THE THREE PHASES OF GARABANDAL by Mark Regis

The Garabandal events are remarkable in all their dimensions, from the incredible phenomena of the girls’ ecstasies never before
seen in Marian apparitions to the great supernatural events that have been prophesied.
Another way in which Garabandal is unique among Marian apparitions is the long time it is
taking for its completion.
One could argue that Fatima is also not yet
complete, as we still await the triumph of the
Immaculate Heart of Mary and the promised era
of peace. While that may be true, the events that
took place in Fatima ended in 1917. The Miracle
promised at Garabandal is to take place in
Garabandal, the same locale as the 1961-65
events, and is the culmination of them. When
all is said and done, Garabandal will not only have
spanned two centuries, but two millennia.
Because of the long lapse of time before its
fulfillment, Garabandal can be divided into three
phases: the time of the apparitions: the time for the
spread of the Message; and the time of the final
supernatural events, namely the Aviso (Warning)
and Miracle.

THE FIRST PHASE
June 18, 1961 marked the beginning of the fi rst
phase when St Michael appeared to the visionaries
in the calleja. After nine more visits by the angel,
the Blessed Virgin appeared on July 2nd and
subsequently hundreds of times thereafter until the
close of the apparitions on November 13, 1965.
Garabandal

This four-year span can also be sub-divided into
the period of frequent apparitions, which lasted
from the beginning until January 1963, and the time
of infrequent visions from that time until November
1965. During this second period, only Conchita had
visions, although both she and Mari Loli experienced
locutions.
Even though Conchita did have only one final
locution in February 1966, the 1960s events are
generally considered to have ended on November 13,
1965, the last apparition of the Blessed Virgin. We
might also call this the Marian phase of Garabandal
since the last phase has to do with God’s direct
intervention.
With the end of the first phase, the Blessed Virgin
completed her mission to announce an important
Message and she did all that she could, through a
spectacular display of phenomena, to insure that the
Message truly was from heaven and therefore ought
to be heeded.

THE SECOND PHASE:
SPREAD OF THE MESSAGE
Dividing the overall Garabandal event into three
phases is certainly done arbitrarily; there are no
hard and fast rules, and there is some overlapping
of phases. Even during the first phase, after the
announcement of the first Message on October 18,
1961, it was the Virgin’s wish that the Message
begin to spread at that point. There was even
a lull in the events through most of the 1963-
64 period for its propagation, but that did not
happen. So, in her second and final Message
(delivered by St Michael), on June 18, 1965,
Our Lady began with the complaint that little
had been done to make her Message known.
But the real overlapping of the first and second
phases, according to our division, can be seen
with the announcement of the second Message
six months before the last apparition of Our
Lady. Those who were present for the reading
of the Message on the day following Conchita’s
ecstasy, were deeply affected and some started to do
something about it.
Today, through the efforts of those who
answered the call and the organizations that have
been established specifically for this purpose, the
Message of Garabandal has spread and continues to
spread throughout the world.

BUT WHY IS IT TAKING SO LONG?
Here we are now 43 years later and still in the
spreading-the-Message phase. Why is it taking so
long to get to the final, supernatural events stage?
There are two answers that come to mind. The first
is the importance that the Message reach as many
people as possible. In the first Message, which is
really the message that the Blessed Virgin came
to deliver, 51 percent of the text deals with the
Chastisement. It is imperative that people know
what fate awaits them if there is not a universal
amendment of life.
The second answer is – technology. The Blessed
Virgin knew that in time there would be advancements
in communications that would make it possible
to spread the Message far more widely than ever
before through cable and satellite television, DVDS
and most recently, the Internet.


WHEN WILL IT END?
When will the second phase end and how close
are we to the first and final phase of Garabandal? We
can’t give definite answers to those questions, but
what we can say is that the phase for spreading the
Message will end when we can no longer do it, for
whatever reason, whether it be a general falling away
of belief in Garabandal, which has been predicted,
and/or the arrival of the pre-Warning tribulation/
persecution period.
But even aside from anything dramatic, there
are telltale signs that we are approaching the end
of the second phase; with the death of Pope John
Paul II we have now entered the end times. You
will recall Conchita’s statements in June 1963 that,
on the death of Pope John XXIII, the Virgin stated
that there will be three more popes to the end times
– Popes Paul VI, John Paul I, and John Paul II;
the incredible down-ward moral spiral of formerly
Christian societies which seems to accelerate with
each passing day; the serious problems in the Church
especially regarding the Holy Eucharist where an
estimated 60-70 percent of Catholics in the U.S. no
longer believe in the Real Presence (a trend like that
cannot continue if the Church is going to exist – and
we know it will).
We do not know how widespread this tribulation,
spoken of by the visionaries, will be nor how long
it will last, but there can be no question that it was
predicted at Garabandal. Three of the visionaries
have spoken of it and have informed us that the name
the Blessed Virgin gave to it was “communism”. The
Blessed Virgin insisted on telling us to pray (that it
be averted). These difficult events will take place
before the Warning because the Warning itself will
take place when the situation will be at its worst.

THE FINAL PHASE
The final phase will begin with the Warning.
There are some today who say the Warning does not
belong exclusively to Garabandal since it had been
predicted by Blessed Anna Maria Taigi (1769-1837)
and possibly St Edmund Campion (1540-1581).
But there clearly is a difference between prophecies
made of a future event by those who lived in former
centuries, and an event being announced for those
who will experience it in their lifetime. And who
ever spoke of this event until Garabandal? It was
Garabandal that made it known, revealed of what
it will consist, and gave it a time frame. Mari Loli
knows the year when it will occur. Furthermore,
to take this event out of the context of Garabandal
would be to overlook its purpose of preparing the
world for the great Miracle.
The Warning is very much a part of the Garabandal
events and will initiate the final phase – and more.
Conchita has said that “when you see the Warning
you’ll know you have opened up the end of
time.”
Within a twelve-month period after the
Warning will come the Miracle. Conchita
has expressed her opinion that the two events
will be close together.
With the Miracle comes the end of the
Garabandal events (excluding the conditional
Chastisement) and we can all look forward to
the fulfillment of Our Lady’s words that when
the Miracle happens, “all will believe.”