Virgin Mary Apparitions put Wisconsin Town on Pilgrimage Map

Bishop David Ricken and the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help

NYT: Virgin Mary apparitions put town on map - U.S. news - The New York Times - msnbc.com

The following excerpt is posted on msnbc.com :

By ERIK ECKHOLM - New York Times

CHAMPION, Wisconsin - In France, the shrine at Lourdes is surrounded by hundreds of hotels and has received as many as 45,000 pilgrims in a single day. Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Mexico, draws millions of fervent worshipers a year.

Now, a little chapel among the dairy farms here, called Our Lady of Good Help, has joined that august company in terms of religious status, if not global fame. This month, it became one of only about a dozen sites worldwide, and the first in the United States, where apparitions of the Virgin Mary have been officially validated by the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1859, the year after Mary is said to have appeared in Lourdes, a Belgian immigrant here named Adele Brise said she was visited three times by Mary, who hovered between two trees in a bright light, clothed in dazzling white with a yellow sash around her waist and a crown of stars above her flowing blond locks. As instructed, Ms. Brise devoted her life to teaching Catholic beliefs to children.

On Dec. 8, after a two-year investigation by theologians who found no evidence of fraud or heresy and a long history of shrine-related conversions, cures and other signs of divine intervention, Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay declared “with moral certainty” that Ms. Brise did indeed have encounters “of a supernatural character” that are “worthy of belief.”

Debbie Banda, 46, and her mother, Mary Young, 75, who live nearby, learned of the shrine and the bishop’s decision from the news, and came for the first time on Wednesday.

“It’s incredible — she’s here, you just feel it,” Ms. Banda said after praying in the crypt chapel, said to be on the spot of the apparitions. As they passed a statue of Mary in white, just as described by Ms. Brise, Ms. Banda was overcome with emotion, weeping and hugging her mother. The two of them went back to pray some more.

Read More: Our Lady of Good Help

Bishop Ricken approves Marian apparitions at Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help

Worthy of belief - Diocese of Green Bay

The following news item is from the Diocese of Green Bay:

GREEN BAY, Wis. (December 8, 2010) -- Bishop David Ricken announced today that he officially approves the Marian apparitions at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help at Champion.

The announcement was made during a special Mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help at Champion.

Declared with moral certainty

Reading from his decree, the Bishop stated, "I 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."

Today’s declaration makes Our Lady of Good Help at Champion the first and only site in the United States of an approved apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Three apparitions in 1859

In October 1859, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared on three occasions to Adele Brise, a young Belgian immigrant. Brise stated that a lady dressed in dazzling white appeared to her and claimed to be the "Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners."

The Lady asked Brise to pray for sinners, as well as to gather the children and teach them what they should know for salvation. The Blessed Virgin followed the commands with these words of assurance to Adele Brise, "Go and fear nothing, I will help you."

Since 1859, countless faithful have made the pilgrimage to Champion, Wisconsin to offer prayers of thanksgiving and petition to Jesus and to ask for intercession from Our Lady of Good Help.

Fulfilling obligations

After receiving the apparitions, Adele Brise immediately began to fulfill the obligations the Blessed Virgin entrusted to her. She gathered local children and taught them how to pray, make the sign of the cross, and to give love, thanks, and praise to the Lord.

As part of her commitment to the Blessed Virgin, Brise set up a Catholic school and began a community of Third Order Franciscan women. Eventually, a school and convent were built on the grounds to further the mission entrusted to Brise.

Spared during Peshtigo fire

The 151-year history of the Shrine is rich with written and oral accounts of prayers that have been answered at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help. The sources document physical healings and conversions that have taken place as a result of pilgrimages to the Shrine.

In addition, as the Peshtigo fire of 1871 engulfed the surrounding area, the entire five acres of land consecrated to the Blessed Virgin remained unscathed. It is believed that the land was spared after Brise organized a prayer vigil that circled the area.

Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help
4047 Chapel Drive
New Franken, WI 54229

Phone: (920) 866-2571

Our Lady's October Message to Medjugorje Visionary Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo

Photograph By Loci B. Lenar

The Battle, The Weapon, Patiently Wait, Apostles, Triumph - A Message from Our Lady - Medjugorje.com

Our Lady's October 2, 2010 Message to Medjugorje Visionary Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo:

“Dear children! Today I call you to a humble, my children, humble devotion. Your hearts need to be just. May your crosses be your means in the battle against the sins of the present time. May your weapon be patience and boundless love – a love that knows to wait and which will make you capable of recognizing God’s signs – that your life, by humble love, may show the truth to all those who seek it in the darkness of lies. My children, my apostles, help me to open the paths to my Son. Once again I call you to pray for your shepherds. Alongside them, I will triumph. Thank You.”

Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Medjugorje



Photograph by Loci B. Lenar


The Medjugorje Web - Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Medjugorje

September 25, 2010 message from Our Lady of Medjugorje to visionary Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti:

"Dear children! Today I am with you and bless you all with my motherly blessing of peace, and I urge you to live your life of faith even more, because you are still weak and are not humble. I urge you, little children, to speak less and to work more on your personal conversion so that your witness may be fruitful. And may your life be unceasing prayer. Thank you for having responded to my call."

Feast of Our Lady of Good Voyage Commemorates Miracle at Sea

Feast of Our Lady of Good Voyage

Feast of Our Lady of Good Voyage commemorates miracle at sea | SouthCoastToday.com

The photograph and following story is from SouthCoastToday.com:

By LINDA ANDRADE RODRIGUES

NEW BEDFORD — A time of pilgrimage, prayer, remembrance and thanksgiving, the Feast of Our Lady of Good Voyage honors the Blessed Virgin Mary, patroness of those who make their living at sea.

The feast commemorates the apparition of the Virgin Mary to three fishermen off the coast of Cuba in 1600. In danger of shipwreck during a sudden, violent storm, they called upon Mary, the mother of Jesus, to save them. Suddenly, the storm died down, the sun began to shine and the sea became perfectly tranquil.

"Our Lady calmed the waters around (the fishermen) and got them back safely to shore," said Father Raphael Maria of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate of Our Lady's Chapel.

Likewise, the friars instruct Catholics to turn to God and Mary for refuge in times of tribulation.

While rowing to shore, the fishermen spied a luminous object following them, and upon rowing towards it, they discovered a small image of the Virgin Mary.

This image is now venerated in Cuba as the Virgin of Charity of Cobre and is the patroness of the country. A replica of the image is venerated at Our Lady's Chapel and is the focal point of our city's observance.

The two-day feast will begin at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18, with a candlelight procession and veneration of the statue of Our Lady of Good Voyage, starting at Our Lady's Chapel, 600 Pleasant St. and passing through downtown in a circuitous route.

The solemn procession will step off from the chapel at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 19, as fishermen and friars carry statues, and worshippers sing hymns and say prayers in English and Portuguese.

Upon arrival at the waterfront, special prayers will be said for all fishermen and for those lost at sea.

"Then we will process back to the chapel, and there will be a reception in John Scotus Hall," said Father Raphael. "One and all are invited to come."

The friars request that everyone bring a potluck dish to share.

For more information, contact the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate at (508) 996-8274.

Church seeks recognition for Virgin Mary vision

Church seeks recognition for Virgin Mary vision
Tradition holds she appeared in Brown County in 1859

The following video and story appeared on Fox11online:

Reporter: Kristin Crowley

ROBINSONVILLE - Wisconsin could find itself in a unique part of history because of a reported holy sighting.

Hope and faith have drawn tens of thousands of people a shrine in Brown County throughout the past 150 years. People who say it's a holy experience.

“It's a good feeling, I don't know exactly how to explain it, but it's just a good feeling,” said Val Dubois of Brown County.

In October 1859, Sister Adele Brise claimed the Virgin Mary spoke to her and told her to teach God's word to children. The Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help was built on the site, and has kept a steady following of people like Hal and Val Dubois.

“It's been there since I was a kid. When I was five or six years old, I remember going there,” said Hal Dubois.

Shrine volunteer Karen Tipps says visitors find spirituality at the site. Now church officials are investigating the apparent visions.

“It became a great devotional spot over the years,” said Tipps.

“Bishop (David) Ricken initiated the investigation in January of 2009. So he appointed some scholars in the theology of the blessed Virgin Mary to look into the documentation of the history of the shrine and the apparition and to make some recommendations reports to him,” said Rev. John Doerfler.

Doerfler says if Ricken declares there's enough moral grounds to claim the apparition really did happen, this site will make national history.

“If it were approved, this would be the only approved apparition site of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the United States,” said Doerfler.

Doefler says there could be a variety of outcomes from the investigation. The information could support the sightings happened, didn't happen or the results could be inconclusive. But some say whatever the ruling, it doesn't matter.

“It doesn't affect what people have felt here for the last 150 years. It's not going to affect what people feel here for the next 150 years,” said Tipps.

