Translation of a transcript taken from a video posted on YouTube on June 23, 2014. Fr. Löring is talking impromptu. Sometimes he uses very colloquial expressions that are hard to translate. It may sound a bit disorderly because Father is trying to remember as he speaks and sometimes he goes back to amplify some detail he neglected to mention before. The resulting transcription is what it is, a simple and sincere declaration of facts. Father spent decades evangelizing in his native Spain. His books have resulted in uncounted conversions. His honesty and sincerity are beyond doubt.
Father Löring and the Fathers of Comillas
My name is Jorge Löring, I am a Jesuit and to identify myself properly, my [Spain] National Identity Document is 23.385.067R. One has to identify oneself if one believes in Garabandal — and I do believe in Garabandal for two reasons — Firstly because I have been there — I will talk about it shortly — and secondly because when I was young (I am at present 92 years old) I used to come here every summer to take courses at the University of Comillas, (Cantabria) and there were great personalities there like Father Regatillo [1] in short … many, but [there were] two special ones: Father Nieto [2] — a holy man now in the process of being canonized — Lucio Rodrigo [3] , an eminence of international projection because he wrote a book that was translated into German and is presently used as a textbook in the University of Innsbruck.
Well, these two eminent Jesuits, Father Rodrigo and Father Nieto, were confessors to the girls. And I thought—and I still think: if these two eminent men confess the girls and defend them, it’s because this is true. How could girls of about twelve years old deceive these two eminent men? If those priests had noticed any hypocrisy, any lies, any abnormality… they wouldn’t have defended the girls. When these two eminent priests defend the girls, it’s because [Garabandal] is true.
But besides that, I have been in Garabandal many times. Besides my present call, I visited thirty years ago. Why did I visit thirty years ago? Because one day I acted as a chauffeur of sorts. I gave a ride to a Father who was [lecturing] at Comillas, a Father who wanted to visit Garabandal but didn’t have transportation, so I gave him a ride in my car.
While I was here, Bishop Cirarda [4] asked some journalism students to write a report. And I thought: “Is the bishop’s report going to be written by mere students?” That didn’t seem serious to me. Just a few kids taking notes on a notepad as people walked down the street? No.
That is why the video was made—about thirty years ago, I don’t know exactly how long ago— At the time I thought: “I’m going to videotape all the witnesses before they are gone.” Because they’re going to pass on [one day] —I was young then— when I thought “before they die, I’m going to videotape them.” So I arrived here with a video camera and asked Marucha Herrero to let me use her house. I spread the word around town: “whoever wants to bear witness, come to Marucha Herrero’s house!”
Eleven hours of witness
There I recorded eleven hours of witnesses: Conchita’s mother (I think her name was Aniceta) also Serafín, Conchita’s brother; Jacinta, who was here, although at the time, she was visiting from the United States. A total of eleven hours of testimonies telling me such things that, I think, it is obvious that this is supernatural. Then I gave those eleven hours of tapes to Bishop Vilaplana to archive —he was the local bishop at the time— But as the world twists and turns … who knows now where those interview tapes ended up!
So, three or four days ago this priest learns I am visiting Garabandal and on his advice [I am recording this]. He asked for my opinion, I give him my opinion, and he says: “Since you’re going to Garabandal, record your testimony so the parish priest can take it to the bishop because no one knows where the eleven hours of recorded testimonies ended up.” So, in deference to this very serious and eminent priest I’m going to record some of the things I remember from my videos recorded back then. I don’t know if this will come out well. I’ll tell you what I remember, I hope it is enough.
Pepe Ortiz, no, Pepe… Diaz, [corrected] Pepe Diez told me that “when Conchita took communion from the angel, I was next to her,” he says, “and Conchita stuck out her tongue like a tray and there appeared the Host!” These are Pepe Diez’s exact words. “I was next to her, she stuck out her tongue like a tray and there appeared the Host!” Pepe Diez was standing next to her. Interesting. There are many other witnesses, I’m going to tell what I remember about the rings, very pretty memories. Conchita placed the rings [blessed and kissed by Our Lady] on a tray… she put the rings of the married couples… Conchita gave them to Our Lady to kiss and each person later received and placed the ring on their own finger. Either Josefina, Doctor Gallego’s wife… or another… a lady… I can’t quite recall said:
“when Conchita gives me the ring, a man next to me says ‘make sure it’s yours because maybe is the wrong one… since they all look the same’ and I responded ‘the girl can’t make mistakes’ and he said ‘confirm, confirm!’” She took out the ring and it was hers. And she had some 20 or 30 rings on the tray to choose from! … [unclear].
