The Light: 
The One They SeeWe have indicated that at the beginning they only saw the angel. Then, as is logical, it was difficult for them to explain the series of people and things that formed the apparitions. They describe what they see with more ease.
The Virgin: She is very tall. She wears a crown of brilliant stars, round but open (in the style of a diadem). The dress is white with white flowers. The mantle is very blue. She does not wear a veil. Her hair is long and very dark brown, almost black. When the girls ask, sometimes she opens her mantle so that they can see her dress. The Virgin is about 18 years old. They don’t see her feet. Her eyes and eyebrows are black. She is very beautiful and almost always smiles.
These visions began on June 18, 1961. They happened in such a way that they grew. There are some days at the end of the month in which the girls did not have visions. The vision was still not speaking at this point. On July 2nd, for the first time, they heard words coming from the vision. The girls were still and kneeling in a reverential posture. The first falls, the ecstatic marches, the ones we talked about then, began around August 3rd.
And the Angel appeared to them. Later they identified him as St. Michael the Archangel. He didn’t speak at all the first days they saw him. It seems that he came to announce the Virgin. The apparitions happened like this. We will tell the condition in which these apparitions occurred, even though they’re good, profound and serious visions.
The Happenings
According to what we have known, the girls left to listen to an explanation of catechism, “The good angel tells us to do good and he helps and defends us. The bad angel, the demon, pushes us to do bad.” They were playing happily. They had a strange idea: to take fruit from an orchard. “We won’t do it. Because the bad angel has inspired us to do this. The good angel tells us that…”
Sept.-Oct. 1962
My school Sept.-Oct. 1962
Synthetic Report
“Does the Virgin act visibly?”
“What is occurring in San Sebastián de Garabandal, Santander?”
“San Sebastián de Garabandal is a village situated on a mountain about 7 kilometers above Cossío. From this point of reference, Cossío, the highway passes closer to San Sebastián de Garabandal.
It is a varied countryside on a mountain with Pines, in whose skirts the simple village rests. Its inhabitants are peaceful, honorable workers. Until the events, which we are going to discuss, the village represented a dark place with old traditions. One is like ours: at sunset, a woman—she’s the mother of one of the seers, Jacinta—runs through the streets ringing a little bell to invite her neighbors to pray for the souls in Purgatory. They also pray the holy Rosary daily in the Church.
There is not the remotest feeling of religious fanaticism.
The roads that go through the country are full of crops in the stony wilderness. There is a riverbed that is full of boulders that rests below the mountain of pines.
The Actors
The names of the girls are:
María Concepción, 12 years old (Conchita).
Jacinta, 12 years old.
María Dolores, 12 years old.
María Cruz, 11 years old.
We will add that none of the girls are sisters or cousins.
Besides María Cruz, the others have enjoyed strong health and robust complexion. Their mental development at this age is normal for the villages. Compared to a child of this age who has been educated or is from the city, they would seem about 9 or 10 years old.
They are poor, humble, working families. Their fathers are normal, with the temperaments of men from the north country, from Santander.
They have an excellent and prudent pastor, full of zeal for his parish. The young boys and youth have the virtues and vices customary to their ages. Everything is normal.
The girls are not distinguishable from the others in their manner of being, nor in their performance in school, nor in catechism, nor for anything exemplary. This also includes mischievous occurrences normal for their age.
Note: Ideas to complete the Message.
It asks for the greatest devotion to the Most Holy Sacrament, sacrifices, and that we entrust ourselves to Our Mother in Heaven.
With these concrete finalities, we can establish a series of acts, in ascending progression, that will help us to complete these petitions.
They are the following:
1. When passing in front of a Church, pray a greeting to Jesus in the Sacrament and to Our Lord.
2. When passing in from of a Church, stop a moment to pray as in the previous idea.
3. The same as the previous one, but after praying, bless yourself.
4. Enter the Church, visit the Blessed Sacrament and an image of Our Lady.
5. Hear Mass and receive the sacrament, praising the intentions of the Message.
6. Hear Mass as in the previous idea and then another time make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament.
8. Similar to the previous idea, but do the Holy Hour with an organization that does nightly or daily adoration.
9. Organize, or form part, like in the previous idea, of a group that visits the Blessed Sacrament, so that it is achieved in each parish or place where it is; an hour shouldn’t pass without the Blessed Sacrament receiving a visit from his faithful devotees.
