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The apparitions of

GARABANDAL

BY
F. SANCHEZ-VENTURA Y PASCUAL

PUBLISHERS' NOTE

Page IV

The name of Garabandal, the village of the Apparitions, is becoming well known throughout the world. San Sebastian de Garabandal, to give it its full name, is a small village lost in the Northeastern mountains of Spain, where seventy families lead a hardy existence, some 90 kilometers (55 miles) from Santander. None but detailed maps show its location, and it is easy for the unwary traveler to mistake for San Sebastian de Garabandal, the resort town of San Sebastian, which lies a little further along the Atlantic coast, near the French border.

   Ever more frequently, notices were seen to appear in the Press, relating strange events, prodigies, conversions, as well as messages attributed to Saint Michael the Archangel and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Controversy sprang up around these events, specially in Spain and France, where it became difficult for the layman to sift out the facts, unless he was able to travel to Garabandal and find out for himself.

   At last, Mr. Monroy, the Editor of a Tangier newspaper, La Verdad, sparked a reaction by making public his utter disbelief in all apparitions which, according to him, were nothing but a pure myth. An interested lawyer, who also holds the Chair of Economics and Legislation at the University of Saragossa, refuted these arguments in a book which, in Spain, was published under the title of "Apparitions are not a myth — The enquiry into Garabandal."

   This is the book which we are now presenting, thus making available to the English-speaking public on this Continent all the carefully gathered documentation of an author whose professional experience was likely to make, more than anyone else perhaps, a sober, cautious and trustworthy witness.

   For ease of reference, the author broke down the material of this book into small sections numbered from 1 to 70 — this edition preserves the author's section numbering system. The original book however, opened with a rebuttal of Mr. Monroy's arguments which are not of such burning interest here as they are in Spain. It was thought preferable to transfer the first two chapters of the Spanish edition (sections 3 thru 11) to the end of this book, where they will be found under Appendix A and B.

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