Surrounded by dairy farms and fields of corn, oats and soybeans, The Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help stands humbly, yet majestically, in a quiet and beautiful spot of rural Northeast Wisconsin. The Shrine’s Chapel was the first house of worship in the Belgian settlement…and it all began when Adele Brise’s father erected a 10-foot-by-12-foot oratory near the spot of Adele’s vision of Our Blessed Mother. A small picture of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, given to Adele by Father William Verhoef, was the only adornment of this makeshift chapel. As news of the apparitions spread, pilgrims arrived almost daily to the oratory, making it apparent that the structure was too small to accommodate the faithful. In 1861, the settlers—with the help of Adele’s father, Lambert Brise, and a donation from Mrs. Isabella Doyen of five acres of land around the holy knoll—built a 24-foot-by-40-foot Chapel. According to a description of the Chapel reported in the Kewaskum Enterprise, the building was capable of seating about 100 people, and the inscription over the entrance of the Chapel read “Notre Dame de bon Secours, priez pour nous.” The description continues:
“In the auditorium, low, unpainted benches without backs answered the purpose of pews, but the chancel and the altar were richly and expensively decorated with paintings, images and silver plate. On one of the walls of the chancel were hung eight crutches, said to have been left by cripples who had been cured of their lameness through the instrumentality of Our Lady, and which are regarded as ever present witnesses of her power.”
Despite the lack of official diocesan recognition of the apparition, and due to the increased demands on the original Chapel, pastoral sanction was given in 1880 for the building of a new, larger Chapel, school and convent. The new brick Chapel was built directly over the trees on the site where the Blessed Virgin had appeared to Sister Adele. The new Chapel was formally dedicated with a blessing from Bishop Krautbauer, in October of 1880. Recalling Sister Adele and the building of the 1880 Chapel, a student at the Chapel, Soeur Marie du Sacré Coeur once stated:
“I remember well, when I was about eight years old, we would pray and sing hymns around the trees where the Virgin Mother had appeared to Sister Adele. I also remember when the brick Chapel was built, and the precious trees were cut down to build the Chapel, and the altar placed on the spot.”
Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help
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