Our Lady of Garabandal

Mary Prays
May 13
7 min read

San Sebastián de Garabandal, Spain · June 18, 1961 – November 13, 1965

TLDR

Over two thousand encounters with four village girls, during which she taught them to pray the Rosary slowly, kissed them goodbye on both cheeks, and smiled when they talked about their cows. Her messages are theologically correct but the apparitions remain unapproved. She said, "I love you very much and do not want your condemnation," and when Conchita felt overwhelmed by what was being asked of her, Our Lady said, "Do all you can, and we will help you."

Year	1961-65
Location	San Sebastián de Garabandal, Spain
Visionary	Conchita, Loli, Jacinta, Mari Cruz
Apparitions	2,000+
Church Status	NOT APPROVED. Bishops: supernatural character not established; messages deemed "theologically correct"
Key Message	"I love you very much and do not want your condemnation." "Do all you can, and we will help you."

A Note on Church Status: The reported apparitions at Garabandal have not been formally approved by the Catholic Church. Four successive bishops of Santander have stated that the supernatural character of the events has not been established. However, the bishops have also stated that the messages are "important" and "theologically correct," and that nothing in the doctrine or spiritual recommendations deserves "ecclesiastical censorship or condemnation." Pilgrimages are currently permitted by the local bishop. Mary Prays includes Garabandal because its messages are consistent with the Gospel and with every approved apparition in this collection, while being transparent that the Church has not rendered a definitive judgment. We encourage readers to approach these messages with faith, discernment, and obedience to the Church.

The World She Entered

In the summer of 1961, the world was balanced on a knife's edge.

The Berlin Wall was being built. The Cold War was deepening. The Cuban Missile Crisis was one year away. Within the Church, the Second Vatican Council was about to begin, and the decades that followed would bring a period of upheaval, confusion, and division that no one fully anticipated.

In a tiny hamlet of about eighty homes, perched in the Cantabrian Mountains of northwestern Spain, four girls were playing in a sunken lane at the edge of the village on a Sunday evening. They heard what sounded like thunder. And an angel appeared.

It was the beginning of over two thousand reported encounters with Our Lady over the course of four years. Nearly three thousand people would witness the ecstasies.

Photographs and film footage documented the events. And the messages the girls received would echo the warnings of Fatima, the urgency of Akita, and the tenderness of a Mother who could see what was coming for her children and would not stay silent.

To Whom She Appeared

They were four village girls, none of them older than twelve.

Conchita González, Loli Mazón, Jacinta González, and Mari Cruz González grew up in a remote mountain village with no television, no telephone, and very little contact with the outside world. They were simple, unsophisticated children whose lives revolved around the rhythms of their families, their cows, and their small village church.

The girls later described their relationship with Our Lady with a naturalness that is both disarming and deeply revealing:

"We talked with Her about everything, including our cows. She smiled a lot. We also played. How happy we were! It was really like a friend, a mother, as if She lived with us. She called us by our familiar names. Not 'María Concepción' but 'Conchita.' Not 'María Dolores' but 'Loli.'"

"She kissed us almost every day before leaving. They were farewell kisses on both cheeks."

She treated them as a mother treats her children: with closeness, with laughter, with affection, and with the kind of honesty that only love can carry.

How She Appeared

On June 18, 1961, the four girls heard a sound like thunder and saw a brilliant angel in the sunken lane at the edge of the village. The angel appeared nine times during June, silent at first. On July 1, he spoke for the first time:

"Do you know why I have come? It is to announce to you that tomorrow, Sunday, the Virgin Mary will appear to you as Our Lady of Mount Carmel."

On July 2, 1961, she came. She appeared as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, beautiful beyond description, with two angels at her sides. From that day forward, she appeared to the girls regularly, sometimes several times a week, for over four years. The apparitions took place in the lane, in the village church, and at a grove of pine trees on a bluff overlooking the village.

During every apparition, she prayed the Rosary with them. She taught them to pray slowly, deliberately, attentively, taking the lead herself and reciting each prayer first so they could learn the right pace. She taught them to make the Sign of the Cross properly. She was not just delivering a message. She was forming them.