History of Our Lady of the Rosary

Our Lady - Photograph by Loci B. Lenar

History of the Rosary

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are differing views on the history of the rosary. According to tradition, the rosary was given to Saint Dominic in an apparition by the Blessed Virgin Mary in the year 1214 in the church of Prouille. This Marian apparition received the title of Our Lady of the Rosary. In the 15th century Saint Alanus de Rupe (aka Alain de la Roche or Saint Alan of the Rock), who was a learned Dominican priest and theologian, received a vision from Jesus about the urgency of reinstating the rosary as a form of prayer as His Blessed Mother had requested. St. Alanus de Rupe also received the Blessed Mother's "15 Promises". Saint Alan is responsible for having many rosary confraternities. Before his death on Sept. 8, 1475 and through his devotion to the Blessed Mother, he reinstituted the rosary in many countries just as Jesus had requested. Before St. Dominic and St. Alan, however, most scholarly research suggests a more gradual and organic development of the rosary.

Prayers with beads like the rosary may have begun as a practice by the laity to imitate the monastic Liturgy of the Hours, during the course of which the monks prayed the 150 Psalms daily. As many of the laity and even lay monastics could not read, they substituted 150 repetitions of the Our Father (Pater noster in Latin) for the Psalms, sometimes using a cord with knots on it to keep an accurate count. During the middle ages, evidence suggests that both the Our Father and the Hail Mary were recited with prayer beads. In the 7th century, Saint Eligius wrote of using a counting device to keep track of the 150 Hail Marys of the Psalter of Mary. In 13th century Paris, four trade guilds existed of prayer bead makers, who were referred to as paternosterers, and the beads were referred to as paternosters, suggesting a continued link between the Our Father (Pater noster in Latin) and the prayer beads. In the 12th century, the rule of the English anchorites, the Ancrene Wisse, specified how groups of 50 Hail Marys were to be broken into five decades of ten Hail Marys each. Gradually, the Hail Mary came to replace the Our Father as the prayer most associated with beads. Eventually, each decade came to be preceded by an Our Father, which further mirrored the structure of the monastic Divine Office.

The practice of meditation during the praying of the Hail Marys is attributed to Dominic of Prussia (1382–1460), a Carthusian monk, who called it "Life of Jesus Rosary".  The German monk from Trier added a sentence to each of the 50 Hail Marys already popular at his time, using quotes from scriptures. Promoted by his superior Adolf von Essen and others, his practice became popular among Benedictines and Carthusians from Trier to adjoining Belgium and France, where it was greatly promoted by the preaching of the Dominican priest Alan de Rupe, who helped to spread the devotion in France, Flanders, and the Netherlands between 1460 and his death in 1475.

Read More: History of the Rosary

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How to Pray the Rosary: Devotional Prayers

The statue of Our Lady is displayed outside the Church of Saint Ann in Hoboken, NJ.  Loci B. Lenar photographed the statue while attending St. Ann's Italian Festival on July 25, 2010.

Photograph Copyright 2010 Loci B. Lenar
Christian-Miracles.com

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and the Brown Scapular

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel - Photograph by Loci B. Lenar

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and Saint Simon Stock

The following excerpt regarding Saint Simon Stock and history of the brown scapular is from Catholic Online:

Although little is known about Simon Stock's early life, it is also believed that, as a young man, he went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land where he joined a group of Carmelites with whom he later returned to Europe.

Simon Stock founded many Carmelite Communities, especially in University towns such as Cambridge, Oxford, Paris, and Bologna, and he helped to change the Carmelites from a hermit Order to one of mendicant friars. In 1254 he was elected Superior-General of his Order at London.

Simon Stock's lasting fame came from an apparition he had in Cambridge, England, on July 16, 1251, at a time when the Carmelite Order was being oppressed. In it the Virgin Mary appeared to him holding the brown scapular in one hand. Her words were: "Receive, my beloved son, this scapular of thy Order; it is the special sign of my favor, which I have obtained for thee and for thy children of Mount Carmel. He who dies clothed with this habit shall be preserved from eternal fire. It is the badge of salvation, a shield in time of danger, and a pledge of special peace and protection."

The scapular (from the Latin, scapula, meaning "shoulder blade") consists of two pieces of cloth, one worn on the chest, and the other on the back, which were connected by straps or strings passing over the shoulders. In certain Orders, monks and nuns wear scapulars that reach from the shoulders almost to the ground as outer garments. Lay persons usually wear scapulars underneath their clothing; these consist of two pieces of material only a few inches square.

There are elaborate rules governing the wearing of the scapular: although it may be worn by any Catholic, even an infant, the investiture must be done by a priest. And the scapular must be worn in the proper manner; if an individual neglects to wear it for a time, the benefits are forfeited.

