Apparitions at Garabandal

The Alleged Apparitions at Garabandal, Spain

On June 18th, 1961 four girls: Conchita González, Jacinta González and Mari Loli Mazón (all 12 years old at the time) and Mari Cruz González (who was 11), were playing together near the village (according to one of the visionaries they were actually stealing apples!) when they heard a sound like thunder and suddenly an angel (later identified as Saint Michael the Archangel) in dazzling white stood before them. The angel said nothing and the girls, terrified by what they had seen…and perhaps feeling they were about to be punished stealing….ran to the village church. Over the next few days the angel appeared to them again, but once again said nothing.

They encountered skepticism from their parents, local parish priest and most of the villagers, who accused them of making the whole thing up. But over the next several days, many of the villagers began to join the girls and prayed the Rosary with them.

Finally, on July 1st, the angel spoke for the first time: announcing that he had come to tell them that on the following day, the Blessed Virgin Mary would appear to them as Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

The next day, July 2, Our Lady did indeed appear as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, holding the infant Jesus with two angels at her side. The girls recognized one of the angels as the one who had first appeared to them. Interestingly, at that time, this day was the Feast of the Visitation, until it was later changed to the 31st of May by Paul VI in the reform of the Calendarium Romanum on February 14, 1969.

Our Lady foretold three momentous events that would occur:

1. A world-wide warning to be seen and felt by all (an illumination of conscience).

2.  A miraculous sign to be left at the Pines in Garabandal within 12 months of the warning.

3. A final chastisement if mankind does not repent.