Second thing, she puts the ring on a man’s hand, and after putting it on, she takes it off and puts it on his other hand, his left. And in the end, someone asked Conchita: “Conchita, why did you switch that man’s ring to his other hand?” And Conchita says, “Because the Virgin Mary told me he’s Catalan, and Catalans wear it on their left hand.” And that’s right. Catalans wear it on their left hand. That’s right. And how does a little girl, a simple cowherder from the mountains of Europe, know that Catalans wear [the wedding band] on their left hand? The Virgin Mary told her: “No, take off the ring and put it on his left hand, Catalans wear it on their left hand.”
Another one I remember, of course I don’t remember everything, I remember just a few. One, a local gentleman, a peasant from Garabandal is there, and Conchita takes a ring and turns to look for him because he was behind her, and she goes after him and puts the ring on him. And he responds to her, “Girl, you are mistaken, I never wear a ring.” And his wife jumps in: “Take it, take it, it was I who put it on the tray [to be blessed]!” That is quite clear! The interested party himself says: “I never…” and his wife says: “I’ve put it on the tray.” These are things that have no explanation. Whoever doesn’t believe it can explain it to me. I think they are very beautiful testimonies.
Miracles
Well, I have another one I’m remembering right now, about a miracle here, I don’t remember the names. The names appear in the video because I did the same thing with everyone involved, asking them to identify themselves, “My name is so and so and this is my ID.” So we know it can be authenticated. Well, this man whose name I don’t remember, but he gave his name with his ID, a doctor, from Valdecilla. [5] His wife was sick and had no platelets… and she was dying. And all the doctors from Valdecilla [Hospital] agreed, lamenting: “What are we going to do? there’s no solution, she has no platelets.” And the man, well, he didn’t believe in Garabandal. He wasn’t a particularly pious man. But since the medical means were no longer working, he said: “I’m going to Garabandal. Let’s see what happens.” And he went up to Garabandal with a friend. He went to Los Pinos to pray the Rosary. And he says in the video, he says it himself:
“Praying the Rosary in Los Pinos, I felt inside—My wife is cured—I felt it.” And when they were getting out of the car, he said to his friend: “My wife is cured,” and the friend said: “What are you saying, man?” They didn’t believe him. Later, they arrive in Santander, they take his wife to Valdecilla… and the doctors find she has normal platelets! And they tell her that now she’s can live a normal life. They told her how sick she was when she didn’t have platelets, that she was dying and now she’s living a normal life because her platelets were normal.
Well, I don’t know, the more I think the more things would come to mind. But this is what I remember right now. But I think it’s enough for us to accept that what’s happening here has no natural explanation. And, it’s not going to be from the devil. People don’t go to confession because the devil sends them!
Ah! Well… and I have, another one I remember, it’s also in the video. A young man from Santander told me, “I went there I don’t know how many times, ten or twenty times.” I don’t know how it was, but he had been in the Santander Prison, on Calle Alta. He visited [Garabandal] several times. He was a criminal and a drug addict. In San Sebastián [de Garabandal] here, he was transformed, and he says, “And I haven’t gone back to jail.” There was also the amazing conversion of this young man who was a drug addict and a criminal and here he was forgiven and never went back to jail.
Overall, if I think about it, I might remember more things, but I wanted to leave testimony that things have happened here that have no natural explanation. Since they can’t be from the devil, because people turn to God, they must be from God. Therefore, that’s why I believe in Garabandal and I wish and hope that the Church will thoroughly study what happened here, so that it may approve it. Another reason why I believe in Garabandal is because those girls —now grown up women— are very faithful to the Church, very faithful to the Church. For example, Our Lady told them to build a chapel to Saint Michael in Los Pinos when the apparitions were approved. Then, some group built a chapel to Saint Michael elsewhere, and Jacinta didn’t like it: “Our Lady doesn’t want that; this chapel isn’t what Our Lady asked for. Our Lady said ‘a chapel in Los Pinos when it’s approved.'”
