because they would not see her again, but rather because they would not see her with the same frequency as before. And to each one she indicated the date of the next meeting to aid them to better support the hard course of the winter season.

I assume that tears were running down the cheeks of the little visionaries during the farewell kisses on that day. They had happily enjoyed the long months of paradise and suddenly winter was upon them! Now all that remained for them, just as for the others, was living in the obscurity of faith. Spread in front of them was the hard program of the message: sacrifices, prayers, their daily crosses . . .

Fr. José Ramón García de la Riva, the pastor of Barro, has some letters in his possession that the girls sent him during this period. I have the original letters in my hands. This is the earliest written by Conchita:

Dear Father José Ramón:

Right now I'm going to school, and my mother tells me that I should write what is happening. I'll tell you that we have a new priest, and in appearance he seems very good, and he gives us catechism lessons every day. He plays with us a lot. All the girls say that he was sent by the bishop. We aren't able to give you any news about Fr. Valentin, since they say that he is on vacation. On some days he is in Cossio; but he (the new priest) goes on some days to say Mass there too. And so we do not know how he (Fr. Valentin) is.»

Obviously they did not know, nor could they know, how Fr. Valentin was! Officially Fr. Valentin was on vacation. But the vacation had been imposed upon him by the diocesan chancery since the good father was sentenced to undergo a type of forced vacation. This was one of the decisions that came from the Commission back during the summer, [They had to wait until October 18th to see if anything would happen; after the disaster on that day there was nothing to prevent them from submitting Fr. Valentin to a curative treatment.] for they accused him of being the instigator of the events.

The new priest would be expected to have been indoctrinated by the Commission . . . He was Fr. Amador Fernández González. In their letters, the girls spoke well of him. And I have no reason for speaking otherwise. Fr. Julio Porro Cardeñoso, in his The Great Prodigy of Garabandal, writes: I think that he was a competent priest, if I am not badly informed. But later on he brings out statements made by this priest which, to be exact, have to be classified as gross stupidity.

«There were two priests here from Palencia who seemed very good. They were not together. One day one came; and another day, another. My mother asked one of them why they were coming since it was said to be prohibited. He told her that the bishop of Palencia [This was Bishop José Souto Vizoso, who retired in 1970 due to his age.] believed and didn't prohibit them from coming. The priest that we had (Fr. Amador) said that he didn't like them to come; but they said Mass here. One of them left rosaries for me — for when I would have the apparitions — and he was thinking of returning to get them; you know what I mean.

With regard to the apparitions, it has been eight days since I have had them. She told me that I'll see her on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. [December 8th. In Spain this is a day of obligation of the first rank, one of those most ostensibly celebrated in honor of the Virgin. It was also the personal feastday of the countless Conchas and Conchitas in the country, the abbreviated names for Maria de la Conception and the names given to honor the Immaculate Conception of Mary.] And if she doesn't come on that day, I won't see her again until the 27th of January. And Mari Cruz won't see her again until January 16th, and Jacinta until December 16th. I don't know about Maria Dolores, since she said that she doesn't see her ----- and she has seen her again.

I'm waiting for the feastday of the Immaculate Conception, which the Virgin told me about. She didn't say it was definite; she told me that I would see her on my feastday . . . And so perhaps I'll be with her. And if she doesn't come on that day, I'm not expecting her until the 27th (of January), if she doesn't tell me otherwise.»

Two days later., on December 27th, Jacinta also began to scribble [This word accurately describes the letter's penmanship.] a letter to Father José Ramón. After referring to something that he had written her about Sister Lucy of Fatima, she wrote:

«Now she appears to me less and less. On the 16th of this month (November) I had an apparition, and she told me to pray the rosary every morning at the Cuadro . . . that until the 16th of December, I wouldn't see her again. Conchita, Maria Dolores and Mari Cruz expect her in January. So every day we pray rosaries to see if the Virgin will perform a miracle for the world to believe. Now we have a very good priest. The bishop sent him to us. He gives us catechism.»

