As an overture to this part of my 'vision' opera I have chosen a case which in my opinion resolves itself into three questions. It needs describing in full detail.
Sixty-two miles south-west of the Spanish town of Santander in Old Castille lies San Sebastian de Carabandal, Cara-bandal for short, a hamlet with narrow stone streets and about forty houses.
Sunday, 18th June, 1961, 16. 30 hrs. Four little girls were playing in the market place. They were Conchita and Jacinta, both aged twelve, and Mari Cruz, aged eleven. Their surname was Gonzalez, but they were not related, for the name Gon-zalez is as common in Spain as Smith, Dupont and Muller are in other countries. The fourth little girl was called Mari Loli Mazon, aged twelve. These children decided to steal apples from their teacher's garden.
About eight o'clock at night they were walking down the stony road called Calleja back to the village, with heavily laden skirts and very bad consciences. To fight the uneasy feeling they had in the pit of the stomach they picked up stones which they threw at an imaginary 'bad angel' whom they thought they could make out on the left- hand side of the road. (ll)
Suddenly Conchita stopped and stared up at the sky. She told the others that she could see 'a very beautiful figure in a bright light'. The other three thought it was a new game, but Conchita insisted:
'No. no! Look over there!'
The little girls gazed at the clouds and cried: 'The angel!'
They were quiet as mice and gaped at the sky for several minutes, as motionless as the angel who had appeared. Then the phenomenon vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
The little girls ran home and told their story. The news spread like the wind in the superstitious village.
Could four healthy, sensible little girls have seen the same 'face' at the same time, people asked themselves. Why should children lie for no reason, how could they each give exactly the same description of the event, as they were not expecting anything worse than being punished for stealing apples? Why did they stubbornly repeat their statements without a mistake, and continue to do so in the future? Their account was received with barely suppressed doubt.
Children always want to make quite certain. So the four of them ran up the Calleja on the next day, with the rosary tightly held in their fingers. The angel did not show himself.
On 20th June they repeated their walk accompanied by a few curious villagers. As they were returning in disappointment, the children suddenly saw a 'radiant light' in the firmament. No one else observed the phenomenon except them.
The next day a larger group was with them in the Calleja. This time the angel showed himself spontaneously. Once more the villagers did not notice anything, though some of them photographed the transfigured faces of the children.
The mocking ceased. A certain awe of the supernatural and conversation with the angel. To put it more precisely: they to the children on 22, 23, 24 and 25th June at the same spot. According to the children it was always the same angel, though he never spoke.
The little girls were accompanied by a crowd of sensationalists at the evening rendezvous on 1st July.
The angel appeared and stayed for two whole hours. Once again the spectacle was confined to the children, but those present heard the conversation with the angel. To put it more precisely: they heard the little girls' questions and answers. On this occasion the angel spoke for the first time, introducing himself as the Archangel Michael. The audience were unanimous in describing the children's strange unnatural attitude. They knelt for the whole two hours, their heads bent far back, frozen in a rigid posture.
On 2nd July, a Sunday, the whole of Carabandal was afoot: swarms of people from neighbouring villages had hastened there. From 15.00 hrs onwards the rosary was recited in the church. Towards
18.00 hrs, the procession, including doctors and priests, with the girls at its head, got under way. On the scene of the vision four posts had been driven into the ground and connected with ropes to form a fence to stop the children from being crushed to death by the crowd. The miracle happened again.
Scarcely had the children reached the 'ring' when the Blessed Virgin showed herself to them, flanked by two angels. One of them Michael, was familiar to the girls, and they said of the other that he might have been Michael's twin. The children made quite independent statements in which all the facts tally completely. They also contain a description of the Virgin which varied little on other occasions. She had long dark brown hair parted in the middle, a longish face with a narrow nose and soft lips, a snowwhite dress with a light blue cloak over it and she wore a crown with gold stars on it.
Her age was between seventeen and eighteen. As in other cases, the girls noticed that the figure did not move her feet when she changed position - she floated through the air. To the right of the Blessed Virgin they could make out a 'reddish flickering image', from which rose a triangle with an inscription which they could not decipher. The angels wore smooth blue robes. They too had narrow faces and dark ('black') eyes. Their fingernails were cut short - the children's observation was as accurate as that - and large pinkish-red wings grew from their backs.
The village priest Don Valentin questioned the little girls. Four statements made quite separately from each other agreed down to the last detail.
Peter Ramon Andreu drafted a report of the spectacular vision on 2nd July for Bishop Aldazal in Santander. The following is a literal quotation: It was not possible to bring the children to their senses even with painful cuts, brutal blows and burns.
They perceived nothing of the external world. One could convince oneself of this by suddenly passing a light or other object in front of their eyes. There was absolutely no movement of the eyelids or pupils. (12)
There were two visions on 27th July. Early in the morning the angel announced a second appearance for eight o'clock sharp in the evening. This news spread like wildfire. According to official estimations over 600 people assembled, among them priests and doctors and even a 'spy' from the Workers'
University of Cordoba, a Dominican father.
Archangel Michael arrived punctually and stayed for eighty-five minutes. Eyewitnesses claimed that the children became so rigid that two men could only lift their small bodies with the greatest difficulty.
Various attempts to move the heads or arms of the visionaries were unsuccessful.
Naturally there were sceptics. Even the church had its reservations. People spoke of hypnosis, hallucinations, prefabricated lies and deceit, even of promoting business for the benefit of the isolated farming village.
Conchita, it seemed obvious, had the strongest personality of the four. So it was suspected that she might have influenced her friends suggestively. To avert this she was taken to Santander to join other children and went swimming on the beach with them to cure her cramps.
After a week had passed the family came to take Conchita home. Then things really began to happen!
One vision after another, visions by the dozen. The interest of much wider circles was aroused. The avalanche of spectators that poured into the village acquired frightening proportions. According to an official estimate there were more than 5, 000 people on 18th October.
The weather was most unseasonable for the time of year with rainstorms and violent squalls. The field on which the crowd waited patiently was turned into a quagmire. They stuck it out, because they were expecting a miracle. Nothing happened.
At about 22. 00 hrs a message signed by one of the children and ostensibly dictated by the Mother of God was read out. It called on everyone to bring sacrifices and do penance, because otherwise - as always in such messages! — mankind would be punished.
I do not intend to give a detailed record of the many visions at Carabandal. The literature is available for those who are interested. [13]
What became of the four little girls? After the one great journey of her life - she visited the Pope in Rome - Conchita returned to her village, but soon entered the Order of the 'Calced Carmelites' at Pamplona. Mari Loli and Jacinta were received into a convent near Saragossa. Only Mari Cruz stayed with her parents, whom she helped in the home and on the farm.
I find three important points in the logbook of the stormy events at Carabandal:
1. The miracle of the host. It happened on the night of 18th July, 1962. About two a.m. the Archangel Michael is supposed to have appeared in Conchita's room, in which some relatives were also staying. It says in the records that the girl suddenly rushed down the stairs with face transfigured, and ran though the streets before throwing herself to the ground. She lay there rigid, with her tongue sticking far out of her mouth. Eyewitnesses on the night
