Mary in Garabandal

On June 18, 1961, in the tiny village of San Sebastian de Garabandal, Spain, four young girls; Conchita Gonzolas, Mary-Loli Mazon, Mary Cruz Gonzolas and Jachinta Gonzolas, began having visions of the Virgin Mary. Conchita describes her encounter with an angel when the visions first began.
“I was ten years old then and I was with my three friends when we heard a loud noise like thunder. Suddenly, a very beautiful figure appeared to me. Then, the other girls saw it. We froze for a moment, and then ran toward the church very frightened. Most of the people thought we were making it up. I was very sad, going to bed that night. When I was saying my prayers, I heard a voice that said, ‘do not be troubled, you will see me again.”[1]
The angel appeared to them several more times over the next twelve days. Then, on July 1, the angel proclaimed himself to be Michael. He had come to introduce them to the Blessed Mother. On July 2, at about 6:00 PM, Mary appeared to them with an angel to each side of Her. The angels were later identified as Michael and an identical twin, who was probably Gabriel. Above the Virgin was a large eye. The children thought it to be the Eye of God.
Over the next year and a half, Mary appeared to them hundreds of times. Sometimes, they would go into ecstasy multiple times in a single day. During these episodes, the girls would do many erratic and miraculous things. There were reports of levitation. They would fall backwards in a completely rigid position, with no effort to catch themselves. After landing flat on their backs, they would then rise back up again while their bodies remained perfectly stiff.
One time, four large men attempted to move one of the children while she was in a state of ecstasy. They could not budge her. The children were also exposed to tests by the medical community. They were poked with needles and had matches lit close to their eyes. They were pinched and prodded in an effort to see how they would respond while they were in an altered state. While they were having the ecstasy experience, nothing seemed to faze them. When they awoke, there was never a mark left on them.
Again and again, they would fall into these trances, sometimes for minutes, sometimes for hours. After four months of these experiences with the Mother, Conchita announced their purpose. Mary had chosen the children to receive a message to convey to the world. The girls received the message on two consecutive nights. The first night they were heard to scream in terror. For this reason this message has come to be called, “the prophecies of the night of screams.”[2]
The girls had been reminded twice before about a Great Chastisement. A view of a hell on Earth was shown to them one more time. Then, the girls were told of two more events that would come to pass before the punishment. First, there would be a world wide warning. This would be followed by a Great Miracle for all to see.
[1] “San Sebastian de Garabandal” Produced by Michael Tubberty, M. F. J. Productions, Avondale, Auckland, New Zealand, 1997.
[2] Ibid,