In October 1859, Belgian immigrant Adele Brise reported three apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the woods near Champion, Wisconsin. Identifying herself as the Queen of Heaven, Mary asked Adele to catechize the children of this wild country. On December 8, 2010, Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay declared the apparitions worthy of belief, the first such approval in the United States.
The apparitions took place in October 1859 in a rural area of northeastern Wisconsin, in what is now the community of Champion (historically Robinsonville) in Brown County, within the Diocese of Green Bay. The region had been settled largely by Belgian and other European Catholic immigrants who worked the forests and farmland.
Adele Brise, born in Belgium in 1831, had emigrated with her family to Wisconsin. While walking to a grist mill, she saw a woman clothed in white standing between two trees. After two silent encounters, the lady spoke on Adele's third visit, identifying herself as the Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners.
According to Adele's account, Mary asked her to gather the children of this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation: how to make the sign of the cross, the truths of the faith, and how to approach the sacraments. Adele accepted this mission and spent the rest of her life traveling among immigrant families as a catechist.
A small chapel was built at the site, and Adele later gathered companions to form a community of Third Order Franciscan sisters who assisted her in teaching. In 1871, during the catastrophic Peshtigo Fire that devastated the region, the faithful took refuge at the chapel grounds, which were reportedly spared while surrounding lands burned.
Devotion to Our Lady of Champion centers on prayer, the Rosary, penance for the conversion of sinners, and the religious formation of the young. Pilgrims come to venerate Mary under this title and to entrust their families and vocations to her intercession.
On December 8, 2010, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay issued a formal decree declaring the apparitions worthy of belief. This made the shrine the first approved Marian apparition site in the United States. In 2016 the shrine was designated a National Shrine, and in 2021 it was elevated by the Holy See to the rank of minor basilica under the title of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion.
Narrative source SanctumNomen (public historical digest) · Catalog source Marian Apparitions – Historical Atlas · CC BY-NC 4.0 · Further reading Shrine of Our Lady of Champion – Official Site · Private revelation is not required belief. Approval means the faithful may believe with prudence. · Images from Wikimedia Commons (public domain or Creative Commons).