What She Said

Our Lady gave two formal messages at Garabandal. The first was given on October 18, 1961:

"We must make many sacrifices, perform much penance, and visit the Blessed Sacrament frequently. But first, we must lead good lives. If we do not, a chastisement will befall us. The cup is already filling up, and if we do not change, a very great chastisement will come upon us."

The second was delivered through St. Michael the Archangel on June 18, 1965, and as he spoke, tears streamed down Conchita's face:

"Since my message of October 18 has not been heeded and has not been made known to the world, I tell you that this is the last one. Before, the cup was filling up. Now, it is overflowing. Many cardinals, many bishops, and many priests are on the road to perdition and are taking many souls with them. Ever less importance is being given to the Eucharist."

"You should turn the wrath of God away from yourselves by your efforts. If you ask for His forgiveness with sincere hearts, He will pardon you."

"I, your Mother, through the intercession of Saint Michael the Archangel, ask you to amend your lives. You are now receiving the last warnings."

And then, in the same breath as the warning, the words that reveal who she truly is:

"I love you very much and do not want your condemnation. Pray to us with sincerity and we will grant your requests. You should make more sacrifices. Think about the passion of Jesus."

Beyond the two formal messages, Our Lady spoke with the girls intimately across thousands of encounters. Some of her most beautiful words came in these private moments.

She told Conchita:

"I have all of them under my mantle."

When Conchita said the mantle was too small for everyone, Our Lady smiled.

She told Conchita she wanted to bring all her children close to "Our hearts," the hearts of Jesus and Mary together.

And in her very last apparition, she said:

"I am not coming for you alone. I come for all my children."

When Conchita, heartbroken that the visible visits were ending, asked Our Lady to take her to heaven, the response was both tender and challenging:

"When you present yourself before God, you must show Him your hands filled with the good works you have done for your brothers and for the glory of God. In this moment, your hands are empty."

And then, knowing Conchita felt overwhelmed, she added:

"Do all you can, and we will help you."

The Heart of Her Message

The message of Garabandal is built on four pillars that echo everything Our Lady has said across every apparition we have written: sacrifice, penance, the Eucharist, and the daily effort to lead a good life. But what sets Garabandal apart is the intimacy.

Over two thousand encounters. She called them by their nicknames. She kissed them goodbye on both cheeks. She smiled when they told her about their cows. She taught them to pray the way a mother teaches a child to tie their shoes, patiently, step by step, doing it first herself so they could follow. She was not a distant queen delivering decrees from a throne. She was a Mother living with her children, day after day, forming their hearts from the inside out.

And within that intimacy, her warnings carry a weight that cannot be ignored. She said the cup was overflowing. She said this was the last warning. She said cardinals and bishops and priests were on the road to perdition. And she said, in the same sentence, "I love you very much and do not want your condemnation." The warning and the love are not two different messages. They are one. She warns because she loves. She would not bother to speak if she did not care what happens to us.

Three of the four visionaries married Americans and raised their families in the United States, living quiet, faithful lives as wives and mothers. Mari Cruz remained in Spain. Loli Mazón died in 2009. The others continue to live private lives, carrying what they received in those mountain pines for over sixty years.

Whether or not the Church ultimately approves these apparitions, the messages themselves have never been condemned, and they contain nothing that contradicts the faith. They say what Our Lady has always said: pray, sacrifice, visit her Son in the Eucharist, lead a good life, and know that she loves you very much and does not want you to be lost.

That is the heart of Garabandal. And it is the heart of every Mother who has ever watched her children walk toward danger and refused to stay quiet.

Sources and Further Reading

The details of the reported Garabandal apparitions are drawn from the testimony of the four visionaries, the diary of Conchita González, and the documentation maintained by Garabandal researchers and the Diocese of Santander. The apparitions have not been formally approved by the Church. The bishops of Santander have stated that the supernatural character has not been established but have also affirmed that the messages are theologically correct and deserve no censure. All excerpts of Our Lady's words are from the visionaries' recorded testimony.