By the Grace of God and the Authority of the Apostolic See
Bishop of Green Bay
Decree on the Authenticity of the Apparitions of 1859
at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help
Diocese of Green Bay
Given That
For over one hundred fifty-one years, a continuous flow of the faithful has come to
Champion, Wisconsin to pray, to seek solace and comfort in times of trouble andto petition Our Lord Jesus Christ through the powerful intercession to Our Lady of
Good Help.
Incessant prayer has gone up in this place based upon the word of a young Belgian
immigrant woman, Adele Brise, who in October 1859 said that the Blessed
Mother, a Lady clothed in dazzling white, had appeared to her on this site.
Incessant prayer has gone up in this place based upon the word of a young Belgian
immigrant woman, Adele Brise, who in October 1859 said that the Blessed
Mother, a Lady clothed in dazzling white, had appeared to her on this site.
The Lady was elevated slightly in a bright light and gave words of solace and
comfort and a bold and challenging mission for the young immigrant woman. The
Lady gave her a two-fold mission of prayer for the conversion of sinners and
catechesis.
“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. Make a general confession and offer
Communion for the conversion of sinners… Gather the children in this wild
country and teach them what they should know for salvation… 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.”
More of the decree you can find here.
THEREFORE,
It remains to me now, the Twelfth Bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay and the
lowliest of the servants of Mary, to 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.
I encourage the faithful to frequent this holy place as a place of solace and
answered prayer.
Given at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, Champion, Wisconsin, the eighth
day of December in the year of Our Lord two thousand and ten, the Solemnity of
the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
David L. Ricken
____________________________________________________
His Excellency, Most Reverend David L. Ricken, D.D., J.C.L.
Twelfth Bishop of Green Bay
John F. Doerfler
_______________________________
Chancellor
1 comment:
I'll admit that when I was first coming into the Church, Marian apparitions made me somewhat uncomfortable. In part it was due to having seen quite a few examples of flakiness and extremism in the charismatic churches I had grown up attending, so I felt wary of anything that struck me as 'weird' or sensationalistic. But perhaps there is indeed something to these apparitions. I've even considered whether I should go to this or another shrine as a spiritual pilgrimage.
Evan
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