Inside the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion, April 20, 2023. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A woman who reported Marian apparitions in 1859 in Northeast Wisconsin and dedicated her life teaching children the Catholic faith, begins her journey to sainthood.
Last month, Bishop David L. Ricken of the Diocese of Green Bay issued an official notice, called an Edict, asking anyone with information about Adele Brice to share it with the Diocese of Green Bay.
This is a normal and important part of the Catholic Church’s process when studying the life of a person being considered for sainthood.
The Edict is posted on the external bulletin board outside the Conference Center entrance at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, 139 S. Madison St., Green Bay, and on the homepage of the Diocese of Green Bay’s website.
In June 2024, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops unanimously supported moving Brice’s cause forward. The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, which oversees sainthood causes, gave formal approval this fall for the Diocese of Green Bay to begin a local investigation into Adele’s life, faith, and actions.
According to the Diocese, Brice was born in Belgium on Jan. 30, 1831. At age 24, she moved with her family to Wisconsin.
In the fall of 1859, Brice reported seeing the Blessed Virgin Mary three times while walking through the woods in what is now Northeast Wisconsin. During the final appearance, Mary spoke to Brice and instructed her to “Offer her Communion for the conversion of sinners and to “Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation.”
For many years, Brice traveled throughout the region—often on foot—teaching children, helping families, and preparing young people for their First Holy Communion.
Her life included moments many believe show God’s protection, especially during the Great Peshtigo Fire of 1871, when the small wooden chapel built on the site of the apparitions was spared from destruction.
Later, Brice and several others opened a small school on the same grounds, where they cared for children and taught the Catholic faith. Adele lived a quiet life of service until her death in 1896. Her gravestone reads, “Sacred Cross, under thy shadow I rest and hope.”
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