QUEEN OF HEAVEN - FIRST USA APPARITION APPROVED

 

Today we celebrate the feast of the QUEENSHIP  of MARY and I am reminded that one of our local priests made a pilgrimage this summer and brought back the information on a woman I had never heard of and the first apparition in the United States- which has been approved by the bishops of the USA.

The story begins with a young ADELE BRISE who was born in Belgium to Lambert and Catherine Brise in 1831. Adele suffered an accident at a young age that left her blind in her right eye.  Those who knew her best described her  as cheerful and pius.

When she received her first Holy Communion, Adele and a few close friends promised the Blessed Mother that they would devote their lives as religious teaching sisters in Belgium. However, when her parents decided to move to America with other Belgium settlers, she was at a loss what to do. Seeking advice from her confessor, she was told to be obedient to her parents, assuring her that if the Lord willed her to become a teacher and a sister, she would serve in that vocation in America.

 After the six-week voyage to America, the Brise family joined the largest Belgian settlement,  near present-day Champion, Wisconsin. Belgian pioneers’ and settlers’ lives were difficult, and many died in the harsh Wisconsin winters. Adele served her family’s needs by often taking grain to the grist mill.

One day while walking along a trail in the woods, Adele saw a lady dressed in white, standing between two trees. When Adele told her family, they believed her but thought perhaps it was a soul in purgatory asking for prayers. A few days later, on what is believed to be Sunday, October 9, 1859,  Adele walked to Mass with her sister and a friend. The church was 10 miles away from home, but Adele made the journey every Sunday, no matter the weather. Along the same path, Adele saw the mysterious lady standing in the same spot between the two trees. However, Adele being the only one to see her, she and her companions continued their journey to Mass.

After Mass, Adele spoke to her parish priest, and he told her that if the lady appeared to her again to ask the question, “In God’s name, who are you and what do you want of me?”

On her journey home, Adele saw the lady for the third time. As she and her companions approached the spot, Adele could see the beautiful lady, clothed in dazzling white, with a yellow sash around her waist. Her dress fell to her feet in graceful folds. She had a crown of stars around her head, and her long golden  hair fell loosely over her shoulders. The lady had such a heavenly light around her that Adele could hardly look at her face. Overcome by the light, Adele fell to her knees and said, “In God’s name, who are you, and what do you want of me?”

The lady replied, “I am the Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same. You received Holy Communion this morning and that is well. But you must do more. You must make a general confession and offer Communion for the conversion of sinners. If they do not convert and do penance, my Son will be obliged to punish them.”

Adele’s companions, unable to see Our Lady asked, “Adele, who is it? Why can’t we see her as you do?”

“Kneel,” said Adele, “the Lady says she is the Queen of Heaven.”

The Blessed Lady gazed kindly upon them, saying, “Blessed are they that believe without seeing.” Then, looking toward Adele, the Queen of Heaven asked, “What are you doing here in idleness while your companions are working in the vineyard of my Son?”

“What more can I do, dear Lady?” asked Adele, weeping.

“Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation.”

“But how shall I teach them who know so little myself?” Adele said.

“Teach them their catechism, how to sign themselves with the sign of the Cross, and how to approach the sacraments; that is what I wish you to do. Go and fear nothing, I will help you.”

Then Our Lady lifted her hands as though she were beseeching a blessing for those at her feet. Slowly, she vanished from sight, leaving Adele overwhelmed and prostrated on the ground.

This was the beginning of Adele’s mission to become a teacher for the Lord and His Mother.  Adele would travel as far as fifty miles to teach the children. Undeterred by weather, fatigue, or ridicule, she would go from home-to-home offering to do household chores in exchange for the privilege of teaching the children their catechism. Adele’s father built a small family chapel soon after the apparitions.

After several years of teaching alone, Adele gathered around her other women who would assist her teaching mission. They were blessed with much support, not only financially, but by the men and women who stepped forward to build a convent, school, and a larger wooden chapel on the grounds to accommodate the faithful in 1861. The words “Notre Dame De Bon Secours, Priez Pour Nous” was inscribed over the chapel’s entrance, translated as “Our Lady of Good Help, Pray for Us.”

Adele’s mission was found to be very difficult at times. Adele and her sisters often did not know from where their next meal would come. Adele would gather them in the chapel and ask for Mary’s help. Before morning, a bag of flour or a supply of meat would arrive at the door.

On October 8th, 1871, almost twelve years to the date of Mary’s last appearance to Adele, the Great Peshtigo Fire broke out. It is still considered to this day the most devastating fire in United States history, killing between 1,200-2,400 people and burning 1.2 million acres. Due to the high winds and dry grounds, the fire quickly became a storm of fire and roared like a tornado right toward the Shrine’s grounds.

 Desperate for help, people from the surrounding countryside fled to the Chapel where Adele and her companions were praying for Mary’s protection. Lifting the statue of Mary, those there that night processed around the sanctuary, praying the rosary and singing hymns to Jesus and  His Mother. When the wind and fire threatened suffocation, they would turn in another direction to pray. Early the next morning, it is believed that a steady rain came and extinguished the flames of the fire.

Although the fire charred the outside of the Shrine’s fence, it had not harmed the grounds, while the area surrounding the grounds was destroyed, and the only livestock to survive were the cattle the farmers led to the chapel. While many deeper wells in the area went dry, the chapel’s shallow well gave the cattle enough water to survive the heat.

 To this day, many descendants of those whose lives were spared during the October 8, 1871 fire come to celebrate the miracle on its anniversary. October 8 continues to draw thousands of people from around the country to visit the Shrine and join in all-night prayer into October 9 – the date historians believe marks the anniversary of Mary’s last appearance to Adele.

 Adele and her Sisters continued to teach and catechize the children long after the devastating fire.  Adele Brise was not a nun, but she adopted attire similar to a nun’s habit.

Their presence had a lasting effect on the people of the community. She lived out her ministry with zeal and love of God and Mary. Adele died on July 5, 1896, and is buried in the cemetery located near The Apparition Chapel on the grounds of the National Shrine.

Today people from all over the world come to Champion to pray at the shrine, which is 16 miles northeast of  Green Bay. On August 15, 2016, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops designated the shrine as a National Shrine. In recognition of this, the shrine's name was changed to The National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help.

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