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The apparitions of

GARABANDAL

BY
F. SANCHEZ-VENTURA Y PASCUAL

APPENDIX A

Page 187

OFFENSIVE TACTICS

3.—Monroy commences his book as follows: "I had always wanted to make known the contradictions of every kind that I had observed in the apparitions at Lourdes and Fatima as related in the books I had read. So, I decided to take the opportunity offered me by these four little Spanish girls who have come to make international headlines from their almost unknown upland village in the province of Santander."

   That is how "El Mito de las Apariciones" begins. The author divides it into two parts; the first, dedicated to an account of events at San Sebastian de Garabandal, barely sticking to the facts at all, but doing his utmost to ridicule everything; the second part is an attempt to place other cases of apparitions on a par with Garabandal, the main targets being Lourdes and Fatima. The whole maneuver is painfully obvious. By convincing the reader of the fallacy of the apparitions at Garabandal, not yet sanctioned by the Church, it is easier to introduce a suspicion of fallacy in the case of other apparitions of the same order, even despite the guarantee offered to the sincere Catholic by the ecclesiastical sanction in such cases. Having thus shaken the foundations of the reader's faith in happenings accepted as true by the Church, it is a fairly simple matter to discredit the Church herself. Monroy has employed language which he himself admits in his preface to be "daring, tough, and even violent". He claims that this was unavoidable. "It is the natural reaction of a person who has lived with the very deceit that he now repudiates. It is not a question of hard language chosen to be offensive. It is the rebellion of a sincere thinker against religious divergence, against the collective suicide of the masses in the crafty hands of the Enemy. It is the righteous indignation of a suffering soul at the false spiritual shepherds who are leading the flock to perdition." *

The Angels are Acquitted . . .

4.—Let us look at the contradictions mentioned by Monroy, on which he bases his case to make "as clear as daylight" the deceit behind the apparitions at Lourdes and Fatima.

   He starts by attacking the fact that the visionaries at Fatima, like those at Garabandal, saw the Blessed Virgin, the occasional angel, and even the Infant Jesus and St. Joseph. This is quite beyond Monroy. Try as he may, he can find no plausible explanation, a fact which is hardly surprising since, rationally speaking, it is not easy to grasp. Indeed, we consider it miraculous precisely because it is not logically natural. Monroy, however, does give his blessing to the angels. "We have no objection," he says, "as far as angels are concerned. They can appear to human beings if God wills it, because we have precedents to prove it in the Bible. This does not mean that we admit

* Monroy, "El Mito de las Apariciones." Editorial Pisga. Preface.

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