10. Pray the rosary with the family as the base of your devotions.
11. Participate in all acts possible that complete the Messages.
12. Regarding the sacrifices, each person knows what he should do to complete his duties. From this, we should do personal devotions.
13. Spread the Messages whenever possible.
Santander, October 9, 1968.
Annex I: “This canon, cited by Monsignor Beitia, has since lost its force and ecclesiastical law,” according to a declaration of the Holy Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Decree 15-XI-66, but according to the same Decree “It inculcates again the valor of the moral who absolutely prohibit placing faith in danger and the good customs.”
This text has been translated from the previous letter, according to the version given to the press by the Bishop of Santander.
His Excellence Reverend Father: Through a letter in the month of October of last year this Holy Congregation retracted the documents by the Diocesan Commission, as the rules given by the U.E. about the “apparitions” that have taken place in Garabandal.
This Holy Congregation has carefully and attentively examined all of the documentation, including that which has been sent from other places, and finally has arrived at the conclusion that this issue has already been examined minutely and decided by U.E. and so there is no reason for this Holy Congregation to intervene in it.
Even so, I give thanks to the U.E. for the discretion and prudence that they have shown in the resolution of this matter and I will avail myself to express my great esteem to the U.E.”
This letter merits, for its source and for being a test, intent examination. It is necessary, knowing the delicacy of the Vatican, to examine it point by point in order to get its full feeling. Apparently, it is necessary to dissemble its text. Rome has not lost interest nor has it become definitively uninterested in Garabandal. A proof of this is the trip that Conchita made to the Eternal City in the first months of the next year, after being solicited by a Vatican organization.
Since Bishop Puchol did not give any rule, it can be supposed that Monsignor Beitia tried to include some in the Commission’s documents, because they appear to be effective, which is the same as those given by Monsignor Puchol. In any form, it would be interesting to know which they were, to know of which ones Rome approved:
The Holy Office examined these documents been October 1966 and March 7, 1967. During this time, they saw all of the documentation sent by the Bishopric of Santander, and those received in other ways, according to the note in the letter.
It was like this that the information of the Holy Office in this manner was largest, but the normal conduct of the Bishopric helped inform them through other means, as is evident.
It is possible that they arrived in Rome and were ignored by the Commission, and gave direct testimonies by the protagonists in formal declarations.
This desire of Rome, of making it evident that they had received information apart from that of the Bishopric, could also mean that all they received from other places is reflected in the documents of the Commission, even though it is not nice to note it in this case. If everything was contained there, why talk of other informants? There is no benefit to the Commission in this; or it could also mean that in consequence of receiving information through other routes, the panorama of the case increases, and that which was collected by the Commission, was something poor, and they wanted to insinuate this.
The Holy Office, after an attentive and careful examination of the documentation, arrived at a disconcerting conclusion. It was that no role had been reserved.
This is evident and explicit in the letter. Without a doubt, the report from Santander, in its minutia, and principally, for its judgment of what should be established, cut the road of opinion, including for the Holy Office, and in consequence, the adopted decision is not sufficient reason to impose their intervention.
Finally, as the Bishopric has to interpret their documents and according to them, the conclusion at which we arrive is logical and prudent. The Holy Office, situated from that point of view, fully approves of all that has been established and is contained in the documentation sent up to this date, whose text is only known by them.
This letter can be shaded in the way that it was done, to contain the affirmation in the conclusion that before sending anything to Rome they had already judged the matter, what can be interpreted to contain something hidden, a significant surprise for the precipitation of making conclusions.
Nevertheless, it should not be forgotten that it needs resolution only to be indicative. It is communicated from authority to authority, in the character of internal service, without public transcendence.
These transcribed documents are limited to putting the caution that Monsignor Beitia expired from the publication of the Note of Bishop Puchol, which did not realize his vigilance.
The matter is situated in a point in which it was left at first.
We know that the cited Bishop had not closed the file, and with this intention he dictated his rules. The same thing actually happened, and it is the common feeling that if someone has an interest to declare, it will be heard. At least this is what is established by the official documents.
