Our Lady of Champion Invites Women Into Spiritual Motherhood

“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.

About Adele

Imagine a young immigrant woman in a fierce new land. Relentless winters surge, and all one can do is face each day with a single goal: survival. This rugged land, void of comfort or convenience, was a new world for Adele, having left her home in Dion-le-Val, Belgium, a few years prior. Struggling alongside her fellow Belgian settlers, death was a common threat. And yet, our Lady entered the scene and had a mission for young Adele.

Before coming to America, Adele had intended to join the Ursuline Sisters in Belgium after relishing her time with the order as she prepared for her First Communion (source). Only her family’s decision to move to the United States in 1855 altered her plans. Out of obedience to her family and the counsel of her priest, she traveled for an arduous six weeks to her new home and dedicated herself to helping her family.

As a simple farm girl in the wild woods of the roughly settled land near present-day Champion, Wisconsin, Adele walked ten miles every Sunday to attend Mass. Even though she had held a deep belief in God since childhood, she still could not have been prepared for the remarkable encounter she would experience, and the subsequent call on her ordinary life.

Adele Brise (center) surrounded by the children she taught.

The Encounters

While walking through the thick Wisconsin woods on a brisk fall morning, Adele saw a beautiful lady dressed in white appear between two trees (source). Her golden hair fell softly over her shoulders, and a ring of twelve stars shone brightly above her head. This would be the first of three encounters Adele experienced with our Lady. The next two apparitions occurred on Sunday, October 9, 1859, before and following her attendance at Holy Mass. Upon the third encounter, Adele asked our Lady, “In God’s name, who are you and what do you want of me?”

The response to this simple, direct question began a new life for Adele and continues to inspire countless individuals who seek to encounter Jesus through Our Lady of Champion today.

The Mission

The harsh living conditions for Adele and this Belgian settlement were undeniable. Religious devotion was declining as more families were abandoning their faith lives to focus on immediate survival needs. A new land was being cultivated, but the faith of the people inhabiting it was not.

Despite Adele’s vigilance in attending Mass—no matter the challenges she faced—and her steadfast dedication to her family, which often included hard manual labor, our Lady kindly asked Adele to do more.

Our Lady answered Adele’s above question, saying:

I am the Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same. You received Holy Communion this morning and this is well. But you must do more. Make a general Confession and offer Communion for the conversion of sinners."

Our Blessed Mother continued to dialogue with Adele, instructing her in how Adele was to help our Lady’s cause. It would not be easy. In fact, it would require a lifetime of work, which Adele was willing to give. The mission given to Adele included praying for the conversion of sinners and evangelization, specifically focusing on children:

Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for Salvation—how to make the Sign of the Cross, their catechism, and how to approach the Sacraments."

Until her death in 1896, Adele heroically pursued our Lady’s mission, overcoming severe obstacles to catechize the children of northeast Wisconsin. Fully aware that she lacked formal education, training, and materials, Adele trusted the Blessed Mother and forged on from home to home, sometimes walking up to twenty-five miles daily. Adele was even known to help families with chores in exchange for time with the children to pursue religious education.

Feast or famine, rain or shine, aided or alone, Adele lived out her calling, never allowing herself to be idle when the work of the Lord was to be done.

A Call for Women—Physical and Spiritual Motherhood

In life, there are calls, both great and small, thrust upon us. One of the greatest of these is motherhood—both physical and spiritual. As our Blessed Mother knows, this call is an awesome, terrifying, wonderful, radical, and beloved invitation. And like Adele, overwhelmed and left prostrate on the ground, tears streaming down her face after our Lady vanished from her sight, Catholic women also rise and get to work.

Adele was called to pray for the conversion of sinners and to catechize the children. Similarly, we are called to this mission inside our homes and within our communities. Every woman greatly furthers our Lady’s mission by dedicating her efforts, regardless of circumstances, to sharing the gift of the faith with others, especially children, through religious education and helping them approach the Sacraments.

Furthermore, as women, we have been lovingly and intentionally created with the gift of receptivity. This gift is written into our biological and spiritual nature and allows us the great honor of living out both our physical and spiritual motherhood. When we receive Holy Communion for the conversion of others, we are practicing spiritual motherhood. We magnify what we have received and have faith that it will be used to sanctify others. Our Lady of Champion called on Adele to receive the Holy Eucharist for this very intention, and as Catholic women today, we can assist our Lady by performing this loving practice every time we go to Mass.

We live in a time where, like in Adele’s circumstances, people are falling away from the faith, and many children are not raised to know the Lord. Praying for the conversion of souls, primarily through the reception of the Most Blessed Sacrament and catechizing our children, are perhaps the most significant works we can accomplish. So, how does one approach life with such vigor and faith?

Let us look to Adele’s example and follow her humble approach. Ripe with obedience, free from idleness, and empowered by purpose, Adele, with the help of our Lady, yielded great results and bore an abundance of good fruit.

“Go and fear nothing, I will help you . . .”

Adele became a great missionary for God, tirelessly fighting for the souls of others simply by doing what was asked of her and trusting our Lady. Our homes and our communities are our mission field. We, too, can be workers in the vineyard for God. Now, let us go and fear nothing. We have Our Lady of Champion on our side.

Located in Champion, Wisconsin, The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion preserves the peace-filled grounds where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Adele Brise in 1859. As the first and only approved Marian Apparition site in the United States, the Shrine is honored to share the message of Our Lady of Champion and welcome pilgrims from around the world to have an intimate encounter with Jesus through Mary.