San Sebastian de Garabandal

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San Sebastian de Garabandal is a rural village in the Pena Sagra mountain range of Northern Spain. Located in the autonomous community of Cantabria, about 600 meters above sea level, Garabandal is about 35 miles (55 km) from the cantabrian capital, Santander, and roughly 250 miles (400 km) from the Spanish capital, Madrid. It has a population of about 300.

Commonly referred to simply as Garabandal, this town received a huge amount of publicity in the early 1960s. From 1961 to 1965, four young schoolgirls received visitations from St. Michael the Archangel and the Blessed Virgin Mary (see Marian apparitions). The visitations numbered in the thousands, drew huge crowds, and featured paranormal phenomena, much of it filmed or photographed, with thousands of witnesses. The girls received messages from Saint Michael and the Virgin.

First Message (October 18, 1961): It is necessary to make many sacrifices, do much penance. It is necessary to visit the Blessed Sacrament very much. But first we must be very good. And if we do not do this, a punishment will come upon us. Already the cup is filling up; and if we do not change, a very great punishment will come upon us.

Second Message (June 18, 1965): •The Angel said: •As my message of October 18 has not been fulfilled, and has not been made known to the world, I tell you that this is the last. •Before, the cup was filling up; now it is overflowing. •The PRIESTS: Many are on the road to perdition, and with them they are taking many more souls. •The EUCHARIST: It is being given less and less importance. •With your own efforts, you should avoid the wrath of the Good God. •If you ask pardon with a sincere heart, He will forgive you. •I, your Mother, through the intercession of the Archangel St. Michael, want to tell you to amend your lives. •You are in the last warnings! •I love you very much and do not want your condemnation. •Ask us sincerely, and we will give what you ask. •You should sacrifice yourself more. •Think of the passion of Jesus.

The main visionary Conchita has declared: •The Warning is a thing that comes directly from God and will be visible throughout the entire world in whatever place anyone might be. •The Warning will be like a revelation of our sins and it will be seen and experienced equally by believers and non-believers and people of any religion whatsoever. •The Warning is like a purification for the Miracle. •And it is a sort of a catastrophe. It will make us think of the dead, that is, we would prefer to be dead rather than to experience the Warning. •The Warning is something supernatural and will not be explained by science. •It will be seen and felt. •The Warning will be a correction of the conscience of the world. •For those who do not know Christ, they will believe it is a Warning from God. •The most important thing about that day is that everyone in the whole world will see a sign, a grace, or a punishment within themselves, in other words, a Warning. •They will find themselves all alone in the world no matter where they are at the time, alone with their conscience right before God. •They will then see all their sins and what their sins have caused. •We will all feel it differently because it will depend on our conscience. The Warning will be very personal, therefore, we will all react differently to it. •The most important thing will be to recognize our own sins and the bad consequences of them. •Your experience of the Warning will be different from mine because your sins are different from mine. •This will be a Warning to see what you have done with your sins. •It will be like a purification before the Miracle to see if with the Warning and Miracle we will be converted. •The Virgin told me that before the Miracle, God will be sending us a Warning so as to purify us or prepare us to see the Miracle and in this way we may draw enough grace to change our lives toward God. •It is a phenomenon which will be seen and felt in all the world and everywhere; I have always given as an example that of two stars that collide. •This phenomenon will not cause physical damage, but it will horrify us because at that very moment we will see our souls and the harm we have done. •It will be as though we were in agony but we will not die by its effects but perhaps we will die of fright or shock to see ourselves. •No one will have doubts of it being from God, and of its not being human. •I who know what it is, am very much afraid of that day. •The Virgin told us that the Warning and Miracle will be the last warnings or public manifestations that God will give us. This is why I believe that after them we will be near the end of time. •To me it's like two stars that crash and make a lot of noise and a lot of light but they don't fall down. •It's something that's not going to hurt us but we're going to see it. •In that moment, we're going to see our conscience. You're going to see everything wrong that you're doing and the good you're not doing.

The visionary Loli stated: •Everyone will experience it wherever they may be, regardless of their condition or their knowledge of God. It will be an interior personal experience. It will look as if the world has come to a standstill, however, no one will be aware of that as they will be totally absorbed in their own experience. •It is going to be something like an interior feeling of sorrow and pain for having offended God. God will help us to see clearly the harm we are causing Him and all the evil things we do. He will help us to sense this interior pain because often when we do something wrong we just ask the Lord's forgiveness with our lips, but now (through the Warning) He will help us sense physically that deep sorrow.

The visionary Jacinta stated: •The Warning is something that is first seen in the air everywhere in the world and immediately is transmitted into the interior of our souls. It will last for a very little time, but it will seem a very long time because of its effect within us. It will be for the good of our souls, in order to see in ourselves our conscience, the good and the bad that we've done.

