What I myself usually felt was much the same as anyone feels in the presence of a holy person who seems to be in continual communication with God. Jacinta’s demeanor was always serious and reserved, but friendly. All her actions seemed to reflect the presence of God in the way proper to people of mature age and great virtue. I never noticed in her that excessive frivolity or childish enthusiasm for games and pretty things, so typical of small children. This, of course, was after the apparitions; before then, she was the personification of enthusiasm and caprice!
I cannot say that the other children gathered around her as they did around me. This was most probably due to the fact that she did not know as many songs or stories with which to teach and amuse them, or perhaps that there was in her a seriousness far beyond her years. If in her presence a child, or even a grown up, were to say or do anything unseemly, she would reprimand them, saying, “Don’t do that, for you are offending the Lord our God, and He is already so much offended!”
If, as sometimes happened, the child or adult answered back, and called her a “pious Mary” or a plaster Saint, or some other such thing, she would look at them very seriously and walk away without saying a single word. Perhaps this was one of the reasons she did not enjoy more popularity. If I was with her, dozens of children would gather round us in no time; but if I went away, she would soon find herself all alone. Yet when I was with her, they seemed to delight in her company. They would hug and kiss her in the affectionate way of innocent children. They loved to sing and play with her, and sometimes begged me to go and look for her when she had not come out to play. If she told them that she did not want to come because they were naughty, they promised to be good if only she would come out: “Go and get her, and tell her we promise to be good if she’ll come.”
When I went to visit her during her illness, I often found a large group waiting at the door, hoping to be able to come in with me and see her. They seemed to be held back by a certain sense of respect. Sometimes, before I left, I asked her, “Jacinta, do you want me to tell some of them to stay here with you and keep you company? “
‘Oh, yes! But just the ones smaller than myself.’ Then they all vied with each other, saying,”I’ll stay! I’ll stay!” After that, she entertained them by teaching them the Our Father, Hail Mary, how to bless themselves, and to sing. Sitting on her bed or, if she was up, on the floor of the living room, they played ‘pebbles’, using crab apples, chestnuts, sweet acorns, dried figs and so on, all which my aunt was only too happy to supply, so that her little girl might enjoy the children’s company.
She prayed the Rosary with them, and counseled them not to commit sin, and so avoiding offending the Lord our God and going to hell, and seemed very happy in her company. But once they had left her presence, they did not dare to go back in the trusting way so natural to children. Sometimes they came in search of me, begging me to go in with them, or they waited for me outside the house, or they waited at the door until my aunt or Jacinta herself invited them in to see her. They seemed to like her and enjoy her company, but they felt themselves held back by a certain shyness or respect that kept them somewhat at a distance.