The Catholic Church has approved eighteen different kinds of scapulars of which the best known is the woolen brown scapular, or the Scapular of Mount Carmel, that the Virgin Mary bestowed on Simon Stock. His feast day is May 16th.

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Prayer of Saint Simon Stock to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

O most beautiful Flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendor of Heaven, Blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in this my necessity. O Star of the Sea, help me and show me herein that you are my Mother.

O Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart, to succor me in this my necessity. There are none that can withstand your power. O show me herein that you are my Mother.

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us that have recourse to thee. (Repeat 3 times)

Sweet Mother, I place this cause in your hands. (Repeat 3 times)

***

The statue of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is on display at the Church of Saint Ann in Hoboken, NJ. I photographed the statue while attending the St. Ann's Italian Festival on July 25, 2010.

Photograph Copyright 2010 Loci B. Lenar
Christian-Miracles.com

Pope visits Chapel of the Apparitions in Fatima

Pope visits Chapel of the Apparitions in fatima| CathNews India

Pope Benedict XVI, on the second day of his trip to Portugal, visited the Chapel of the Apparitions in Fatima.

The pope prayed at the site of Mary’s apparitions at Fatima and entrusted the world’s priests to her, saying the church needs “holy priests, transfigured by grace.”

His trip coincides with the 93rd anniversary of the first reported apparition of the Virgin by the three young shepherds, Lúcia Santos and her cousins, siblings Jacinta and Francisco Marto.

Virgin Mary Appearing in Egypt

Numerous reports in various articles throughout the internet have claimed that the Virgin Mary is appearing at the Coptic Orthodox Church in El-Warraq, Cairo, Egypt. Is it a sign from God that Christians and Muslims should work together for a common cause? Is the claims of an apparition of the Virgin Mary a call for Christians and Muslims to live together in peace?

The Daily Star - Arts & Culture - Late nights in Egypt with the 'Virgin Mary'

The following excerpt is written by Agence France Presse from The Daily Star:

CAIRO: Every night in the run-up to Christmas, thousands of Egypt’s Coptic Christians have been gathering in a Cairo suburb eager for a glimpse of a vision that has given hope to their marginalized community.

It is three hours past midnight in Al-Warraq, a poor working class neighborhood, and a 10,000-strong crowd is silently staring at the sky. Then the appearance of a mysterious light over the church’s bell tower jolts the gathering into a frenzy of cries and ululations. They imagine it is an apparition of the Virgin Mary.

Thousands have been coming nightly since the first sighting of the Virgin Mary on December 10, in the hope of being blessed by her light. The prospect of benediction is being depicted as a much-needed morale boost for the Christian minority, which complains of systematic discrimination and marginalization.

Tea vendors and sweet sellers snake through the crowd where thousands of families have gathered with young children and babies.

“The first person to spot … the Virgin Mary was a Muslim neighbor,” said Father Fishay, a priest at the Warraq church. “He took a video and pictures and distributed them to everyone.”

Hassan, the Muslim neighbor in question, was sitting at his coffee shop at around 8:30 p.m. when he saw a strong light coming from the church. Others began to notice the light and saw a bird circling overhead. At around 2 a.m., Fishay said, a vision of the Virgin Mary appeared.

News of the apparition prompted hundreds to rush out with mobile phones to capture the momentous event. “It’s her, with her blue-and-white clothes,” enthused Rami, 36. “There is no doubt about it. It cannot be an illusion.”

“The church closes its doors in the evening,” said Fishay in his measured manner. “We were not there when the image appeared the first time, so we decided to come back the second night.”

Nabil, 32, his wife Mariam, 28, and their three children came from Shubra al-Kheima, some 20 kilometers away, to receive the Virgin’s blessings. “Her appearance means she approves of us and if she blesses us,” Mariam opined. “We will stay ’til morning.”

Her husband said the sighting proves that Christianity is still alive. He is angry over the recent publication of an article in a periodical of Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, Sunni Islam’s highest seat of learning, questioning the foundations of Christianity. “The apparition of the Virgin Mary,” he said, “means that Christianity is real and the Bible is real.”

Around 10 percent of the 80 million population, Egypt’s Christians complain they are kept out of jobs in the army, judiciary and universities.

“It is not possible to know the reason for the Virgin’s appearance,” Fishay said.

“Maybe it will end the state of tension between Muslims and Christians and an end to extremism. Maybe it’ll bring back forgiveness like there once used to be in Egypt.”