In other words, the girls are very faithful to the Church. This indicates, it’s one more piece of information about authenticity and truthfulness. And speaking of Jacinta, I’m remembering that when I recorded her on video, she, for some reason, came to say that the Virgin Mary gave her the Child to hold. And I said to Jacinta: “Hey, weren’t you moved by holding Baby Jesus in your arms?” And she answered: “No… I thought she used to give [Baby Jesus] to all the children.” [See] the innocence of a little girl who didn’t consider it a privilege that the Virgin Mary allowed her to hold Baby Jesus.
“I believe in Garabandal!”
[Jacinta:] “No… I thought she used to give [Baby Jesus] to all the children.” I mean, these are very normal girls, not hysterical or egocentric at all. But since I’m talking about Jacinta [as] a visionary, I’m going to talk about Conchita. On one occasion —I’ll abbreviate this so as not to tell unnecessary things— I led a procession to Fatima, and in Fatima there are Masses in all languages. Each Mass has a Priest Monitor. I said Mass in Spanish with the Fatima Spanish Mass Monitor. When I finished Mass, the Monitor said to me: “Listen, do you know who you just gave Communion to?” Well, I say, to a lot of people… [and the monitor answers:] “Well, to Conchita of Garabandal.” You don’t say! “Yes, she comes here from time to time to be with the Lord.” A bit incognito, people don’t know. So… [I told him] ‘since you’re here, arrange an interview for me.’
So… later, I visited Conchita at her house and I met her, but now she is a grown up lady, an elderly lady! But I had the satisfaction of having spoken with Conchita recently, and she was the one who received that gift, because another… I thought to myself, “What is it about Garabandal that Our Lady comes to this corner through gigantic mountains on a road—which is wonderful today—but when I visited here before it was a dirt mountain road?” Today it has a great road… well… Look at the corner of the world God chose to come to! Well, look, that’s right, he wanted to come here. Why? He knows! And he chose these simple, normal girls, just like any girl next door!
And since I’m talking about Conchita, Conchita’s relationship with Padre Pio and Mother Teresa of Calcutta is remarkable. In our generation, they are two extraordinary figures in the Church. Well, those two great figures, Padre Pio and Mother Teresa of Calcutta… were in contact with Conchita! There must be a reason! There must be a reason! We’re not going to think that these high-ranking figures would be interested in a silly little girl. Therefore, for me, it’s a guarantee that both Padre Pio and Mother Teresa of Calcutta connected with Conchita and defended the apparitions of Garabandal.
That’s why I believe in Garabandal.
Father Jorge Löring Miró, Jesuit, writer, preacher, and publisher, died on December 25th, at the age of 92, in Malaga. He was born in Barcelona on September 30, 1921. He was ordained a priest in the Society of Jesus in 1954. Father Loring’s main work was Para salvarte (To Save Your Soul), a compendium of Christian doctrine, with more than one million copies sold in 73 editions, and widely distributed in Spain, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, the United States, Egypt, Israel, Russia, and so on, with translations into various languages. He was also a specialist in the Shroud of Turin. He carried out a broad ministry through the press, radio, television, and also on the internet.
[1] Fr. Eduardo Fernández Regatillo, SJ
[2] Fr. Manuel García Nieto, SJ, born in Macotera on April 5, 1894, died in Comillas on April 13, 1974. Better known as Father Nieto, he is a priest in the process of canonization and the object of great devotion, especially among his fellow countrymen and the inhabitants of Cantabria. Many of them are bishops and priests whom Father Nieto himself trained at the University of Comillas.
[3] P. Lucio Rodrigo Llanos, SJ author of Praelectiones theologico-morales .
[4] Monsignor José María Cirarda Lachiondo (1917-2008) Bishop of Santander between July 1968 and December 1971.
[5] Refers to the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital , in Madrid.
Quod scripsi, scripsi 