By Nancy Heyne
for the Register
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.
The next morning began at the campus itself, home to the National Shrine of St. Joseph, where a Norbertine friar welcomed the group. Established in 1888 by a Missionary of the Sacred Heart serving a parish of French-Canadian mill workers, it is remembered as the first shrine in America raised in St. Joseph’s honor. Its centerpiece is a statue of St. Joseph holding the Christ Child that survived the fire that destroyed the original church in 1889. A perpetual novena to St. Joseph has been prayed there every Wednesday since the shrine’s founding, an unbroken chain of petition now stretching well past a century. The Norbertines, the white-habited canons who have kept the shrine since 1898, live a rhythm of common prayer around the altar joined to active service, a fitting first stop for a group of laypeople seeking to unite work and worship.
From De Pere the pilgrims traveled to Champion. There, in the autumn of 1859, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared three times to Adele Brise, a young woman who would spend the rest of her life catechizing children across the frontier on foot. In 2010, Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay declared the apparitions worthy of belief.
The shrine is also remembered for the night of Oct. 8, 1871, when the Peshtigo Fire, the deadliest wildfire in American history, swept the region. The faithful processed the statue of Mary around the grounds through the night, and when morning came the fire had stopped at the chapel’s fence line, leaving the consecrated ground untouched. The Nebraska pilgrims walked the rosary trail, had time for confession, and gathered in the apparition chapel where Bishop Conley celebrated Mass.
“I didn’t know much at all about the apparitions of Mary to Adele Brise until I visited the shrine,” Bishop Conley told the Register. “I was struck by the simplicity of the message and the beauty of the shrine. The story about the fire that stopped at the border is amazing. I hope people continue to come and pray at the shrine. It truly is holy ground.”
On Aug. 8 the group drove to La Crosse and the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of the largest Marian shrines in North America. Built under then-Bishop Raymond Burke and dedicated in 2008, its 100 acres in the bluffs above the Mississippi include a rosary walk, outdoor stations of the cross, and a memorial to the unborn honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe as patroness of the Americas and of the unborn. The pilgrims toured the shrine, spent time in adoration, and prayed Vespers before Bishop Conley celebrated the vigil Mass.
Legatus members on the trip included William and Linda Jeffrey, Tim and Linda Aschoff, Dr. Casey and Dr. Rebecca Bowen, Dr. Rex and Karen Largen, Todd and Nancy Heyne, and Legatus Chapter Administrator Morgan Noel.
Nancy Heyne is a member of the Lincoln Chapter of Legatus and a member of St. Peter Parish in Lincoln.
