Our Lady Of Good Help

Adele Brise was born in Belgium in 1831, and immigrated to Wisconsin with her family in 1855. The Brise family settled about 16 miles northeast of the city of Green Bay in Robinsonville, now Champion, Wisconsin.

Little is known of Adele’s early years, but she was remembered as a devout young woman.

(Photo on display at Our Lady of Good Help)

In October, 1859, apparitions of the Virgin Mary occurred to Adele as she was walking through the woods. Mary instructed Adele to teach local children in the faith. Adele devoted the rest of her life to that charge.

Adele Brise with students. (CatholicLane.com)

Many church leaders doubted the veracity of Adele’s story. Her friends and neighbors believed, however, and Adele’s father built a chapel nearby. In time it was replaced with a larger chapel, and facilities for students.

In 1871, during the Great Fire, some area residents fled to the grounds. They processed around the chapel carrying the statue of Mary. Conditions almost overwhelmed them, but Adele instructed them to pray. When the firestorm finally passed, everything around the chapel grounds had been destroyed. The outside of the fence was charred, but the grounds were undisturbed. 

Adele Brise was not a nun, but she adopted attire similar to a nun’s habit. (Photo on display at Our Lady of Good Help)

Adele’s vision was not accepted by the church before she died in 1896. Finally, over century later in 2010, the apparitions were formally approved. Today, The National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help is the only Marian shrine in the United States on the site of an approved apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

I read about Adele while doing early research for The Lacemaker’s Secret, the 9th Chloe Ellefson mystery, which focuses on Belgian immigration to Northeast Wisconsin. I wanted to include Adele’s story. As a non-Catholic, I also wanted to be respectful.

Before making any final decisions, I visited the site itself.

It includes a small museum that tells Adele’s story.

The apparition appeared between a maple tree and a hemlock tree. These are pieces of the roots of those trees.

The site includes a contemporary church, home to an active congregation. The sanctuary is beautiful.

Around a corner and down some stairs is the Apparition Oratory.

These crutches near the entrance are testament to reports of visitors being healed of illness or affliction after a visit.

To me, even more powerful was the absolute, reverential beauty of the small chapel.

 

I knew that if Chloe visited the chapel, she couldn’t help but be moved as well. I decided to have her visit at an emotionally low point, so she could find solace.

The grounds are also peaceful and inviting.

This is Adele’s grave.

The building below is a roadside chapel that was moved to the site and restored in 2003.

Visitors are welcome to visit any day of the year, from 7 AM to 7 PM.

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To learn more about The Lacemaker’s Secret, or my other books, I invite you to visit my website.

Click here for a more detailed account of Adele’s story.

Tags: Adele Brise, Champion Wisconsin, Chloe Ellefson, The Lacemaker's Secret, The Shrine Of Our Lady Of Good Hope