Among the prisoners, there was one who played the concertina. To divert our attention, he began to play and they all started singing. They asked us if we knew how to dance. We said we knew the Fandango and the Vira. Jacinta’s partner was a poor thief who, finding her so tiny, picked her up and went on dancing with her in his arms! We only hope that Our Lady has had pity on his soul and converted him!
Now, Your Excellency will be saying: “What a fine disposition for martyrdom!” That is true. But we were only children and we didn’t think beyond this. Jacinta dearly loved dancing, and had a special aptitude for it. I remember how she was crying one day about one of her brothers who had gone to the war and was reported killed in action. To distract her, I arranged a little dance with two of her brothers. There was the poor child dancing away as she dried the tears that ran down her cheeks. Her fondness of dancing was such that the sound of some shepherd playing his instrument was enough to set her dancing all by herself.
In spite of this, when carnival time or St. John’s Day festivals came around, she announced: “I’m not going to dance anymore.”
“And why not?”
“Because I want to offer this sacrifice to Our Lord.”