Garabandal Parish 

 D. José Rolando Fuentes Cabeça

He is the priest of San Sebastian de Garabandal.

He was born 13 August 1944, in the town of Novales (Cantabria), he was ordained priest in the same locality on the day of his birth on 2 September 1972.

He exercised his priestly ministry in the Nansa area from the time of his ordination. He has held the position of arcipreste, Virgen de la Barquera Arciprestazgo, since 1991. Nowadays, he is in the service of 8 Parishes (Cades-Camijanes-Carmona-Celis-Cosio-Rabago-Rozadío and San Sebastian de Garabandal), where he shares his ecclesial pastoral work with ample social work.

For more information, visit their website. Click below.

Garabandal map

The map of the village of San Sebastian de Garabandal contains useful information on the various points of religious, cultural and historical interest. It indicates in a precise way, all the accesses, roads, alleys of the village and surrounding region.

00 House of Maxima, Godmother of Conchita.

01 Source.

02 House of Conchita.

03 Place of communion visible.

05 Jacinta's birthplace.

06 Public telephone booth.

07 Bus stop.

11 Cemetery

12 Birthplace of Mari Cruz

13 Ancient Chapel

14 Parish Church

19 Birthplace of Mari Loli

21 Former girls' school, today the pilgrim center.

25 Location of the first appearance of the Angel.

27 Place of the first apparition of Our Lady of Carmo de Garabandal.

30 "The Pines". Main site of the apparitions of Our Lady and of the Angel S. Michael. It will be in this place that will occur in the future, the great Miracle.

32 Alternate path for "the pines." By this way you can drive to the top. This path offers better access to this sacred site.

Saint Sebastian has been a patron in the village of Garabandal since many centuries. Below we give you some information about this Saint.

St. Sebastian (France 256-26), a native of Narbonne and a citizen of Milan, was a martyr and a Christian saint, killed during the persecution by the Roman emperor Diocletian. Its name derives from the Greek sebastós, which means divine, venerable (that followed the beatitude of the supreme city and of the highest glory).

According to apocryphal Acts, attributed to Saint Ambrose of Milan, Sebastian was a soldier who had enlisted in the Roman army around 283 AD (after the common era) with the sole intention of affirming the hearts of Christians that he saw weakened in the face of torture . It was dear to the emperors Diocletian and Maximilian, who wanted him always near, ignoring himself as a Christian, they designated him captain of his personal guard - the Praetorian Guard. About AD 286, his gentle conduct toward Christian prisoners led the emperor to summarily judge him as a traitor, having ordered his execution by means of arrows (which became his symbol and a constant in his iconography). However, Sebastian did not die, was thrown in the river, because they thought that he was dead, found very far from where it was thrown, was rescued by Irene (Santa Irene). But then, having been taken again before Diocletian, who then commanded that Sebastian be beaten to death ... But that anyway, he would not have died, properly said ... He ended up being dead pierced by a spear.

The barbaric method of execution of St. Sebastian made him a recurring theme in medieval art - generally depicted as a young man tied to a stake and pierced by several arrows (arrows); In addition, three arrows, one on a spade and two on a spade, bound by a thread, constitute its heraldic symbol.

Monastery of Santo Turibio de Liebana

If you decide to visit Garabandal, be sure to visit also this Monastery which contains the largest relic of the cross of Jesus. When the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by Muslims in the eighth century, the region of Cantabria, where this small village is situated, was the last refuge of Christians. About 30 kilometers from Garabandal is the Monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana. The Bishop of Astorga sent to this monastery the relic of the True Cross which is the largest remaining part of Santa Cruz where Jesus was crucified in the year 33. Around the year 770 he also lived in this monastery, the Blessed of Liébana, a wise monk whose preaching really stood out in three aspects. The first, against the Donatist heresy in which it was affirmed that Jesus Christ was the adoptive son of God. This error fit perfectly with the vision of the Islamic invaders, and in this way the Monastery was able to take refuge the archbishop of Toledo as well as other Christians that were in the regions occupied by the Muslims. Second, this Blessed made important commentaries on the Apocalypse and reflected them in manuscripts "codices" with beautiful illustrations, a new model of symbolic art that soon spread throughout Europe and is now admired around the world. 

Pilgrim center

Since October 2014, it has been operating in Garabandal, an information and welcoming center for pilgrims. Its headquarters is located in the old schools of S. Sebastião de Garabandal.

The center has a reception area, a projection and conference area, as well as a Wi-Fi zone for pilgrims.

For more information, visit his web page. Click below

Very close to Garabandal is the town of Comillas, on the Cantabrian coast. There was founded in principles of 1892, a Pontifical Seminary of the Jesuits, that reached in 1904, the status of Pontifical University. In 1969, the colleges moved to Madrid. In this place more than 1,400 priests were formed, mainly the Jesuits, of which 61 were martyred during the Spanish civil war. Until 1990, their classrooms formed at least 63 bishops for the whole of Spain.

Spain has 69 dioceses which are currently regulated by 78 titular bishops, auxiliaries and cardinals, so it can be said that more than 20% of the Spanish bishops left this University in the second half of the twentieth century. In the last solemn message of Garabandal, Our Lady spoke about the priests.

In fact, the whole message of Garabandal is centered on the Eucharist and the Priesthood. Therefore, the appearance of Our Lady in this region can not be considered a mere chance. If the message of Our Lady is focused on the priesthood and the Eucharist, it is quite logical that she wanted to appear in one of the most important regions of Spain at the level of religious formation.

Its purpose reflects a Mother's concern for the lives of her beloved children. On several occasions, Our Lady asked in Garabandal for the sanctification of the priests, through their good example of priestly life, in this way they can save souls by directing them to God.