Many Catholics are not aware of the fact that there has been only one approved apparition of our Blessed Mother here in the United States since our country was founded in 1776. That apparition (actually three of them) took place in Champion, Wisconsin in 1859, to a Belgian immigrant named Adele Brise. In 2010, Bishop David Ricken of the Diocese of Green Bay declared the apparitions to Adele “worthy of belief.” When the seer questioned Our Lady during one of her appearances as to her identity and the purpose of her visit, Mary reportedly said, “I am the Queen of Heaven. … 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
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The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion's Marketing Director, Chelsey Hare speaks with Catholic Podcaster, Katie McGrady about the Shrine's long-term prayer initiative, The Shepard Project.

Amidst the countryside and quiet farmland of Champion, Wis., there is a unique and spiritually significant place in American Catholic history — it is the site of the only approved Marian apparition in the United States. Who saw Our Lady? What happened? And why is it significant for us all today? Journey along as we explore the remarkable apparition of Our Lady of Champion.

In early June, the U.S. Catholic bishops voted unanimously to begin the process of officially declaring Adele Brise a saint. Brise, an immigrant from Belgium living in northern Wisconsin, witnessed the first and only approved Marian apparition in the United States in 1859. Today, Oct. 9, is the solemnity of that apparition known as Our Lady of Champion.

Champion, Wisconsin may seem like an unusual place for a Church-approved Marian Apparition site. Surrounded by farmlands, the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion doesn’t have the grandeur of Lourdes or Guadalupe to mark this place as anything special, other than the fact that Our Lady appeared here to a woman named Adele Brise and urged her to pray for the conversion of sinners and to teach children the faith...

“Go and fear nothing, I will help you . . . ” These are the last words our Blessed Mother shared with twenty-eight-year-old Adele Brise on October 9, 1859. Words that would set into motion a call to action that echoes throughout the fields and woods of northeast Wisconsin—and beyond, even today.