Testimony of Fr. Luis Ortega
Information released by Father Ortega after his visit to Garabandal, August 22 and 23, 1962.
Reprinted with kind permission from Garabandal Journal/ May-June 2020
DIALOGUE OF CONCHITA IN ECSTASY
•You already know that Carmen’s brother is here and said Mass, but they didn’t let us in [the church].
•Ah, so the Bishop ordered this?
•Who has more authority, the Bishop or you?
•Ah, the Bishop? (Note: I could not understand if she said the Bishop has more authority, or more here, or something similar.)
• • •
•Who counts for more, a priest or an angel?
•What? The priest? Because he has the power to forgive sins?
• • •
Walking in ecstasy through the streets, she asked,
•And what is heaven like?
•I think on the outside it must be something like a cloud.
•And inside?
•That they sustain themselves looking at God?
•They can see you, too, can’t they?
• • •
•Why did they change the feast of Our Lady of Carmel?
•Ah, they’re going to change it again?
• I think we should pray Mother of God and Our Mother…
•So the Pope hasn’t approved it and it doesn’t have indulgences yet…?
• • •
•What’s more important, going to Communion, or seeing you?
•Communion?
(After the ecstasy, I asked her why she had asked this, and she answered, “For me it is more agreeable to see her, but she told me Communion is more important.”)
•Did you know that Carmen knows about the miracle?
•Does that make you angry?
•Ah, you are not angry?
•Besides, it’s not my fault, is it?
(She said something about what the Miracle would consist of.)
A priest asked if the Virgin said, “I believe” in the Creed, and why did she say that when in heaven no one needs (to say they have) faith. The answer was, “so that we say it correctly.”
A priest wanted the girl to ask if the Virgin appeared corporally or as an image, since it can’t possibly be corporally. Answer: An image. (Note from translator: In a different account when a priest asked the girls to ask the Virgin if she were appearing in body and soul, she answered, “No. I come in a different form, but it is me. ”
The priest told the girl that the Communion was an illusion of hers, since an angel could not consecrate the Host. The answer: The angel had a Host that already had been consecrated. Also, the Vision told her that Christ gives the law, but He is not subject to it.
MIRACLE: While at Maria Dolores’ house I heard that a miracle had occurred. I left in a hurry to find the girl [the one allegedly cured], who was in her mid twenties. She had been sick for some time. She worked in Torrelavega at the home of a doctor whose name, I believe, was Salazar.
The girl had had x-rays taken of the lower part of her hip some four months and two months previously, and her explanation to us was that the x-rays clearly showed two areas of deep erosions of the bone the size of two thumb prints. She had been spending most of her time in bed for the last two months. She had been praying to Our Lady for patience to bear it, or to heal her, but she submitted herself completely to God’s will.
It was Mari Cruz who, walking through the streets in ecstasy, came to the house of the sick girl. Before going in, she was heard saying, “Danielina will be cured.” She went inside the house of the sick girl and gave her the crucifix to kiss. Exactly ten minutes after Mari Cruz left (as told to me by the sick girl herself) she felt a cold chill in her leg which she thought was strange. Then she grabbed her knee and pulled her leg in all directions. Feeling no pain, she jumped out of bed and ran into the street in her nightgown and robe, to the house of one of her relatives, and refused to come out, afraid people would mob her.
Note: July nineteenth Jacinta and Maria Dolores received Communion from the hands of the angel. They asked if the reason they hadn’t received Communion from him previously with Conchita was because they were less worthy. The angel answered that it was for a different reason. Thus, the angel confirmed in this way that he was the one who previously had given Communion to Conchita. (July 18, 1962, was the night Conchita received the visible Host from St. Michael.)
Letter from Marce Huicbbro to Reverend Father Rafael Huidobro S.J., dated June 23,1962
On July 28, 1961, in Garabandal, I lost the cross and three Hail Mary beads of my rosary. I searched high and low and asked everyone if they had seen it. I went to the homes, asked the girls and their families and Father Valentin, the pastor, who was the one who gave it to me (without the missing part), after receiving it from Conchita.
In September, I went to Garabandal with Don Emilio Valle, his daughter Luz, who is the wife of the Director of General Security, and the wife of Don Augusto Miranda. At midnight Father Valentin asked us to go to Jacinta’s home, as she was sick in bed with a high fever and also had been in ecstasy for over half an hour. We could hear perfectly her conversation with the Virgin. I put in her hand another rosary I had. She asked the Virgin—in that state she does not see or hear anyone but the Virgin—who had “rested” it there. Then she said, “One that came with Don Emilio’s group?” Then she asked, “How many are there? I don’t understand what you mean that there are three of them but only one?” Because we always tag along with Don Emilio they call us in the village the Don Emilio group, but neither Carmen Miranda nor I are related in any way to him. He only had his own one daughter with him.
Then she grabbed hold of the rosary centerpiece with an enameled surface and asked, “What is this? It feels like a medal but it’s smooth. Are you telling me it’s a crucified Christ?” She fingered the cross and said, “This is a crucified Christ but the other has nothing on it.”
Mr. Valle asked to borrow this rosary to take to Leon where he was visiting during Christmas. He had told the Bishop this story, and the Bishop wanted to see the rosary. It was a very fine rosary with coral beads, so I bought a rosary pouch for it and entrusted it to him. When he returned (and only he went to Leon) he told me only the Bishop had seen and touched it, and he returned the rosary pouch to me. I left without opening it or touching the rosary.When I got home I found the Benjumeas. They had arrived from Seville and were visiting and discussing Garabandal with Carmen and Rafael [Fontaneda]. Carmen asked me, “Did Don Emilio give you back your rosary? Show them the medal.” I took out the coral rosary and showed it to them, and as I returned it to the pouch I noticed something else in there: it was the exact part of my other rosary that I had lost six months previously. I phoned Valle, and he gave me his word of honor that he had not seen it or touched it. This is inexplicable.
Letter from Dr. Celestino Perez of Santander to Father Ramon Andreu dated June 5,1962
Wednesday, May 30,1 took another of my frequent trips to Garabandal and arrived at 11:30 p.m. I had the good fortune of seeing Maria Dolores in ecstasy walking through the village singing the holy rosary. When she ended the rosary, she returned to her normal state. We asked her if she would be seeing the Virgin again and she said yes, between 2:00 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. Two priests, Father Luis Lopez Retenaga and Father Pedro Gil, professors of the seminary in San Sebastian, were present. They brought with them a blind man suffering from diarrhea, possibly psychological, and angina, and I was able to help.
Conchita had her ecstasy at home alone with her mother, who slept very soundly through it all. After praying the holy rosary she offered the crucifix to her mother to kiss, causing a startled wake up. I asked if Padre Pio had answered her and Conchita said yes. Her mother showed the letter to me, saying that Father Valentin said it was a standard form letter sent to everyone who writes to Padre Pio (see box). I then told Conchita that he had not really answered her message from the Virgin. She blushed, saying: “Oh, yes he did! There was another little envelope inside the big envelope, sealed and for me!” Her mother hadn’t known this and scolded her for keeping secrets from her. I never did find out the contents of the little envelope.
Form letter received from San Giovanni which was accompanied by the smaller one from Saint Pio addressed to Conchita.
Reprinted with kind permission from Garabandal Journal/ May-June 2020
