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National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion

Coordinates: 44°35′26.3″N 87°46′24.8″W / 44.590639°N 87.773556°W / 44.590639; -87.773556
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"Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help" redirects here. For similarly named places of worship, see Our Lady of Good Help.
National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion
Map
44°35′26.3″N 87°46′24.8″W / 44.590639°N 87.773556°W / 44.590639; -87.773556
LocationChampion, Wisconsin
CountryUnited States
DenominationCatholic
Websitechampionshrine.org/
History
StatusNational shrine
Founded1861
Administration
DioceseDiocese of Green Bay
Our Lady of Champion
LocationChampion, Wisconsin, United States
DateOctober 1859
WitnessAdele Brise
TypeMarian apparition
ApprovalDecember 8, 2010[1]
Bishop David L. Ricken
Diocese of Green Bay
Shrine and school in 2010
Stations of the Cross at the Shrine
Entrance sign

The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion, formerly dedicated as the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, is a Catholic shrine to Mary, mother of God located within the Diocese of Green Bay in the United States.[2] The chapel is in the Champion section of the town of Green Bay, about 16 miles (26 km) northeast of downtown Green Bay proper. It stands on the site of the reported apparition of Mary to a Belgian-born woman, Adele Brise, in 1859.

The apparition was formally approved on December 8, 2010, by Bishop David L. Ricken, becoming the first Marian apparition approved by the Catholic Church in the United States. Bishop Ricken also approved the chapel as a diocesan shrine, recognizing its long history as a place of pilgrimage and prayer.[3] On August 15, 2016, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops designated the shrine as a national shrine.[4] In recognition of this, the shrine's name was changed to The National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help.[4]

On April 20, 2023, the name of the shrine was changed to The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion.

Apparitions of 1859

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Adele Brise was born in Belgium in 1831. Together with her parents, she immigrated to Wisconsin in 1855. In early October 1859, Adele reported seeing a woman clothed in dazzling white, a yellow sash around her waist, and a crown of stars on her flowing blonde locks. The lady was surrounded by a bright light, and stood between two trees, a hemlock and a maple.[5] Brise was frightened by the vision and prayed until it disappeared. When she told her parents what she had seen, they suggested that a poor soul might be in need of prayers.[6]

The following Sunday, October 8, 1859, Brise saw the apparition a second time while walking to Mass in the community of Bay Settlement. Her sister and another woman, Marie Theresa VanderMissen (1822–1898), were with her at the time, but neither saw anything. She asked the parish priest for advice and he told her if she saw the apparition again, she should ask it, "In the Name of God, who are you and what do you wish of me?"

Returning from the Mass, she saw the apparition a third time, and this time posed the question the priest had told her to ask. The apparition replied, "I am the Queen of Heaven, who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same."[7] Brise was also given a mission to "gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation."

Brise, who was aged 28 at the time of the apparitions, devoted the rest of her life to teaching children. She initially traveled on foot from house to house, but later opened a small school. Other women joined her in her work and formed a community of sisters according to the rule of the Third Order Franciscans, although Brise never took public vows as a nun. Brise died on July 5, 1896.[8]

Chapel

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Early history

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The original chapel was a 10x12 foot wooden structure built by Lambert Brise, Adele's father, at the site of the Marian apparition.[9] Isabella Doyen donated the 5 acres (20,000 m2) around the spot, and a larger (24x40 foot) wooden church was built in 1861.[9] This chapel bore the inscription "Notre Dame de bon Secours, priez pour nous" (“Our Lady of Good Help, pray for us”), giving the shrine its original name.[10] The site became a popularpilgrimage site, and the chapel was soon too small to accommodate the growing number of devotees. A larger brick chapel was built in 1880 and dedicated by Francis Xavier Krautbauer, the second Bishop of Green Bay. A school and convent were also built on the site in the 1880s.[9]

