Memoirs of a Spanish Country Pastor - 30

Reprinted from GARABANDAL MAGAZINE, October-December 1996

AUGUST 18, 1961. "On the following day at almost the same time (7:00 or 8:00 p.m.), the Virgin appeared to us again and the first thing She asked was for us to say the rosary. Since we had never led the rosary She said, 'I'll start and you follow.' She said the rosary very slowly. She would say 'H-o-l-y M-a-r-y' and we would repeat 'H-o-l-y M-a-r-y'.When we came to 'Dios te salve, Maria' ('God hails you, Mary' —which is the way the Hail Mary begins in Spanish ), we said it the way we normally do but very slowly. When we came to the Hail Holy Queen (at the end of the rosary) She told us to sing it.

    "When we finished saying the rosary, She kissed us and said, 'I will be back tomorrow.' Then She left.

    "She came on the next day (August 19, 1961) just as She said She would. She repeated Her request of the day before, 'pray the rosary'. We started the rosary. On that night we went to the places where the Virgin had appeared to us in the beginning.

    "After the ecstasy, people told us that we had gone up to the Pines and that we went from one pine to the next while praying on our knees."

PICTURE: Mari Cruz in ecstasy in 1961. Her name means "Mary of the Cross" and when in September of 1962 she stopped seeing the Virgin before the others, she suffered greatly living up to her name.

    At this particular time, Conchita reveals a very important fact: "Up until now, the ecstasies would take place while we were all together, Jacinta, Loli, Mari Cruz and myself; but now they began to happen while each of us was at home.

    "The Virgin would call us and we would fall into ecstasy, and this happened when we were not together. The Virgin was with us but Mari Cruz, who was the first to have seen the Virgin that night, had gone to bed. We asked the Virgin to teach us a song so we could sing it to Mari Cruz. We would begin with some words and the Virgin would help us find more:

Get up, Mari Cruz,
The Virgin who is so good is coming,
Her basket is filled with flowers
For the little girl.

Mari Cruz, Mari Cruz,
You are making us very sad!
Pray to the Virgin
So that She may come back to you.

Mari Cruz, Mari Cruz,
Don't you smell the lilies?
The Virgin brings them to you
That you may be very good.

    There is an interesting detail regarding the simulated ecstasies of which I am referring right here in these "Memoirs," as explained by Conchita:

    "Whenever the three of us wanted to be together and because our parents didn't let us go out at night, then, coming out from saying the rosary at church and after having received two calls, we would look toward the sky, as if we were already seeing the Virgin. We would be together outside with our parents and other people. The Virgin would come and we would be together, and we would always end up seeing the Virgin. But we would never simulate an entire ecstasy."

    A few more words on the holy rosary: "The holy Virgin asked the four of us, Loli, Jacinta, Mari Cruz and myself to pray the rosary at the cuadro. We would sometimes go there at 6:00 or 7:00 a.m. Loli didn't have a specific time. Mary Cruz didn't like getting up so early so she would go at eight o'clock. Jacinta would continue to go at six o'clock with her mother and other people from the village.

    "During Holy Week, the Virgin asked me to go at 5:00 a.m. and I would do it. The Virgin stressed the importance of doing penance."

    We can observe and highlight Conchita's notes on this subject. Whenever we asked the children why the Virgin appeared so late at night, which made it difficult to accept these events as coming from the Virgin, they would answer by saying that the Virgin told them that it was during that time that sins were being committed in the world by men and that they had to do penance.

    One way for them to do penance for the Virgin, by no means the easiest way, was to stay awake until the visit of the Virgin late at night or early in the morning hours.

    They followed Her request to the letter because She had asked this of them and they were anxious to see Her. So they did it, that is, unless their parents wanted them to do something else and in that case they would do as the Virgin had told them and obey their parents before obeying Her.

    This penance, done for the Virgin, was either to stay awake or sleep on a chair or table. Anywhere but in bed.

The Virgin's Behavior Toward the Children

At the beginning the Virgin made Herself accessible to the children in order to get their attention and satisfy their desires. This way of dealing with them would help the Virgin realize Her goal.

    A mother never ceases to be a mother when she plays with her children. It is like a mother's obligation.

    Some of the priests and faithful present at those moments would see in that a motive to deny the supernatural character of these historical facts. The Virgin would then deepen the understanding of the children's souls by teaching them what the life of grace is with the designated virtues always being adapted to their lives.

    The Virgin always took the place of the priest, becoming an "extraordinary" minister, each time a priest would not, or could not, fulfill his duty. With maternal tenderness, She would look after the girls' supernatural life.
 

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