Garabandal

[Stone]

The following was adapted from here. All emphasis mine.

Without being a Fatima scholar, I will draw some simple comparisons between the behavior of the Children at Fatima and the Children at Garabandal throughout the commentary below. The images included were not a part of the original article but were randomly obtained by from an internet search.

The Alleged Apparitions at Garabandal, Spain

August 9, 2007

From 1961 until 1965 four teenage girls in Garabandal, Spain saw what appeared to be visions of the Virgin Mary, the Infant Jesus, and holy angels. These four children received “messages” about a coming chastisement, a warning that will precede the prophesied chastisement, and a future miracle.

The warning to come first and was promised to occur within a year prior to the miracle. The promised miracle was to manifest itself at a grove of trees near Garabandal. Proponents of the alleged apparitions at Garabandal explain, "It will be the greatest miracle that Jesus will have ever performed for the world.” They go on to explain that after the miracle a "visible supernatural sign will remain in sight until the end of time." They then warn that if the world does not convert from sin after the warning and the miracle, a great chastisement will follow.

A succession of bishops of Santander, the diocese in which Garabandal is located, have condemned the apparition.

Conchita [frequently referred to in various articles as the 'main' seer] and the rest of the children signed a document with the bishop agreeing with the findings of the Church and promising never to promote the apparitions again. Does that sound like the Church is open to the possibility that these visions are from heaven? The original visionaries have reportedly lived up to this signed document, but the Garabandal promoters have not.

All of the children have reportedly retracted all belief in the miracles. [Recall that the Children at Fatima were kidnapped and threatened to be thrown into boiling oil if they did not retract what they saw, but they never did, they would have rather died than retract the Visions of Our Lady at Fatima. Remember too, the Children of Fatima, particularly Fransisco and Jacinta were very young and at that age, more susceptible to being influenced by threats of death but they remained steadfast. - The Catacombs]

Arguments Against The Heavenly Character Of The Visions At Garabandal

All eight bishops of Santander have, from 1961 up to now, supported by the Holy See in Rome, publicly declared that there is no evidence that supernatural apparitions have taken place in Garabandal. This does not mean the Church is saying that nothing out of the ordinary, beyond the natural, or preternatural happened at Garabandal. It only means that the Church, through a succession of bishops and with the affirmation of the Holy See, has repeatedly insisted that there is no evidence that what happened at Garabandal was of a heavenly origin. What does that imply?


False Prophesies:

A locution told the children that Pope Paul VI would live to see the Great Miracle. This is problematic, because Pope Paul VI entered eternity on August 6, 1978.

In Conchita's diary one can read (p.164, Dutch edition) that Pope Paul VI knew the date of the Great Miracle.

The “Virgin” promised that St. Padre Pio would witness the miracle. St. Padre Pio entered eternity on September 23, 1968.

One of the locutions received by the children included the prediction that there would be only three more popes until "the end of the times." Pope John XXIII was the pope at that time. Since then, we have had Popes Paul VI, Pope John Paul I, and Pope John Paul II, [Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis].

Since Pope John Paul II was Pope John XXIII's third successor, Pope John Paul II, according to the prophecies associated with the visions at Garabandal, should have been the last pope. This is problematic, because Pope John Paul II entered eternity on April 2, 2005, there has been no warning and no miracle, and Pope Benedict XVI has been validly elected by the conclave of cardinals and has been the reigning pontiff since April 19, 2005.

[Compare these 'prophecies' to the Miracle of Fatima which came true on the date it was promised, the Miracle of the Sun on October 13, 1917. - The Catacombs]


More Red Flags:

In 1966 Conchita wanted to enter the Carmelite Convent in Pamplona. "Jesus" told her to go back to the world.

Conchita made a museum of her house in Garabandal. She has since sold that house and owns a house in New York and a flat in Fatima as well. Compare that with St. Bernadette in Lourdes [and Sr. Lucia of Fatima, Melanie of La Salette].

Conchita reportedly admitted to Father J. Pelletier that she herself had stolen the Host from the tabernacle for the so-called mystical communion.

Just before the visions in Garabandal the four seers had stolen apples. The first vision reportedly began when the girls decided to steal some apples from a schoolteacher's tree. An unseen force reportedly forced the girls to their knees. In this first apparition they saw what appeared to be a holy angel.

Conchita was reportedly often caught in contradictions.



Strange Claims:

Many of the visions reportedly involved the girls having conversations with the “Lady” about frivolous things, such as how the “Lady” liked their clothing.

The children were reportedly “given” the “Child Jesus” to pass around to one another in a manner very much like the way one would see children handling a toy doll. The children also claim to have touched the “Virgin” many times. However, they acknowledged that they could not feel anything during these occasions.

After seeing the children apparently passing some unseen object around, which was later said to be the Infant Jesus, people asked the girls if they actually touched the Infant Jesus.

