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The apparitions

San Sebastián de Garabandal (Cantabria, Spain), 1961 to 1965.

On 18 June 1961, four girls from a mountain village in Cantabria said they had seen an angel. Over the next four years they reported hundreds of apparitions of the Virgin Mary.

San Sebastián de Garabandal is a small village in the Nansa valley, about 600 metres above sea level. Conchita, Mari Loli, Jacinta and Mari Cruz, aged 11 and 12, lived there when the events now known as the apparitions of Garabandal began.

The girls went into ecstasy, sometimes several times a day, and thousands of people came up to the village to see it. Doctors, priests and journalists left testimonies, photographs and recordings from those years.

The four young visionaries of Garabandal
Conchita, Mari Loli, Jacinta and Mari Cruz.

TIMELINE

Key dates

Six moments to understand what happened between 1961 and 1965.

Historical photograph of the crowd in the village
Pilgrims in the village during the years of the apparitions.
  1. 18 JUN 1961
    Saint Michael the Archangel

    Four girls from the village, Conchita González, Mari Loli Mazón, Jacinta González and Mari Cruz González, see Saint Michael the Archangel in the lane leading up to the Pines.

  2. 2 JUL 1961
    First apparition of Our Lady

    Our Lady appears to the girls as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, accompanied by two angels. It is the first of hundreds of apparitions.

  3. 18 OCT 1961
    First message

    By the Pines, the girls make known the first public message, which asks for sacrifice, penance and visits to the Blessed Sacrament.

  4. 18 JUL 1962
    The miracle of the Host

    Before many witnesses, a visible Host appears on Conchita’s tongue during an ecstasy.

  5. 18 JUN 1965
    Second message

    The last public message, given through Saint Michael, is made known in the lane before thousands of people.

  6. 13 NOV 1965
    Last apparition

    Conchita sees Our Lady for the last time at the Pines.

PHOTOGRAPHS

What was seen in Garabandal

The photographs from those years show what the village was like, the girls in ecstasy and how many people witnessed what happened.

1 · THE VILLAGE

The village in 1961

Stone houses, dirt streets and villagers who lived off cattle and farming. That was San Sebastián de Garabandal when the apparitions began: an isolated village reached by a track from Cossío.

The village, surrounded by meadows and maize fields.
The village, surrounded by meadows and maize fields.
The village at the bottom of the valley, between meadows and hills.
The village at the bottom of the valley, between meadows and hills.
The stone houses, clustered on the hillside.
The stone houses, clustered on the hillside.
The parish church of San Sebastián, on an old postcard.
The parish church of San Sebastián, on an old postcard.
The stony lane leading up to the Pines.
The stony lane leading up to the Pines.
A stone house by a cobbled path.
A stone house by a cobbled path.
A village street: stone, mud and tiled roofs.
A village street: stone, mud and tiled roofs.
View of the village with the cemetery, the church and the visionaries' houses marked.
View of the village with the cemetery, the church and the visionaries’ houses marked.
Map of Garabandal in 1961, with the houses of the four visionaries.
Map of Garabandal in 1961, with the houses of the four visionaries.

2 · THE ECSTASIES

The girls in ecstasy

According to witnesses, during the ecstasies the girls did not react to pain or to bright lights, and they walked through the village in ecstatic marches, sometimes at night. These photographs were taken in front of villagers, priests and doctors.

The four visionaries in ecstasy, gazing upwards (colourised photograph).
The four visionaries in ecstasy, gazing upwards (colourised photograph).
An ecstatic march through the streets, among villagers, onlookers and a Civil Guard.
An ecstatic march through the streets, among villagers, onlookers and a Civil Guard.
Two visionaries in ecstasy, gazing fixedly upwards.
Two visionaries in ecstasy, gazing fixedly upwards.
An ecstasy before priests and witnesses watching closely.
An ecstasy before priests and witnesses watching closely.
The girls in ecstasy, surrounded by witnesses.
The girls in ecstasy, surrounded by witnesses.
A witness closely watches a visionary in ecstasy.
A witness closely watches a visionary in ecstasy.
The visionaries walk together during an ecstatic march.
The visionaries walk together during an ecstatic march.
Two visionaries in ecstasy, heads tilted back.
Two visionaries in ecstasy, heads tilted back.
A visionary in ecstasy, on the left.
A visionary in ecstasy, on the left.
A visionary with the rosaries and medals that those present gave to be kissed by Our Lady.
A visionary with the rosaries and medals that those present gave to be kissed by Our Lady.
Witnesses hold out religious objects to a visionary in ecstasy.
Witnesses hold out religious objects to a visionary in ecstasy.
A microphone next to a visionary in ecstasy: some people recorded what they said.
A microphone next to a visionary in ecstasy: some people recorded what they said.
A visionary in ecstasy (colourised photograph).
A visionary in ecstasy (colourised photograph).

3 · THE WITNESSES

Thousands of people saw it

What happened in Garabandal did not happen in secret. Villagers, pilgrims from all over Spain and abroad, priests, doctors and journalists filled the village, especially on the days of the messages. Their photographs and testimonies bear witness to what they saw.

Villagers and pilgrims crowd into an enclosure to see the ecstasies.
Villagers and pilgrims crowd into an enclosure to see the ecstasies.
A crowd fills the hillside next to the village.
A crowd fills the hillside next to the village.
People fill a village street.
People fill a village street.
Witnesses sitting on a stone wall.
Witnesses sitting on a stone wall.

Photographs from the years of the apparitions, by unknown photographers. If you know who took any of them or where they come from, write to us and we will credit it. Click a photo to enlarge it.

READ MORE

Find out more

Plaque with the message of 18 June 1965

The messages →

The full text of the two public messages.

The four young visionaries of Garabandal

The visionaries →

Who they were and what became of them.

St Peter's Basilica

What the Church says →

The statements of the bishops of Santander and of the Holy See.