The Miracle: (The second of the Great Events prophesied at Garabandal) Conchita has declared: •The Virgin told me that God was going to perform a great Miracle and that there would be no doubt about the fact that it was a miracle. •It will come directly from God with no human intervention. •A day will come and she told me the day, the month and the year so I know the exact date. It is coming soon but I can't reveal it until eight days before the date. •I am not permitted to say exactly what is going to happen. What I can reveal is that the Virgin said that everyone who would be there on that day would see it. •The sick who are there will be cured no matter what their disease or religion. However, they have to be there. •The Virgin said that everyone present would believe. They would see that this was coming directly from God. •All sinners present would be converted. •She also said that you would be able to take pictures and televise it. •Also, from that moment on there would be a permanent sign at the pines that everyone will be able to see and touch but not feel. •And this sign will remain until the end of time. •It seems so near when I think that people are not living the Message, because after the Miracle there may come the punishment. •To be complete, there must be the Warning and the Miracle. It is all one message. •The Virgin told me of it and made me understand exactly what it will be. Even if I tried to explain it I wouldn't be able to do it well. It is better that you wait and see it.

The Sign: (The third of the Great Events prophesied at Garabandal.) •Noah’s Ark was the sign God sent before the deluge. •Before the Chastisement, God will place a Sign at the Pines in Garabandal. •It will be able to be seen, televised and photographed. •It will be able to be touched but not felt. •The Sign will remain in Garabandal until the end of time, a lasting supernatural monument, proclaiming peace or punishment, depending on mankind’s choice of amendment or sin.

The Chastisement: (The fourth of the Great Events prophesied at Garabandal): •The Virgin Mary first spoke of the future chastisement in the Secret of La Salette, revealed in 1858. •The Third Secret of Fatima, made known in 2000, portrayed an Angel touching the earth with a flaming sword. •The First Message at Garabandal in 1961 speaks of a “very great punishment” and said, “The cup is filling up.” The Second Message in 1965 said, “Now it is overflowing.” •Conchita described the Chastisement as something “very, very great in keeping with what we deserve.” •She stated, “The Chastisement is conditional and depends on whether or not mankind heeds the messages of the Blessed Virgin and the Miracle.” •“If it should take place, I know of what it will consist because the Blessed Virgin told me about it, but I am not permitted to say what it is.” •“I have seen the Chastisement. I can assure you that it is worse than being enveloped in fire, worse than having fire above and beneath you.” •“I do not know how much time will pass between the Miracle and the Chastisement.” •The Secret of Fatima began with a vision of hell. It showed souls in a vast sea of fire with flames coming from within them. The souls had no control of their movements, being defenseless to protect themselves from demons there to torment them. •The Chastisement foretold at Garabandal should be dreaded because it has similarities to Sodom and Gomorrah on a world wide scale. •But infinitely more to be dreaded is what follows the Chastisement, for then the souls will be cast into hell, there to endure forever the fate shown in the vision of hell.

The official sobriquet for Our Lady in this series of visitations is 'Our Lady of Mount Carmel of Garabandal, because her appearance, dress and hairstyle looked like portrayals of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Today, the town is a place of pilgrimage for Roman Catholics and members of other faiths. Because of the town's remote location and lack of easy accessibility, it has remained largely the same as it was in 1961, and has not suffered the touristy overhaul that has befallen some other visitation sites such as Lourdes.

Position of the Church: As always, the Church has acted with great prudence toward the apparitions. It took thirteen years for the Church to give the official approval to the Fatima apparitions even after seventy thousand people witnessed the miracle of the sun. A special emissary from Holy Office was sent to Garabandal to investigate the witnesses of the apparitions. By special request of the Pro-Secretary of the same Congregation of the Faith, Cardinal Ottaviani, Conchita went to Rome in 1966 accompanied by her mother and a priest. She met with Cardinal Ottaviani and other officials of the Vatican. With Cardinal Marella she was received in a private audience by Pope Paul VI. For obvious reasons, nothing more can be said regarding this intervention of Rome. However it is necessary to confirm this visit of Conchita to the Holy Office in order to refute rumors that no private audience with His Holiness had been granted to Conchita. He said to her "Conchita I bless you and with me the whole Church blesses you." The Final and decisive Judgement of these events belongs exclusively to the Supreme Magisterium of the Church.

[edit] External links

St. Joseph Publications, a non profit foundation, was incorporated in 1973 to foster devotion to St. Joseph and the Virgin Mary and make known messages given through apparitions. Books and videos of Our Lady’s apparitions, especially Garabandal and Fatima, are available on this site free for download.

Workers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel de Garabandal Official Web site of the Workers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The organization was founded by Joey Lomangino in Lindenhurst, New York (1968). [1]*[2]