It is to be noted that the curve of orientation descends according to how spaced out the prodigies are. The curve is contrary to the rise that can be traced following the diffusion of the Messages; the more diffusion, the less belief in the mind of the hierarchy. We would say the same, if all of those who had received the Message had practiced it? Surely not. The movement would have been overwhelming and the fruits optimal, a motive that the hierarchy decided, creating less, to channel it although its supernatural origin was not demonstrated.
Another point to consider is the great importance of the process of the facts.
They began with the sufficient freedom so that their development was not hindered during 4 years. The rules of prudence had a benign character until 1965 when the fourth Note was given.
When it was revealed that there would be no more messages, and that the first had not been completed, the mission of the four girls ended until the day of the miracle, as is known by all.
That moment is when the notable, the surprising, and the marvelous began. Some of the girls were slow, others were repetitive, and they seemed impulsive, without knowing why. With bitter suffering, adopted by themselves, a mentality that was completely favorable and was identified with criteria, each time, less believing the supernatural state of things, was sustained by the hierarchy of Santander. They followed in all of this, and are skeptical? The girls doubt, before they were clear and now they only have clouds of life and memory; they deduced that everything had been invented by them, they didn’t oppose anything, there was no motive to give censure.
From there it is a more than credible argument.
The position of the hierarchy, so skeptical, is motivated by the lack of coinciding reasons of supernatural proof; if they have not been given, it is because they are hidden until the message is complete, as a result of the infidelity of those who have received the vocation, they have not been made into believers with serious responsibility.
Already, as we have indicated before, little remains to be done. In the second Message it is clearly told to us, it is most urgent, in view of a castaway that is approached, that each one prevents a punishment on his own head and then helps others, from the moment that it is no longer possible to evade it. Urge personal salvation more, because the first is generally more popular. What should the believers in the apparitions of Garabandal do? There is some doubt about completing the Message and doing what it says. Forget the ecstasies for a moment and they complete the mission already: authenticate them.
We trust in the Bishop of Santander, and he doesn’t try to quiet the voice of heaven. What he wants it to avoid what has already happened once, the inversion of values. When he has sufficient proof, he will speak. Six years have passed, and who can suppose that this matter has become greater because of the simple taste of conserving a problem? In some manner, it is Providence that works through ways that we don’t understand, but they respond perfectly to what we deserve through our conduct.
Finally, the true propaganda of Garabandal can be made by believers; we come to indicate the practice of the Message, and to make an example of these words. If the enthusiasm of the followers is firm and communicative do not doubt that there will be something more effective than all of the propaganda, and it will have the maximum support from Our Mother in Heaven, who wants, before all (as Conchita has always told us) for us to be obedient to the Church Hierarchy.
J.G. of M.
—Note about the happenings in San Sebastián de Garabandal.
The secretary of the Bishopric of Santander, by order of his Excellence the Reverend Bishop Fr. José María Cirarda Lechionado, because of the articles published in some magazines and daily papers and the great diffusion of the events of San Sebastián de Garabandal, declares:
1. That the three consecutive bishops, Fr. Doroteo Fernández, Fr. Eugenio Beitia and Fr. Vicente Puchol, have expressed the thought of the Hierarchy in five interventions, from August 26 and October 19, 1961, October 7, 1962 to July 8, 1965 and March 7, 1967.
3. That the two first Prelates agreed that “it is not evident that there is a supernatural origin of the phenomena that have been carefully examined by the Commission instituted for its study”; and the last Prelate, after having discussed the matter with the Holy See, affirmed that “all of the events at this location have a natural explanation.”
4. That the vigor of the decrees dictated by Fr. Beitia (B.O. of Bishopric, 1965, pg. 181) according to those which: a) Priests are prohibited from all intervention, and from participating and collaborating in the development of the events, even in the from of their simple presence as spectators, with suspension of their licenses in this Diocese of Santander for those who attend without express private permission in each case from the diocesan authority. b) We ask all faithful Christians to abstain from increasing the atmosphere of confusion by going to San Sebastián de Garabandal. c) We remember that according to Canon 1399, No. 5, “books and pamphlets that refer to new apparitions, revelations, visions, prophecies, miracles of that introduce new devotions, are prohibited by the same right if they are published without observing the prescriptions of the Canons.” And this makes it evident that in the Diocese of Santander they have never conceded to “print” any book, pamphlet, article, or note about this subject, and the publication of any article or information is prohibited unless it passes the Diocese’s censor first.