The girls replied, “No, you cannot touch either the Blessed Mother or the Infant.”

“But how can this be?” the people asked.

The girls explained, “Well, you see what you hold, but you feel nothing; you feel no weight. If you stretch your hand to touch Our Lady, your hand can go no further because Our Lady is there, but you feel nothing.”

The girls reportedly claimed that they gave sweets to the Infant Jesus.

The “Virgin” asked that the girls not bring blessed sacramentals [rosaries, crucifixes, etc.], because she wanted to bless these objects herself. The vision is reported to have blessed and kisses hundreds of objects. This is troubling for two reasons: first, because only blessed sacramentals affect the devil and fallen angels; second, the Blessed Virgin Mary is not a priest and therefore she cannot confer a priestly blessing.

Conchita reportedly said the Blessed Mother played hide and seek with her.

The Blessed Virgin is also said to have helped find shoes which had been lost by some of the pilgrims.

The Blessed Mother was said to have told the children that she perfumed the brushes of her slippers.


More On The Character Of The Visions:

The visions caused the children to perform unnatural movements with their bodies. The girls were observed and photographed levitating and having ecstatic falls where they were frozen in unnatural positions from which those around them could not move them. On one occasion, one of the children was reportedly lifted over the top of a building. They were led up and down a rocky hill, walking backwards and forwards, with their heads tilted back in an awkward position while moving awkwardly and at an unnatural pace, hundreds of feet to meet the vision. During every vision, the children were forced to their knees in what has been described by some as a quick, undignified manor. Frequently the girls were forced with their heads tilted backwards in a position that appeared abnormal and uncomfortable. During the visions the girls were inspired (or compelled) to perform elaborately embellished versions of the Sign of the Cross that might be construed as a mockery of this simple and ancient act prayer. You may also notice that the the crucifix is not held upright by one of the visionaries during the video, but almost always at odd angles. The girls were also seen, photographed, and videotaped lifting one another other up above their shoulders to kiss the “lady”, whereas, on other occasions, three grown men could not lift them.

All of the children were heard to speak in languages they did not know. On one occasion the girls were heard praying the Lord’s Prayer in Greek.


There were reportedly “signs in the sky” seen by many people on many occasions: moving stars, hosts, images, etc. In one case a fire was seen and the “Virgin” claimed that she had come in this fire.

On one occasion the “holy angel” gave “communion” to Conchita and the host was visible to everyone. She had been instructed to hold out her tongue until the “Virgin” came. Conchita remained in the same position and with her tongue outstretched with the host on her tongue for an extended period of time. Many photographs were taken.

The Warning is supposed to be seen and felt by everyone in the world so that all people will know their sins, see their souls as God sees them, thereby having their consciences enlightened and repent. Were that the case we would have no need to be watchful and keep our lamp burning, since God will warn us in time to repent. Moreover, would this not occasion the conversion of everyone who survived the warning? How then would the rest of history, as prophesied in Sacred Scripture play out? How will it be that “the charity of many shall grow cold” as predicted by Our Lord? (Matthew 24:12) Why did Our Lord say, “But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8) How will many, if not most of the world be persuaded to follow the Antichrist as prophesied in the Book of Revelation?

If you read the official pronouncements about Garabandal, you will notice they all say the Church cannot say that the events there were supernatural. The supernatural is above all natures, and therefore proper to God alone. So these statements say that the Church cannot say these visions came from God. However, that does not rule out a preternatural influence. The term preternatural is used to distinguish from the divine (supernatural) while maintaining a distinction from the purely natural. The preternatural or praeternatural is that which appears outside or beyond (Latin præter) the natural. The angels, both holy and fallen, are endowed with preternatural powers. Their intellect, speed, and other characteristics are beyond human capacities, but still finite.

Since the prophecies associated with Garabandal, including prophecies attributed to the blessed Virgin Mary, have proven false, they can't have come from God, The Blessed Virgin, or holy angels, who cannot sin and therefore would not deceive people.


Sacred Scripture Teaches:

But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.' And if you say in your heart, `How may we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?' – when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you need not be afraid of him. (Deuteronomy 18:20-22)

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits." (Matthew 7:15-20)

[...] It's clear something beyond the natural realm caused the events at Garabandal. I just don't think it was from heaven.

Another point that is personally rather telling to me is the demeanor and facial expressions of the Children of the approved apparitions at Fatima and La Salette in comparison with the Children of Garabandal.

In La Salette and Fatima, we see the Children very serious, as if the gravity of what they had seen and heard impacted them deeply.

If one compares this to the many photographs of the Children of Garabandal, we see a striking difference. We would expect to see the same gravity and deportment if the 'messages' of Garabandal were true about a coming Warning, Chastisement, and a future Miracle...

To be continued...