It can be seen that the new priest was big news in the town. The people must have been really pleased, since, besides what he personally was worth and could do, they had him there definitely among themselves as a resident in the village — not like Fr. Valentin who belonged primarily to the people of Cossio since he had his residence there. This did not prevent the people of San Sebastián de Garabandal from appreciating Fr. Valentín. Mari Cruz mentions him in a letter in November: «He went because they blamed him. They said that he prepared us. The bad people said this because Father Valentín is very good. And he believes.»

Mari Cruz wrote again on November 30th to the pastor from Barro:

Concerning the questions that you've asked me, some of them are difficult to answer, since it's hard to make a judgment on them. But with the protection of the Most Holy Virgin and guided by her, I follow what she indicates to me. I go to pray the rosary every day at six in the morning at the calleja; Jacinta accompanies me. Conchita goes out at seven, and Loli at 8:30, but in the church. [Perhaps the difference in time schedule was influenced by the personal situation of each girl. Loli, for example, went to bed later than the others because of the little commercial enterprise and tavern that her parents had in her home.

In the letter on November 21st, Conchita states to a daughter of Eloísa de la Roza Velarde, the sister-in-law of Dr. Ortiz:

«I tell you too that last Saturday I finished seeing the Virgin until the feastday of the Immaculate Conception or until January 27th. This hurts me! Anyhow, time will pass. We go to pray the rosary every day at 6 and at 7 in the morning where she appeared to us the first time.»]

From the 19th [I do not know whether Mari Cruz is confused on the date, and put down 19 instead of 18, or whether she wishes to say that they were from the 19th inclusive without an apparition.] of November our trances have stopped. We are expecting to have them again: Jacinta, on the 16th of December; Conchita, on her feastday, but not for certain, without doubt. Conchita will see her on January 27th; Loli, on January 13th; and I, on January 16th, God permitting. Besides this, we lead our lives like the other girls: at the classroom, playing, and making our prayers every day ...»

There is also a letter from Loli written during this period, to the same recipient, dated December 3rd:

«A few words to answer your letter. I would say that it is about time. But pardon me, since time passed without my realizing it. Besides, I'm sad because I'm not seeing the Virgin. [The girl's spontaneous statement, in a confidential letter, can be placed side by side with some of the statements made — later approved episcopally — that this was a game of children, that is to say, something staged by the girls to get away from their boring life, or to accomplish some goal.

Could there be any stronger proof that the girls did not invent this game?

Fr. Valentin wrote down on October 10th, 1961: «Loli told me with the greatest sorrow on her face that at least until the day after next she would not have an apparition. We had noticed that she was sad since the last apparition; but in answer to my question at the time, she said that nothing had happened.»] As you know, the Virgin doesn't deceive. I expect to see her again in January. I don't know if in the meantime she will visit me some day again. I don't know. I'm rather bad; perhaps she takes that into account. [This shows again that apparitions cannot suddenly transform weak human creatures into angels . . . The apparitions had placed the girls on the road to continual moral improvement, and that was no minor matter.] I don't think so, since I act like this without realizing it. I have nothing to say about the photographs that you sent me, since I have not shown them to the Virgin.»

Although Loli had not been promised that she would see the Virgin again until January, she hoped that She would visit her before then.

And the Virgin returned. Mrs. Maria Josefa Lueje, from the little Asturian town of Colunga, says in a letter:

«I went to Garabandal for the second time on December 18th of 1961. I went with some friends, the family of Manolo Lantero from Gijon. There were about 14 persons and we took up three cars. From Cossio we went up by foot, since the weather was fierce and the road impassable.

Shortly after coming to the village, we gathered together in a plastic case everything that we had brought to be kissed by the Virgin: rosaries, medals, crucifixes ... As soon as we saw Loli, we gave them to her. But she wasn't sure that she was going to have an apparition. This left us somewhat dejected, but we had to resign ourselves. And we prepared to spend the night without sleeping, as we ordinarily did. On seeing that there weren't many of us, Ceferino took pity on us and invited us into his kitchen so we wouldn't suffer so much from the cold.