5. That it is to praise filial obedience with the clergy and the faithful of the Diocese of Santander following the indications of their Prelates in this matter and especially, that the Reverend Parish Pastor of San Sebastián de Garabandal does not fulfill what has been ordered, he prohibited the celebration of Holy Mass and the formation of special groups for those who pretended to one another in their visits to this parish many times.
6. That it is very sad, on the contrary, the obstinacy that some pledge to promote through publishing companies in a grand scale within and outside of Spain, and to open “Garabandal Centers” to celebrate congresses of the same name, and to organize visits to the place of the events, and to raise a temple there that will be constructed against the wishes of the diocesan Hierarchy. All of them contain a rebellious contradiction to the feeling of the Church and it is a clear sign against the supposed supernatural nature of the said events of San Sebastián de Garabandal and of the atmosphere of confusion created as a result, except for the good faith of some, who ignore the disposition of the Hierarchy and go to the said location.
The Bishop of Santander waits for all of the faithful to adhere exactly to the dispositions of his predecessors by reiterating the publications and continuing them with all vigor.
Dr. Puchol’s death left the seat of Santander vacant, and it was next occupied by Dr. Cirarda.
This one ordered the secretary to publish a Note without his signature, but in an official manner on October 9, 1968.
Bishopric of Santander—about the events of Garabandal, Santander, October 15, 1968.
My dear brother and friend:
Without a doubt you know about some references to the pretended supernatural events of San Sebastián de Garabandal, which date from 1961. As a result of the accidental death of Monsignor Puchol, my immediate predecessor in this episcopal seat of Santander, the propaganda about the supernatural origins of these happenings has been greatly revived in Spain as well as in other countries. This has happened in spite of three consecutive Prelates who have been in this diocese in the last few years and have made declarations against it and have repeated prohibitions of the movements of Garabandal.
According to what is evident in the archive of this Bishopric, the four supposed seers have confessed in spontaneous, coinciding declarations that “all of the things that the people call prodigies or say are divine, are things we did.”
This whole problem was solved in its day by my predecessors with the Holy See, and the Holy Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith has a photocopy of the said declarations and fully proved the prudence with which Monsignor Puchol worked on this problem, according to what we see in Annex II.
For all of these reasons, I decided to publish the “Note of the Bishopric of Santander about the happenings of San Sebastián de Garabandal.” Upon recrudescence the propaganda was finally turned to them in magazines and Spanish papers, at the same time that people began to organize congresses and “Garabandal Centers” in other countries. With this I answer also to the continuous consultations about this theme, whch arrives at this bishopric from different nations in Europe and America (cfr, Annex I).
I ask you to publish this Note in the official bulletin of your Bishopric, if you think it opportune. Please impede the publication of books, pamphlets, etc. in your jurisdiction. Propagandists of the Garabandal movement must be stopped, those things called “Pilgrimages to San Sebastián de Garabandal.”
I am very grateful for your attention, and I remain your brother in the priesthood of Christ.
José María—Annex I—Bishopric of Santander
After a few months, Dr. Beitia renounced the seat of Santander, which was passed on to Dr. Puchol.
From the beginning of its entrance in the diocese, it is logical that the Commission was informed of the matter and of the criteria it needed to be a phenomenon of natural origin. Then its apparent end through the news of the second message occurred. Keep in mind that the announcement of the warning and the miracle are the fruits of Conchita’s locutions and they do not form part of the body of the messages that were transmitted.
It was like this that Bishop Puchol’s place was composed: A. The phenomena, for whatever reason, are not observed as supernatural by the Commission’s reports. B. As a result of the second message he knew that everything was finished, that there would be no more messages. C. They ignored the warning and the miracle because they were private announcements by Conchita. D. The girls in their mysterious amnesia declared that it seemed to them that all was false, but that they would not swear to something so extreme.
