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The apparitions of

GARABANDAL

BY
F. SANCHEZ-VENTURA Y PASCUAL

Chapter Eleven

CHANCERY OF SANTANDER

Page 151

go and say the rosary in the "cuadro", the enclosed spot where the first apparitions took place. After seeing this, one doctor exclaimed: "Hysteria is far more comfort-loving than all this."

   It is a fact that they have spoken sentences in English, French, German, Latin and Greek; and the most amazing part of it is that, by repeating what they heard, they gradually corrected themselves until they pronounced the words properly.

   I know of several cases of reading of consciences, and all of them have been both accurately and charitably done. The person in question has been the only one to know about it in each case. They have spoken about matters of which they were totally ignorant.

   Their insensitiveness to outside pain is complete. They go through the streets at a slow walk, and sometimes they run at an incredible speed. The sharp, painful stones seem to soften beneath their feet.

   From the spiritual point of view, conversions to a better way of life have been so many that this hamlet appears to have turned into a source of sanctification. A French Jewess, a Protestant German engineer, and an American engineer, to name but a few, have found the road to Catholicism here.

   Crowds have flocked to the scene in countless numbers, like a rosary of wonderment and devotion, to see these children who ought in point of fact to be exhausted or dead by now, but who show every sign of absolute normality. The foreign Press has reported these events in a number of well written articles.

   A gentleman who lay in a hospital in Switzerland following a car accident felt Our Lady's call, and made a pilgrimage in thanksgiving for the inward grace received. A lady came all the way from Algeria to ask the Blessed Virgin to protect her son's life. She walked the last four miles barefoot. *

   Many people have come in thanksgiving for unusual recovery of health and cures. There is talk of instantaneous mending of broken bones in Barcelona; last degree tuberculosis cured in a flash in Cadiz, etc.

   It is a fact that great spiritual benefits are received here.

   I have spoken to some of the people who were pointed out to me as having actually received these graces. I know that they have had to suffer because of it, but I also found that they are the most amazed of all at the things they have seen.

   How is it that the four girls at Garabandal have managed to prophesy events that have subsequently occurred at the time foretold?

*    The sacrifice of walking barefoot up the steep rough track from Cosio to Garabandal has been made by many people, including two ladies of leading Santander families, who, despite their pregnancy, did not hesitate to offer the Blessed Virgin this fearful penance.

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