Our Lady has appeared in many places throughout the world in the last two centuries, some of which (such as Fatima and Lourdes) are familiar to most of us. But many Catholics are not aware of the one — and the only — officially approved appearances of Mary here in the United States. These apparitions took place in Champion, Wisconsin in 1859, to a Belgian immigrant named Adele Brise — a woman who dedicated her life to the catechesis of children.
In 2010, Bishop David Ricken, of the Diocese of Green Bay, declared the apparitions to Adele “worthy of belief.” Bishop Ricken was in the news again a couple of weeks ago, when he officially changed the name of the shrine from “The National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help” to “The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion.” In 2023, the National Shrine received notification from the Holy See’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments confirming the ability to celebrate an annual Solemnity on the grounds of the Shrine under the title of “Our Lady of Champion” every October 9.
So, if ever you find yourself in Wisconsin, we encourage you to make plans to visit this shrine, which is only about 20 miles outside of Green Bay.