With these elements, Dr. Puchol constructed the following note:
“On August 30th, September 2nd, 7th, and 27th, and October 11th of 1966, we, accompanied by the Vicar General and the Advisor to the Bishop and the pastor of San Sebastián de Garabandal, and having petitioned those involved, made to the mentioned pastor, we proceded to take a declaration to Conchita González González, Mari Loli Mazón González, Jacinta González González, and María Cruz González Madrazo about the events that had occurred in San Sebastián de Garabandal after June 18, 1961. This resulted from the declarations of those involved:
1. That no apparition of the Most Holy Virgin had happened, nor one of St. Michael, nor of any other heavenly person. 2. That there had not been any message. 3. That all of the happenings in the said location have a natural explanation.
When the present Note was given, we could do no more than congratulate the clergy and the faithful of the diocese of Santander, that in the moment, with filial obedience they had followed the indications of the hierarchy. We lamented that this example had not been followed by other people who had worsened the confusion and the lack of confidence toward the hierarchy with their imprudent conduct. They impeded, with great social pressure, what had begun as an innocent child’s game, which had dispelled the very authors. Once, it is good to remember that the true messages of heaven come to us through the words of the Evangelists, the Popes, and the Councils and from the ordinary magisterium of the Church.”
In this Note, the Bishop is limited to repeating what the girls have said in their phase of amnesia, in their virtue, what occurred to have a natural explanation, when, in the complexity of the phenomena, a perfect demonstration escapes them.
In spite of the negative character of this Note, the situation stays in the air once again, because of Dr. Puchol. Without a doubt he did not see the process of the negations with sufficient clarity, and so he would not compromise the episcopal authority in order to definitively close the matter, limiting himself to inform, as he should do in conscience, of the turn that the events had taken. It is also notable that he makes an indubitable defense of the girls’ good faith, and does not have the most minimal reproach for them. This demonstrates to me that Dr. Puchol also continued with the same interrogations that his predecessors had, as it should be logically, until the date of the miracle had not passed, which was the touchstone that Providence had reserved so that the hierarchy could define it as such.
After this Message, the situation took an indubitable turn, and the same Message can be glimpsed. Those who are hidden in order to do what the Message says have not done it for the most part. They have not given new marvelous tests without the last two warnings, the “warning” and the “miracle.” When these events happen the bravery of the sacrifices will also happen and will lose importance through the evidence of what will come to us as a result.
Through these methods God will supply what we should attain with our efforts.
Time happens like this until the year 1966 in which the phenomenon of amnesia begins. The girls who have already doubted or negated what they have lived, will do it with greater intensity and suffer these phenomena that result in the greatest confusion and doubt.
We can deduce the causes for these phenomena:
One, that Heaven, in obedience to the desires of the parents of the girls, or of the Bishop, will withdraw their actions until their minds are changed and they need a new occasion for the phenomena.
Another is that our judgment is the truest from the point of view of the reality of the facts, that our Mother in Heaven, in cooperation with the reiterated notes of the Bishop, permits this amnesia in the girls to dispel the marvelous atmosphere created because of them while a time will come when the warning and miracle will be produced. She punishes the lack of attention evident in the Notes and upon hearing what is essential, as Conchita (our main victim) has always said, the Message will come to fruition.
The girls’ doubts have been so intense that by simple deduction we can establish that they are not natural. It is not possible that after a year and a half of continuous ecstasies, with the multitudes of mystical phenomena, perfectly observed, that their memory could be so confused that they would not know if they had had them or invented them. This fact is monstrous, that in so little time, it seems that the origin is mistaken. What is more, if we consider that this amnesia was perfectly announced by the same girls from the first ecstasies, and that Conchita suddenly introduced it.
This note is good in its judgment of the events. This information was at the root of the Second Message. It expressly makes evident that all of the doctrine and recommendations are effective in this occasion and that they are fully orthodox.
It affirms all of this in the same circumstances as at the beginning when the first Note said that it could not affirm supernatural origins. It did not say that “it lacks all signs of supernatural origin.”
Until that date, through the ample documentation collected, it is supposed that nothing important had escaped the analysis of the Commission because of the virtue of the affirmations in the second Message. The Commission could give a definitive judgment, and in the mind of the Bishop, the criteria were purely natural.
The reality is that this judgment, combined with the effect of this Note, affirms, whether true or not, the supernatural origin. Everything said and recommended was orthodox, the same things that heaven would say. With apparitions or without them, with games or without them, the truth is that the girls’ inspiration was the Divine Spirit, as we recognize him. We cannot do anything good without his inspiration.
