WHAT IS GARABANDAL?: TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 1961:

Friday, April 16, 2010

TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 1961:

Padre Don Jose Ramon Garcia de la Riva

A REMARKABLE "SPANISH
COUNTRY PASTOR" ENTERS
THE LIVING STORY OF
GARABANDAL

Don Jose Ramon Garcia de la Riva went up to Garabandal for the first time on this day. He was then pastor of the parish of Our Lady of Sorrows at Barro, a small village some 38 miles away. The name of this priest of the Asturias was to remain profoundly linked to Garabandal.

A good photographer and an amateur movie maker, he took some beautiful films and some remarkable photos of the visionaries and sites. He published his 'Memoirs of a Spanish country parish Priest', in memory of his numerous trips to San Sebastian de Garabandal, from 1961 to 1968.

The very day of his arrival in the village, the members of the "Special Commission," who were also there on this August 22, obtained that the church be closed to the visionaries in ecstasy. Four days later, Msgr. Doroteo Fernandez published his first Note in the Official Bulletin of the diocese, forbidding priests henceforth from going to Garabandal. This was above all a pastoral act of prudence.
[Excerpted from 'Garabandal' Book, page 95.]

Father Jose witnessed over 200 apparitions and compiled them in a book. I have published that book here page by page. Check out the archives for this blog.

Our Lady said in one of her apparitions that she prayed for the coming of the Missiah before she found out that she was to be the Mother of God at the Annunciation. We can do the same, pray daily for the fulfillment of the Message of Garabandal, the Warning, the Miracle and Great Sign, and the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary! Pray also for the final Dogma of Our Lady as Co-redemptrix, Mediatrix of all graces and Advocate will be proclaimed by the Church!

God Bless
Deacon John

4 comments:

MiguelOctober 9, 2010 at 7:17 PM
My name is Miguel de Sousa. I had the great privilege to meet this Saintly Priest in August 2008 at Garabandal. The night before, our Portuguese Pilgrimage were at the Pines praying.In prayer,I asked Our Lady for a small sign. The following day, Father Jose de la Riva came to Garabandal, from Barro, to visit our Pilgrimage, and gave me a yellow Rosary, which had been kissed by Our Blessed Lady at San Sebastian de Garabandal! Our Lady, so Sweet, so Loving a Mother, answered my simple Prayer in a most wonderful manner! She's the Mother which i never had, here on Earth. And She'll be my Holy Mother forever in Heaven, God willing, of course.Blessed be God forever. Miguel
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Deacon JohnOctober 9, 2010 at 8:45 PM
Thank you for your comment, Miguel. Yes, Our Blessed Mother wants us all to be her children and when we consecrate ourselves to her Immaculate Heart, she promises to take care of all our needs, spiritual and temporal; and lead us to her Divine Son, Jesus.
Bless you+
Deacon John
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MiguelOctober 11, 2010 at 7:15 PM
Deacon John,
Thank You for your kind words.
Please help me if you possibly can. I'm looking for a book which Padre Jose Ramon de la Riva wrote about the Apparitions of San Sebastian de Garabandal.I just don't know where to find it.
God Bless You.
Miguel de Sousa
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Deacon JohnOctober 11, 2010 at 7:26 PM
Miguel, you can download it here and read it with Adobe reader. http://www.stjosephpublications.com/download/PDF/Memoirs_of_a_Spanish_Country_Priest.pdf

This book was published in French and Spanish and sent to the Vatican.

I also published this book here on my blog chapter by chapter. Check the archives below.
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UPDATE: THE CHURCH"S POSITION ON GARABANDAL

The magazine "Garabandal Journal" has updated some information regarding the village of Garabandal, the current Bishop and Pastor.
For many years, while never being condemned, the Garabandal events were under a dark cloud as some of the first bishops (but not all) opposed the events. But the tide started to change with Bishop Juan Antonio del Val Gallo (1971-1991). While he at first did not believe in the apparitions he took a more open position. In 1981, he became a believer and during his reign, he lifted the ban on priests going up to the village and allowed them to celebrate Mass in the village church with the permission of the village pastor. The next bishop, Jose Vilaplana Blasco, was a non-believer, but left in place the positive changes made by Bishop del Val. In 2006, he was transferred to another diocese in southern Spain and Archbishop of Oviedo, Carlos Osoro Sierra, was made Apostolic Administrator of Santander. The Archbishop, building on the positive measures taken by Bishop Del Val, allowed priests visiting Garabandal to celebrate Mass in the village church even if the pastor was not there (he ministered to a number of other villages and was not always in Garabandal). The Archbishop also gave visiting priests faculties to hear confessions.
In 2007, Ed Kelly from the United States, wrote to the Archbishop requesting the current status of Garabandal and received a letter from the prelate, under his own stationary and signed by him dated May 7, 2007, in which he said: "I respect the apparitions and have known of authentic conversions. In light of these events, how can we not always feel the need to open our heart to our mother Mary to tell her that we need her protection, help, spirit, desire, hope and love! I encourage you to continue maintaining this devotion to our Mother."
In 2011, two 50th anniversaries were celebrated in Garabandal (1) for the first appearance of St. Michael on June 18, 1961, and (2) the first vision of Our Lady on July 2, 1961. The celebrations were conducted under the auspices of the Santander Diocese represented by the village pastor Fr. Rolando Cabeza (also dean of the area). During the celebrations, another ban was lifted when Fr. Cabeza, spoke of the apparitions from the pulpit, and read the two formal Messages of Our Lady at Garabandal.
On May 6, 2012, current Bishop of Santander, Vecente Jimenez Zamora (installed in 2007) celebrated a Mass in Garabandal in commemoration of the completion of a restoration project of the village church. In a refreshments period after Mass, he was open and most cordial with all the villagers and visitors. On May1, 2013, the Bishop again celebrated Mass in the village church of Garabandal and prior to the Mass, kissed a crucifix belonging to villager David Toribio that was kissed by the Blessed Virgin at Garabandal. We don't know if the Bishop knew that but we suspect he did.
Bishop Jimenez's Masses in Garabandal were firsts, since no Bishop of Santander had ever said Mass in the village church from the time the apparitions began in 1961.
Deacon John

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