When Our Lady appeared to a young Belgian immigrant in the Wisconsin woods in 1859, she gave her a plain command: “Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation.”
More than a century and a half later, a dozen members of the Lincoln Chapter of Legatus knelt on that same ground, the only Church-approved Marian apparition site in the United States, with their own shepherd, Bishop James Conley, offering Mass in the apparition chapel.
The pilgrimage, held Aug. 6 through Aug. 9, brought six married couples from southern Nebraska to three of Wisconsin’s most cherished sacred sites: the National Shrine of St. Joseph in De Pere, the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion, and the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse. Legatus, the Latin word for “ambassador,” is an organization of Catholic business leaders and their spouses devoted to faith, fellowship, and the call to witness Christ in their work and homes.
The pilgrims arrived in Green Bay Aug. 6 and joined the Northeast Wisconsin Chapter of Legatus for its monthly gathering at St. Norbert College, praying the rosary, celebrating Mass and sharing dinner with fellow members of the far-flung Legatus organization.
[…]First published in the Southern Nebraska Register.