This constancy that is inserted in the Note is the clear and definitive acceptance of the doctrine and recommendations of the Messages by the Church of Santander. No one can oppose its diffusion, which in reality is the only thing that is important and transcendent.
Henceforth, the only thing left is to elucidate whether the apparitions are true or not. The part in which these correspond with the doctrine and recommendations is perfectly clear and defined so that they belong to the traditional doctrine of the Church. Nothing new is known, although when everything will be known is an actual surprise.
That there were apparitions and spiritual communications as the beginning of these messages and recommendations are also gathered in the Note that recognizes their existence.
Regarding what will come of them, what will be their fruits; the doctrine and recommendations conform to the doctrine of the Church, which can only be celestial inspiration, which is the same as saying supernatural nature. It is the fruit of a special game of children, as the direct inspiration of what is supernatural. This supernatural nature, if it is proven, is the only thing that affects the facts of the said apparitions. If they cannot be proven, they cannot confirm the supernatural nature of the Messages and recommendations that the girls have given.
With this approval, and following the cautions placed by the Bishopric, we can extend the doctrine and recommendations, sufficient elements to develop the spiritual movement of the messages.
Regarding the rest, we continue to proclaim the cautions of the moment to wait and see what we find about this matter, emphasizing the previous notes so that the created atmosphere will not increase, nor will the fans of the marvels because it is possible to induce error to those who are little prepared. Note that to conform to our deductions, nothing is prohibited with regard to the messages and their doctrine.
The prohibition on the priests that they must ask permission is extreme, but on the other hand, we must always concede.
Finally, it is announced that the Holy Office is interested in the matter and is asking for information. Before it was necessary to explain this new factor, but now they have it within the matter and there are Conchita’s predictions, the warning and the miracle, which have fixed dates.
As one can observe, this is purely orthodox. With this message, the bishop Dr. Beitia made the following Note public:
“The name of Garabandal and the events that have occurred in this small mountain village of our Diocese have produced during these years and have arrived, for all social means, nearer to our country and our European continent. International agents have divulged graphic information and special reports. They speak of apparitions of Our Lady the Virgin Mary, of spiritual messages, of the Most Holy Virgin’s desires. At the same time it asks us to authorize these events, since they want to unite with other venerable Marian avocations known worldwide.
The Bishop of Santander has recognized the ample documentation during these years of everything that has happened there. He has not closed the “file” on this matter. He will always receive gratefulness for the portions of judgment that he has submitted. There have been three official notes which have appeared to be trying to orient the judgment of the faithful. This will be the fourth. His present conclusion is the same as his previous ones. The Commission understands the clarification of the facts and has not encountered reasons to modify the judgment they have already made. They are of the opinion that there is no supernatural evidence in the events, and they have been examined carefully.
In consequence it follows that this diocesan authority moves providential opportunities to artificially ensure that the atmosphere of confusion does not increase by massive propaganda at the margin of the words and the spirit of the holy ways through news, articles, newspapers or magazines, graphic information, notes or itinerary or other similar methods.
We remember that according to Canon 1399, my fifth, “By my right, books and pamphlets that refer to new apparitions, visions, prophecies, or miracles or that introduce new devotions are prohibited if they do not observe the prescriptions made by the Canons.” We know that until this moment we had not conceded to “print” any book, pamphlet, article, or note of this kind. We extend this by saying that under our diocesan authority, the same prohibition of any publication or information that has not passed through the censor of the diocese of Santander will be prohibited.
We ask all faithful Christians to abstain from increasing the atmosphere of confusion in San Sebastián de Garabandal caused by the apparitions and spiritual communications by going there. It is evident that we have not found any material that condemns the Church, nor the doctrine, nor the spiritual recommendations that have been divulged on this occasion. They contain an exhortation to prayer and to sacrifice, to the Eucharistic devotion, and to groups dedicated to Our Lady in traditional and laudable forms in holy fear of God, who is offended by our sins. They simply repeat the current doctrine of the Church on this subject. We admit to the good faith and the religious fervor of the people who go to San Sebastián de Garabandal and they deserve the most profound respect and we want to support them in this fervor so that they will fully trust in the hierarchy of the Church and her magisterium, together with our recommendations that are continuously published.
