National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help
in Champion, Wisconsin
This is the sacred, peaceful place in the United States where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared. It is a humble, quiet place of refuge, noble in simplicity, located at the core of a tri-county region in the heart of agricultural country in Northeast Wisconsin.
The First & Only Church-approved Marian Apparition Site in the United States of America.
Mass
Daily On-site Mass 11 AM CDT with spacing & capacity restrictions observed beginning June 14, 2020.
Livestream & On-site Public Mass offered: Mass will now be live streaming at 8:30 AM CDT on Tuesdays & Saturdays, 11 AM CDT on Sundays.
For updates, click “Latest News”.
Shrine Address:
4047 Chapel Dr, New Franken, WI 54229
Map:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+National+Shrine+of+Our+Lady+of+Good+Help+-+Marian+Apparition+Site+in+the+United+States+of+America/@44.5906094,-87.9136417,11z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x8802c4097ac8f8cd:0x8aac023e4d7cbaac!8m2!3d44.5906117!4d-87.7735541
Sacrament of Reconciliation
Saturday from 9:10 – 10:45am
Daily from 10:00 – 10:45am & 2:00pm
*other times by request
Devotional Prayer
Rosary | Daily at 10:30am
Chaplet of Divine Mercy | Daily at 3:00pm
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament | Wednesday at 4:30pm
St. Joseph Devotion | Wednesday at 5:30pm
Fatima Devotions | First Saturday after 8:30am Mass
Eucharistic Healing Prayer Service | Last Saturday after 11:00am Mass
Rosary for Vocations | Second Friday at 3:30pm
Fatima Holy Hour | Sunday at 2:00pm
Things to do there:
https://championshrine.org/things-to-do
Gift shop hours: Mon-Sat: 9 AM-4 PM CDT; Sundays 12:30 PM- 4 PM CDT.
Welcome Center Open Daily 9am – 4pm
Pilgrimage Resources:
https://championshrine.org/plan-your-trip/pilgrimage-resources
According to the direct accounts of those who worked with Adele throughout the years of her mission work, she was instructed, in a series of locutions by Our Lady, to ‘make a general confession, pray & offer communion for the conversion of sinners & to gather the children in the wild country to teach them what they needed to know for their salvation.’
She further instructed Adele, to ‘teach the children their catechism, how to ‘make the sign of the cross’ & how to ‘approach the sacraments.’ Mary ended by saying: ‘That is what I wish you to do. Go & fear nothing, I'll help you.’
These locutions by Our Lady of Good Help became the foundation of a life-long legacy of catechetical mission work by Brise with local families.
She traveled on foot in a 50-mile radius around the present-day Shrine to teach & instruct as she was told by Mary. Adele’s father later built a chapel on the apparition site where she also began her teaching work.
On October 8, 1871, almost 12 years to the date of Mary’s last appearance, a Midwestern drought caused 2 of the worst fires in America’s history – one in Chicago & the other in Peshtigo, Wisconsin.
The same drought caused an inferno that began raging through the rural area, threatening the chapel in the town of Robinsonville. Local families who'd been involved with Adele Brise as part of her mission work in catechesis traveled during the fire to the chapel on the Shrine’s grounds, many with babies, small children & farm animals, to pray the rosary.
On their knees & in procession all night long, as the areas near the Shrine were reduced to ashes, those who gathered at the Shrine prayed the rosary, asking Our Lady of Good Help for her intercession with her Son, Jesus, to save them from the fire. Their prayers were answered when the rains came & extinguished the fire, preserving the chapel & Shrine grounds.
In Champion Shrine history, this event marked what many believe to be one of the first graces granted through intercessory prayer with Our Lady of Good Help, to Jesus.
This & other miraculous instances at Champion Shrine continue to be a harbinger of hope for thousands who travel on pilgrimage to pray for help & healing.
To this day, many descendants of those whose lives were spared during the October 8, 1871 fire come to celebrate the miracle of the fire on that day annually, praying the rosary all night long into the following day, October 9, the date historians believe marks the anniversary of the last appearance of Mary at Champion in 1859.
In December 2010, after a period of prayerful discernment during which he reviewed years of research & investigation by expert Mariologists, The Most Rev. David L. Ricken, Bishop of Green Bay, determined it to be ‘worthy of belief’ that the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Adele Brise.
On August 15, 2016, The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops declared Champion a ‘National Shrine,’ by formal decree, distinguishing ‘The National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help’ as the first & only Catholic Shrine in America with a Church-approved Marian Apparition Site. This & other international media coverage of events that have occurred continue to draw thousands to Champion Shrine.
Champion Shrine grounds include a Chapel & apparition oratory in the lower level of the Chapel, a new prayer & events center, outdoor rosary walk & stations of the cross, a welcome center with Shrine history, a gift shop & the original historic schoolhouse building where Adele Brise once taught.
The Schoolhouse building contains meeting/ gathering rooms & an onsite cafe. The Chapel, Apparition Oratory, outdoor stations of the cross & outdoor rosary walk are open 365 days a year, from 7 AM until 7 PM.
Large gatherings, outdoor masses, processions, speaking engagements, retreats, educational workshops, Eucharistic healing services, & religious events are held throughout the year to carry out the message of Our Lady of Good Help & to carry on the mission she inspired in Adele Brise.
All are welcome to experience the peace of Champion Shrine in the presence of Mary through intercessory prayer to her Son, Jesus.
