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The apparitions of

GARABANDAL

BY
F. SANCHEZ-VENTURA Y PASCUAL

Chapter Twelve

CONCLUSIONS

Page 165

Conchita came out of church, more than thirty photographers and movie-cameramen were standing at the ready on the churchyard wall. Conchita was at once surrounded by a large crowd, kissing her, giving her pious medals, asking her to relay their requests to the Vision ... In church all morning was a French priest, Fr. Pel, aged 87, a man renowned for his saintliness." Fr. Pel had followed the course of events at Garabandal for some time, and that morning he assured everyone who asked him that he expected to see an impressive ecstasy that night.

   After lunch, the rumor spread that the visionary had had two summonses. Old Garabandal hands were surprised at the news, because the apparition announced was of the Angel, and the "llamadas" or summonses only came when the Blessed Virgin appeared. I soon found that it was a false alarm, the result of someone's impatience, and perhaps not devoid of questionable intentions. Conchita, who was talking calmly with everybody who came near her, denied having had a summons.

   The afternoon dragged on. People thronged the streets saying the rosary in different languages. People from France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Poland, the United States, etc., gathered before Conchita's humble dwelling, all unified by a common sentiment of supplication and love towards the Virgin Mary. Personally, I expected the apparition to take place in the early evening. I assumed that, as the Angel had appeared for the first time at 8:30 p.m., four years earlier, the prodigy announced would occur at more or less the same hour. I made for the center of the village and walked down the road to check the points of origin of the vehicles parked there. The result confirmed the sad truth: there were more foreign cars than Spanish ones. Garabandal is far better known outside Spain than within her frontiers. Is this perhaps due to the Church's attitude and the great respect felt in Spain for the decision of the ecclesiastical hierarchy? Otherwise, why would the events of Garabandal be so closely followed by Catholics all over the world, while Catholics in Spain remain ignorant, indifferent and silent?

   I talked to Fr. Bernardino Cennamo, from the Convent of San Pasquale at Benevento (Italy). He gave me some photographs of Padre Pio, and as a relic, a scrap of cloth soaked in the blood from his stigmata. I met Roman journalist Gabriela Montemayor, and a famous Italian Television star, Signor Carlo Campanini. I spent some time with Fr. Pel, and with the apostle of Garabandal in France, Fr. Laffineur. I saw Dr. Caux, of whom we spoke in the chapter relating the miraculous Communion; and Monsieur Jean Masure, for whom Our Lady had a surprise in store that night, and

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