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The apparitions of

GARABANDAL

BY
F. SANCHEZ-VENTURA Y PASCUAL

Chapter Seven

ODDS AND ENDS

Page 89

Pre-arranging the Hour

49.—In an apparition during the first half of November, the Blessed Virgin told the children that, after Saturday the 18th of that month. they would not see her again until Saturday, January 13th. And so it came about.

   A young French Jewess called Catherine went to Garabandal one day, accompanied by a Catholic friend who was giving her instruction in the Catholic Faith. Conchita asked her when she was to be baptised, to which Catherine replied that, since she was only nineteen years old, she intended to wait until she was twenty-one, because her parents would not grant her permission. At Catherine's request, Conchita recited the Hail Mary in Greek, and some phrases in French that she had been taught by the late Fr. Luis Andreu. That afternoon, everyone attended the rosary service. The children could not take their eyes off Catherine. They were quite nonplussed by her case. Afterwards, they went to Ceferino's, for Mary Loly was there and had already received one summons. Shortly before falling into a trance, the child went to her bedroom to fetch a bottle of holy water; this she had been advised to do in case the Vision was the devil. Asked how many summons they had received, Mary Loly and Jacinta answered: "Three minus a little bit." True enough, instants later they fell into an ecstasy.

   "She isn't a Catholic, she isn't a Catholic . . . She's only nineteen . . . She hasn't been baptised yet . . ." they were heard to say to the Vision.

   They started to offer the Vision the medals to be kissed. Jacinta sought in vain the one Catherine had given her. Mary Loly then drew the bottle of holy water from her pocket. Only a little was left; the rest had earlier been sprinkled round the floor of the room prior to the trance. Taking the bottle, Loly cast the water up into the air. Then it happened. The water seemed to hang for a moment, concentrated in a single bubble, suspended over Catherine. Then, it fell on her in a little shower, sprinkling nowhere but on her head. This phenomenon was connected with Catherine's delayed baptism. The children afterwards related that the Virgin had laughed when they told her they had brought the holy water in case it was the devil. And, when they mentioned Catherine, the Virgin instructed them to throw the contents of the bottle up in the air, and they would "see what would happen". As a result of this strange occurrence, and all she saw and heard at Garabandal, Catherine became a Catholic a few days later.

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