The priests have special importance through their intervention, and also in the active form of their participation and collaboration in the development of the events, even when in the form of simple spectator. We prohibit and in an explicit and formal manner their attendance without expressed license, individual to each case, of the diocesan authority, declaring that the licenses are suspended “ipso facto” in the diocese of Santander, and for those who disobey—this is the warning. The Supreme Holy Congregation of the Holy Office has had contact with the diocese of Santander to obtain the needed information in these serious events. Santander, July 8, 1965. Eugenio, Bishop A.A. of Santander.”
The next day, she gave reading of the following message: “The message that the Most Holy Virgin has given to the world through the intercession of St. Michael. The Angel has said that since it has not been fulfilled and the world does not know my message from October 18th, I will say that this is the last one. Before the cup was filling up, but now it is overflowing. Many priests are on the road to perdition and they bring many more souls with them. The Eucharist is given less and less importance. We should avoid God’s anger with all of our efforts. If you ask for forgiveness with sincerity in your souls, He will pardon you. I, your Mother, through the intercession of St. Michael, want to tell you to amend your lives. You are already in the last warnings, and I love you very much, and I don’t want your condemnation. Pray sincerely, and we will give you what you ask for. Make more sacrifices. Meditate on the Passion of Jesus.”
The first particular of this message is that it is dictated by the Angel St. Michael, who is less important than the Mother of Heaven, a fact that speaks in favor of the authenticity because it is contrary to the crescendo typical of false apparitions.
He complains that we have not completed nor made known the first message. Of course, before such a serious lack of attention and faith to a message of salvation that has not been fixed by an easy remedy, although she does not want our condemnation, there is no other option but to announce that the time of mercy is over and that the “cup is overflowing.” Nevertheless, there is a last chance of salvation for the believers, and that is to follow the message that has been announced, which will be the last before a great test in which humanity will suffer.
She denounces the bad path that many priests follow, and the truth that they do not need demonstration.
She reaffirms the necessity of completing the first message when she says that the Eucharist is given less and less importance each day.
On the path, the sword of the anger of God will separate each of us, since it looms over our heads. We must attain this with our efforts; each of us should do the penance necessary to take the punishment from our heads, since if we ask for pardon sincerely we will obtain it.
Our Mother in Heaven solemnly warns us that she does not want our condemnation, that she loves us a lot, and that we should yield, because we’re in the last warnings and we should make all efforts of amends, in which case we should ask for all types of grace to be granted to us.
And finally, the motive that should move our will to sacrifice: we have to meditate on the Passion of Her Divine Son Jesus.
This note, confirmed in the previous parts, has the same point of view, that is, it is not clear about the supernatural origin. It is observed that the Commission affirms a more natural interpretation of the events when it says: “they need all signs of supernatural origin.” Criteria, which, as we see, does not follow the Bishop. He adheres to the view of his predecessor, of sincere waiting and observation.
More severe methods are established for the priests and religious, which suppose the desire for effective control of his assistants. And he does not add anything new about the laity, since they are already disposed.
Dr. Beitia did not underestimate the facts but qualified them with much gravity.
January 1, 1965 arrived and Conchita said that it had been revealed that she would have an ecstasy on June 18th of the same year, in which a new message would be communicated. She announced this to all those who asked her, letting the notice spread through the whole world.
Before entering into an examination of the second message, we should note for the best comprehension that two of Conchita’s announcements referred to a warning, as she said, and a miracle. She knew about these through locutions.
In order that the people would react, and in view that it seemed imposible, Providence permitted a phenomenon, possibly of cosmic proportions, to cause a great tremor in humanity and by special permission from God, we will confront the state of our consciences. This will be the warning.
The date of the warning is unknown, but Conchita, the Bishop, and the Pope know the date of the Miracle, as does the congregation of the Holy Office. Conchita declared it in Rome before this Vatican organization.
With this note made, we are at the date of the announced ecstasy, June 18, 1965. It was produced, and I was an eyewitness.
On October 7, 1962, the new bishop of Santander, Dr. Beitia, made the following note public:
“The special Commission that understands the facts that have come from San Sebastián de Garabandal has postponed for us the report, with the 4th of October as the date. The cited Commission ratifies in its previous manifestations, judging the phenomena need signs of a supernatural origin and that they have a natural explanation.
