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*Another Prophecy Fulfilled?*
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*"A bishop will come along who will not believe at first, but will receive a
sign and allow priests to go up to Garabandal for the Miracle."*
* — **Conchita** in a 1962 letter to Fr. Jose Ramon Garcia de la Riva*
------------------------------
*Reprinted with kind permission from **GARABANDAL
JOURNAL*<http://www.ourlady.ca/faq/magazineJournal.htm>
* July-August 2008*
*Written by Barry Hanratty*
*Has this prophecy been fulfilled or is it still pending? When Conchita
wrote her letter to Father de la Riva, there were restrictions in force on
priests going to Garabandal and for them to make the climb up to the village
they needed special permission from the Santander chancery. But that changed
in the 1980s and presently there are no restrictions. So, if the fulfillment
of this prophecy is still to come, it will require that restrictions be
reimposed (by the sitting bishop) and then again lifted (after he receives
his sign) shortly before the Miracle. Without discounting this possi bility,
we are inclined to believe that the prophecy has already been fulfilled.*
*In his **Memoirs, **Father de la Riva gives his eyewitness account of a
night in August of 1961 when members of the Commission appointed by Bishop
Doroteo Fernandez, Apostolic Administrator of Santander at the time, were in
the village church of Garabandal while the visionaries were there in
ecstasy. At one point, one of the priests of the Commission went up to the
sanctuary, and standing right by the girls in ecstasy, turned facing the
people present and said: "Whatever happens, I don't believe in this." Out of
respect, Father de la Riva did not mention his name in the published
editions of his **Memoirs, **but since this priest's identification is
important to our story, and since he has gone on to his eternal reward, we
will mention it here. That priest, then a canon of the cathedral in
Santander, was the future Bishop of Santander, Juan Antonio del Val Gallo.*
*Bishop del Val (+ November 13, 2002) reigned from 1971-1991, and when he
took over the diocese, he clearly did not believe in Garabandal although he
had a much more open attitude toward the events than his two immediate
predeces sors, Bishops Puchol and Cirarda. But throughout the 1970s, nothing
changed regarding Garabandal and Bishop del Val said he was in communion
with his predecessors, and the former restrictions remained in force.*
*In 1982, Bishop del Val was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent an
operation in Santander performed by Dr. Andres Garcia de Tunon, a believer
in Garabandal (it seems the Bishop could never get away from
Garabandalistas). While he was recuperating in the hospital, he received a
visit from Mari Loli, one of the visionaries of Garabandal, who had been
driven there in the car of a French priest, Father de Baillencourt and his
secretary, Christina Bocabeille.*
*Loli was alone when she entered the Bishop's room and during her visit she
asked him if he had anything kissed by the Blessed Virgin at Garabandal.
When he said no, Loli gave him her last crucifix. The ever cautious Bishop
responded: "I'll take it because it comes from you." (Loli was on cordial
terms with the Bishop.)*
*After the hospital visit, Loli returned to San Sebastian de Garabandal
where she was visiting (at the time she lived in Massachusetts with her
husband and family) and her mother told her she had found another crucifix
kissed by Our Lady at Garabandal. Was that all there was to Loli's visit to
the Bishop in the hospital?*
*A **Big Change*
*In 1983, Dr. Luis Morales, chief medical examiner of the 1961 Commission,
who by then had had his own conversion to belief in Garabandal, gave a
lecture to an overflow crowd in the Ateneo, Santander's largest conference
hall, in which he placed Garabandal on the same footing as Lourdes and
Fatima. This was big news and made headlines in the local papers. And not to
be overlooked was the fact that Dr. Morales could not have given his lecture
without the permission of Bishop del Val. Placido Ruiloba of Santander, a
great witness to the Garabandal events, told me that there had been nine
meetings leading up to the Dr. Morales lecture and in those meetings were
three people: the doctor, Placido and Bishop del Val. So what made the
former unbelieving Bishop permit Morales to give his lecture and testimony
in favor of Garabandal?*
*On the day after Dr. Morales' lecture, many of us who attended went up to
Garabandal. I was seated for lunch in the Meson Serafin, at a table with Dr.
Tunon, who had operated on Bishop del Val the year before, and his wife who
spoke English. She told me that before the Bishop went into the hospital
they did not think he believed in Garabandal, but when he came out he was
completely changed.*
*When I got back to New York, I attended Conchita's holy hour which she held
each week at her old address in Queens, New York. After the prayers, those
present asked me to give an account of all that transpired in Santander with
the Dr. Morales lecture. Normally in those situations, Conchita doesn't pay
much attention, but this time she was listening carefully as I related all
that happened and what I had learned including Loli's visit to Bishop del
Val in the hospital and her giving him the crucifix. When I said goodbye to
Conchita, she responded not with her usual **hasta luego, **but by saying
"thank you."*
*Did the Bishop now believe in Garabandal? Did he receive his sign in the
hos pital? Did it have to do with Loli's visit? Did Conchita know what the
sign would be? We can't answer those questions, but perhaps one day, if
Bishop del Val left something in writing, we will know more.*
*But if the Bishop now believed (in my notes of February 13, 1984, I jotted
down this entry: Conchita is convinced that Bishop del Val now believes in
Garabandal), what about the prophecy being fulfilled?*
*In 1987, Bishop del Val officially lifted restrictions on priests going up
to Garabandal and gave the pastor of Garabandal at the time, Father Juan
Gonzalez Gomez, authority to allow visiting priests to celebrate Mass in the
village church.*
** <http://www.ourlady.ca/pictures2/bishopGallo.jpg>
*As previously mentioned, Bishop del Val was a cautious man, but did he ever
actually say he believed. Well, yes he did. Earlier this year, our friend Ed
Kelly spent several weeks in the Santander region with his home base being
San Sebastian de Garabandal. As a former Spanish teacher, Ed is fluent in
the language and over the years beginning in 1971, has spoken to and
interviewed people connected in some way to Garabandal. While he was staying
in the village during his most recent visit, he came across Dr. Tunon who
owns a house in Garabandal and was up there cutting the grass when Ed met
him. Here's what Dr. Tunon told him. After having completed the operation on
the Bishop in 1982, he went to see him in his hospital room during the
recovery period. "I was sitting on the edge of the bed when he said to me, *
*'I, Juan Antonio del Val Gallo, believe in Garabandal. But as bishop I
can't say that.**'" Yes, he was a cautious man.** *
*Reprinted with kind permission from **GARABANDAL JOURNAL, July-August
2008 ** *
*click to order your copy of <http://www.ourlady.ca/faq/magazineJournal.htm>
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--
Posted By RomanCatholic Deacon to WHAT IS
GARABANDAL?<http://whatisgarabandal.blogspot.com/2009/10/from-workers-of-our-lady...>at
10/27/2009 12:06:00 AM
--
"May the Lord grant all your prayers!" (Psalm 20)
Deacon John
http://www.google.com/profiles/deaconjohn1987
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