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The apparitions of

GARABANDAL

BY
F. SANCHEZ-VENTURA Y PASCUAL

Chapter Twelve

CONCLUSIONS

Page 174

village of San Sebastian de Garabandal, where more than a thousand people, foreigners for the most part, gathered last Friday.

   "A hundred and forty automobiles with foreign plates were counted and a bare fifty from various provinces of Spain; very few people from Santander went to the village.

   "According to information given to us by a spokesman for the Chancery, the question of these alleged visions is far from new: it had already come up in 1961, when, on August 26th, to be exact, the Apostolic Administrator of the diocese. Dr. Doroteo Fernandez, signed an episcopal decree in which he said that, following investigations carried out in the matter by a Commission appointed for the purpose, "nothing obliges us to confirm the supernatural origin of the events." This decree also said: 'It is our desire that priests, be they of this or any other diocese, and religious of both sexes, even the independent clergy, should FOR THE TIME BEING abstain from going to San Sebastian de Garabandal.'

   "The same Apostolic Administrator again addressed the members of his diocese on October 19th of the same year, saying that 'it would show a great lack of sense on our part if we were to accept as coming from God any gust of the wind of human opinion.' There is no proof that the said apparitions, visions, locutions or revelations can so far be presented as true and authentic, or be held as such on any serious grounds." This decree insisted on the prohibition imposed on priests, and asked them to inform the faithful of the true attitude of the Church in these matters.

   "Again, a year later, on October 7th, 1962, the Feast of the Holy Rosary, the Bishop of Santander, Mgr. Eugenio Beitia Aldazabal, signed a further episcopal decree whose provisions read as follows:

   'We fully confirm the official notes issued by this Chancery and dated August 26th and October 19th, 1961.'

   'We forbid all priests, be they of this or any other diocese, and all religious, even the independent clergy, to gather at the aforesaid village without express permission from the diocesan authorities.'

   'We repeat to the faithful the warning that they should abstain from going to this village for the purpose of heightening the atmosphere of excitement created by the unfolding of these events'

   "Regarding this year's recurrence of the alleged apparitions, for the reasons indicated above, the attitude of the Chancery (so the spokesman informs us) remains unchanged. It is thought scientifically possible that the fourteen year old child who claims to see the apparitions may be suffering from a condition of health conducive to ecstatic trances, but all this is of a natural order, and there is no possibility of any supernatural cause."

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