Peshtigo Fire

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Main article: Peshtigo Fire

Lumber companies and sawmills had been harvesting the woods of northeastern Wisconsin for decades, leaving immense piles of sawdust and branches as they produced lumber and other wood products. The night of October 8, 1871, a firestorm began near Peshtigo, Wisconsin, that spread through the woods and towns, consuming everything in its path.[11] Unable to outrun the flames, nearly 2,000 people in the area died in the inferno. Some people assume that, driven by strong winds, the conflagration leaped across Green Bay of Lake Michigan and began burning huge sections of the Door Peninsula. When the firestorm – whatever its origin – threatened the chapel, visionary Adele Brise refused to leave and instead organized a procession to petition the Virgin Mary for her protection.[6] The surrounding land was destroyed by the fire, but the chapel and its grounds, together with all who had taken refuge there, remained unharmed.[12] The conflagration engulfed about 1,200,000 acres (4,900 km2) and is the deadliest wildfire in recorded history.[13]

Present day

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The current shrine was constructed with support from Bishop Paul Peter Rhode, who dedicated the new building in July 1942.[10] It is a Tudor Gothic-style building and accommodates approximately 300 people in an upper Apparition Chapel, along with a small Apparition Oratory for prayer on the lower level. The Apparition Oratory also contains a collection of crutches left behind in thanksgiving as ex-votos by those who came to pray at the shrine. The shrine grounds have an outdoor area for a rosary walk and Stations of the Cross.

The largest annual gathering at the chapel is ever August 15, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mass is celebrated with an outdoors and a procession is held around the shrine precincts.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Champion gained national recognition when the apparitions were approved after a two-year investigation by Bishop David Ricken on December 8, 2010. This makes it the first and only apparition approved by the Catholic Church in the United States.[14] Bishop Ricken noted his predecessors had implicitly endorsed the shrine in holding services there over the years.[5]

On August 15, 2016, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops designated the church as a national shrine.[4] To reflect this, the shrine's name was changed to The National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help.[4]

On April 20, 2023, the shrine was again renamed to The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Bishop Ricken Approves Marian Apparitions at Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help". Diocese of Green Bay. 2010-12-08. Archived from the original on 2012-12-13. Retrieved 2011-01-19. 'I declare with moral certainty and in accord with the norms of the Church that the events, apparitions and locutions given to Adele Brise in October of 1859 do exhibit the substance of supernatural character, and I do hereby approve these apparitions as worthy of belief (although not obligatory) by the Christian faithful.'
  2. ^ "Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help". gbdioc.org. Green Bay, WI: Diocese of Green Bay. Archived from the original on 2013-08-31.
  3. ^ "Worthy of Belief". gbdioc.org. Green Bay, WI: Diocese of Green Bay. Archived from the original on 2012-12-13. Retrieved 2011-01-19.
  4. ^ a b c d Shelby Le Duc (August 15, 2016). "Champion shrine nationally recognized". Green Bay Press-Gazette. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
  5. ^ a b Eckholm, Erik (2010-12-23). "Wisconsin on the Map to Pray With Mary". The New York Times. New York.
  6. ^ a b Wisconsin Historical Society. Wisconsin Local History & Biography Articles. "Robinsonville: a Wisconsin shrine of Mary". Catholic Herald. Milwaukee, WI. 1935-05-23. Archived from the original on 2012-11-06.
  7. ^ "Apparitions". shrineofourladyofgoodhelp.com. New Franken, WI: Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help. Archived from the original on 2013-11-27.
  8. ^ Lucero, Sam (2010-12-09). "Green Bay bishop becomes first in US to approve Marian apparitions". catholicnews.com. Washington DC: Catholic News Service. Archived from the original on 2010-12-10.
  9. ^ a b c Tlachac, Math S. (2007). The History of Belgian Settlements in Door, Kewaunee and Brown Counties. Namur, Wisconsin: Peninsula Belgian-American Club. p. 28.
  10. ^ a b "Chapel and Shrine". shrineofourladyofgoodhelp.com. New Franken, WI: Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help. Archived from the original on 2013-11-27.
  11. ^ Gibson, Christine (2006). "Our 10 Greatest Natural Disasters". American Heritage. 57 (4). Archived from the original on 2014-10-22. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  12. ^ "Troubles and Miracles". shrineofourladyofgoodhelp.com. New Franken, WI: Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help. Archived from the original on 2013-11-27.
  13. ^ Biondich, S. (2010-06-09). "The Great Peshtigo Fire". Shepherd Express. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
  14. ^ "Marian apparition in US declared worthy of belief". zenit.org. Innovative Media. 2010-12-08. Archived from the original on 2012-09-26.
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