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:

  1. 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

    ReplyDelete
  2. 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

    ReplyDelete
  3. 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

    ReplyDelete
  4. 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.

    ReplyDelete

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