Today in Garabandal History MARCH 25, 1962: AN OUTSTANDING "FEAST OF THEANNUNCIATION" AT GARABANDAL A sheer wonder as well was this Feast of the "Annunciation" (or "Incarnacion del Senor," as it is still called, and rightly so, in Spain) in the little village of San Sebastian de Garabandal. From 9:30 p.m. until midnight, Conchita, Mari-Loli and Jacinta, in ecstasy, sang the entire Rosary for the first time! They added several verses, that the Blessed Virgin inspired them to sing, to the traditional announcements of the different mysteries, including several short stanzas from the Ave Maria of Fatima. Always in ecstasy, the girls invited the people to join them in their singing. They rejoiced over the number of people accompanying them, and exclaimed: "Ah, how happy the Blessed Virgin is! How she is smiling, and how she is looking at all of us!" Translation of a few stanzas sung by the visionaries in ecstasy: O MOST BLESSED MARY, FLOWERS, WE BRING YOU, THE HOLY ROSARY, TO YOU WE OFFER. (AVE MARIA, AVE MARIA, ETC . . .) O BLESSED MARY, YOUR EYES ARE NOW FIXED . . . ON EACH AND EVERY HEART OF THIS HUMAN WORLD. (AVE MARIA, AVE MARIA, ETC . . .) THE FASHIONS BEAR US TO THE FIRES OF HELL. SO, MODESTY DRESS IF YOU WISH TO BE SAVED. (AVE MARIA, AVE MARIA, ETC . . .) YOU MUST DO PENANCE, AND YOU MUST ALSO PRAY, FOR ALL SINNERS PRAY FOR FORGIVENESS. (AVE MARIA, AVE MARIA, ETC . . .) ON THE THIRTEENTH OF MAY THE VIRGIN MARY CAME DOWN FROM THE HEAVENS TO THE COVA DA IRIA. (AVE MARIA, AVE MARIA, ETC . . .) MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN NOW YOU KNOW OUR MESSAGES; THE VIRGIN MARY WANTS THEM ALL DONE FOR THE GOOD OF ALL HOMES. (AVE MARIA, AVE MARIA, ETC . . .) THE VIRGIN HAS WARNED US: WITH THIS TIME, IT MAKES THREE. OH, SWEET VIRGIN MARY, WHAT GRIEF DEATH GIVES US! (AVE MARIA, AVE MARIA, ETC . . .) MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN, RECITE THE ROSARY, SO IN THE OTHER WORLD, YOU MAY FIND REST. (AVE MARIA, AVE MARIA, ETC . . .) From 'Garabandal' Book, by J. Serre, page 128
Simon González, Jacinta's father, talks about Communion from St. Michael. When the Angel appeared for the first time, Jacinta told us that night. She said that she had seen an Angel, but I didn’t believe her. We didn’t tell anyone at all, but eventually it became common knowledge. Her brother Miguel Ángel said, “It was probably just a big bird. She’s just exaggerating.” And I said, “That’s enough!” But by the way she explained it, I knew that something different was happening. The first day that people from the town went to accompany the girls, I did not go. But when they came down from the calleja (a stone path that leads to the pines), and told me what had happened, I wished I had gone! A few days later, I went for the first time. I had read a little bit about what ecstasies are, but it’s one thing to read it on paper, and it’s quite another to actually see it… It brought me to tears. It took place in the calleja. Whenever I went to accompany the girls, there were always people from the village and from further away. From the beginning, people who had heard about the visions by word-of-mouth came from outside of Garabandal—from different provinces and towns close by. I was especially touched when the Angel gave them communion. Jacinta came and told us that the Angel gave them Communion. They told us about it, and we could see that the Angel would start at one side of the line of the four girls and end on the other side. Each girl put out her tongue and yes, we could see each girl swallow the Host. Once we saw that the Angel didn’t give Jacinta Communion. Apparently, she had quarreled with her mother. The next day, I was working in the fields and I asked, “Where is Jacinta?” I was told that she had left. She had heard the church-bells ring for Mass, and she went to go to confession. When she got to the Church, Father Valentín was already celebrating Mass. After Mass, she went to confession and that afternoon my wife and I spoke, and we said, “Let’s see if the Angel gives her Communion, now that she has gone to confession.” We looked closely and yes, he did give her communion. Sometimes the Angel didn’t give communion to the other girls as well. As for my daughter, I think the reason he didn’t give her communion was because of her disobedience to her mother. So he didn’t give her communion until she went to confession.