Early in the morning, about 4 A.M., Loli leaped up from where she was sitting and fell on her knees upon the floor, making a loud thud. But that was nothing compared to the change in her face. . . For the young girl's face — plump and what might be called a peasant face — transformed and refined itself into an indescribable form, almost appearing to be an angel.

She went out later through the village, accompanied by her father and all of us. She went up to a house where they told us there was an old man near death, unconscious for several days. When Loli made the sign of the Cross with her crucifix on him, the man recovered consciousness and recognized his sons. (So they told us.) We saw her go down the steep uneven stairway without rails, with her head completely turned backwards, and we couldn't explain why she didn't fall and hurt herself. . . Then she led us to the courtyard of the church where we recited a rosary, as I think I have never recited one in my life.

When we returned to the house we met Jacinta and her father going to pray the rosary at the Cuadro as they did early every morning. It was something to see those lightly dressed young girls with their knees on the snow in the freezing temperature during the middle of the night . . . In Garabandal at the time, there was real devotion and real penance was done.

I can never forget all these things: they did me much good; they brought me closer to God.»

On January 13th, the feastday of St. Lucy, virgin and martyr, Mari Cruz and Conchita wrote again to Father de la Riva. Mari Cruz mentioned certain personal matters, and afterwards interjected this brief remark:

«On the feastday of the Immaculate Conception, Conchita alone saw the Virgin. As I have told you, I won't see her until January 16th. I would like to see her always, always, but when she doesn't concede this gift to me, it is because I don't merit it. And so I resign myself to her holy will.»

Conchita naturally mentions her grace of December 8th: PHOTO: "I don't merit it."

«On the feastday of the Immaculate Conception the Virgin came to congratulate me, as she had told me that she was going to come. And when she came, she came smiling very much. She laughed very much. [The girl expressed according to her abilities the joyful attitude of the feast — full of light and serenity — that she saw in the Mother of Heaven. But no one should imagine that her way of laughing was frivolous or loud as occurs so often with humans.] The first thing that she said to me was, Happy Feastday. And so the day passed very well . . . But I won't see her again until January 27th.

She came in the evening. They said that it lasted a long time, but it seemed very quick to me. Afterwards she said that I should go eat. And after I ate, she came back another time . . . And they said:[The girl wrote all these things down one after the other. They have been separated into lines here to simplify understanding the many things that happened in that trance, the last one for Conchita in 1961.]

— and that I went backwards to my home,

— and that afterwards I went out and prayed the rosary through the streets,

— and that I visited all the sick.

What a beautiful evening the people of Garabandal had on the feastday of the Immaculate Conception! It was for everyone, the healthy and the sick alike. And again graces from Our Lady spread through the houses and streets.

Only one celestial visit remained for 1961, the year that had known so many marvels. It occurred on December 16th — the evening before the official prayer of the Church starts the splendid "Oh " antiphons [These are called the Oh antiphons since they start with this exclamations. Seven in number, they express in biblical language teh ardent hope of humanity while waiting for the Savior. Formerly they were chanted one each day at the end of Vespers during the last week of Advent, from December 17th to December 23rd.] that are the immediate preparation for the feast of the Coming of the Lord.

And now it was Jacinta's turn to be the privileged one. I could not obtain much information about the grace given her. All that could be found in a letter from Mari Cruz dated December 16th was a terse reference:

There is also some information in a letter that Maximina Gonzalez wrote to Doctor Ortiz, dated December 26th:

«While you were away, Jacinta had an apparition. It was very sad; it lasted a short time, but all the time tears were streaming . . .

They are still going out for the rosary: Mari Cruz and Jacinta at six in the morning, and Conchita and Maria Dolores at 8 o'clock. Dawn is breaking when we come to pray. So see if we aren't making sacrifices! For me, getting up in the morning is the greatest.»