In consequence and as a result of the desire of our diocesan brothers to be informed when they have relation with facts that can be oriented for sure, complimenting our pastoral duty and making use of our faculties: 1. We confirm in all of the parts of the official notes from this bishop of Santander, dated from August 26 to October 24, 1961. 2. We prohibit all priests, diocesan and extradiocesan and all religious from coming to the mentioned place without diocesan approval. 3. We reiterate to all of the faithful the warning that they should abstain from enlarging the atmosphere created by the development of these happenings, and that they should abstain from responding to this place with that motive.
In question of so much gravity, we await the punctual end to these decrees. In Santander, the Feast of the Rosary, October 7, 1962—Bishop Eugenio, Bishop of Santander. Note: Post at all Sunday Masses, October 14, 1962.
This note discusses:
a). The Hierarchy; although it cannot be defined, at least, a judgment hangs in the air about its supernatural origin.
b). It aspires to repress the enthusiasm of the priests regarding their feelings about Garabandal, not to invert the order of the brave in a form that seems to make the Message more important and the happenings of the Revelation. They warn in a most prudent way about the way the Church acts, but it doesn’t exclude the private revelations that excite obedience of the faithful and that abstain from acting openly in favor of Garabandal so not to demonstrate with their conduct a contrary opinion to that of the bishopric.
c). He makes a call to the faithful so that they will listen to the priests. He does this with the false expectation that it circles the proclamation of the Message, manifesting the desire that all will conserve the peace, without being tricked by false opinions like those which extend with such a motive; and we add this certainly not with words that can be attributed to the girls.
Finally, the description that the true messages make are emphasized from Heaven when God wants them to be perfectly understood. It is obvious, given by the girls, that there is a clarity that can enter within the description that the Bishop gives us, which can be interpreted as an implicit approbation of the same and also as a veiled estimation of its possible supernatural origin.
The invocation to the Most Holy Virgin that follows demonstrates with evidence with which the Bishop continues as the same, believing, and begging to the “Resident of Wisdom,” can know soon what interests the glory of God. The Invocation that is inserted in the note means a dual existence, for one part believing, for another that cannot be defined.
Not the previous Note, nor this second, was from the gratefulness of the impatient people who wanted concrete declarations of the supernatural nature, which was not possible. What is certain is that, awaiting the declarations of the bishop that did not openly decide to complete the message and the foreseeable happened when the phenomena ended in 1962. This was because of a lack of freedom and spiritual exercise and completion of their recommendations, in which the fervor and faith was maintained by the continuity of the marvelous things that were witnessed. In consequence, an era of confusion was initiated.
If he had taken notice of the Message and if he had reunited groups of adorers, the priests would have predicted the love of Jesus in the Sacrament, exciting the faithful and causing them to visit the Sacrament in place of admiring and fixating upon the principal thing in the ecstasy. Maybe the position of the Bishop of Santander would have been very different in view of the harvest reaped from this.
We ask, what is it of which we should convince the Bishop and the Commission? The happenings? Who of the assistants is capable of defining for certain with proofs, with the responsibility before God and the Church, that they are supernatural? To what can responsibility be attained, and it costs little to affirm it. But with his declaration he compromises the biliminary Church of Christ, certainly it is not much to demand that he need and desires the largest number of tests, or of a miracle. Everyone knows because of Lourdes that it is difficult to define one.
Returning to the Message, which is aspired to without a doubt, it is to arouse a movement of authentic piety, popular and orthodox, toward the Sacred Eucharist. Now is the time to initiate it.
To the Hierarchy, their moment of action has arrived, when they will not be able to doubt it because of the happenings.
We remember that Lucia of Fatima asked the Spanish Hierarchy for a reform and spiritualization of the village and good clerics to achieve peace in the world. Now, in Garabandal, the Virgin asks for the same, but of the village and good clerics through devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. Will we listen to her? If not, we should prepare to be punished. It is not necessary to be a prophet to arrive at this conclusion, but for another part, if we take the message as a warning from on high.
Already as January 1963 ends, the phenomena are ending in their public aspect and are becoming personal happenings to the seers, especially locutions. At they same time they are initiating the negations, that could be reputed to be legitimate fruit of the little attention the Message received. Upon being completed, they do not have the atmosphere of being generated or demonstrated.
