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Where and what is Garabandal? It is an isolated hamlet of some 300 people nestled in the Cantabrian Mountains of northwestern Spain. Like Fatima and Lourdes, Garabandal is a place of unearthly serenity and beauty. A fiction writer's imagination could not create a more appropriate setting for a religious event of great significance. San Sebastian de Garbandal is situated at the very end of a winding road cut into a mountainside that leads up from the village of Cosio. A solitary cluster of nine pine trees stands out starkly against the horizon to the south. The village itself consists of some 80 solid, rustic stone houses huddled together on a small strip of land overlooking a wooded valley. This is the stage for "The Story of Garabandal."
San Sebastian de Garabandal is a small farming village located in the foothills of the Cantabrian Mountains of northern Spain. It is about 55 miles by car in a westerly direction from the provincial capital of Santander and about 15 miles inland from the Cantabrian Sea. In 1961, it was the poorest and most isolated of all the farming hamlets in the region. The only access to this village was a three and a half mile dirt road cut into the side of a mountain that led up from Cosio, the next closest village. The parish priest of Cosio was also the pastor of Garabandal and on weekends, he went up by horseback to celebrate Mass, hear confessions and give the children a catechism lesson. NOTE: All the information in the following account is based on reports from eyewitnesses and interviews conducted with the visionaries. On June 18, 1961, four girls, Conchita Gonzalez (12), Mari Cruz Gonzalez (11) Jacinta Gonzalez (12), and Mari Loli Mazon (12) were playing on the outskirts of the village when they heard a sound like thunder. Suddenly, there stood before them a dazzling angel. He said nothing and quickly disappeared. Pale and visibly shaken, they ran to the village church and the apparition became known. Over the next several days, the girls saw the angel again and then on July 1st he spoke: "Do you know why I have come? It is to announce to you that tomorrow the Blessed Virgin will appear to you as Our Lady of Mount Carmel." "On this day we saw [the angel] had a sign beneath him. The first line had the word 'Hay–it is necessary that' and on the second line were some Roman numerals. We asked him what it meant but he only smiled and didn't say anything." –Conchita's Diary
News spread quickly. On July 2, many priests were among the numerous visitors who joined the villagers to witness the great event. At about 6:00 p.m., the girls were on their way to the calleja (a rock filled lane leading up a hill from the village) where they had been seeing the angel when the Blessed Virgin appeared with the Infant Jesus and two angels, one on each side. One of the angels they recognized as the one who had been appearing to them, later identified as St. Michael the Archangel, and the other looked identical. Above and to the right was a large eye that the girls called the eye of God.
Without the slightest fear the girls spoke to
the Lady of their vision. They spoke about their families, the priests
who were there and the work they did at home or in the fields –and
the Lady smiled. "The Blessed
Virgin was smiling as usual.
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