Go and Fear Nothing: Adele Brice’s Cause for Canonization 

Go and Fear Nothing: Adele Brice’s Cause for Canonization 

By Franci Revel Eckensberger, Lead Editor 

In October 1859, a woman in a glistening white dress, a yellow sash, and a crown of stars appeared to a Belgian immigrant in Champion, Wisconsin, named Adele Brice. 

The figure stood silently between a maple and hemlock. Adele and her family initially thought she might be a soul in purgatory, come to ask for prayers. 

“In God’s name, who are you and what do you want of me?” The lady replied:

“I am the Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same.”

Adele’s companions on the walk could not see the woman. Adele instructed them to kneel to her, and the Queen of Heaven smiled—“Blessed are they that believe without seeing,” she told Adele. 

She gave Adele a mission: teach the faith to children and those who did not know it in their frontier region, where priests were scarce and Catholic formation was hard to come by. According to The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion, Adele expressed her confusion to the Lady: 

“But how shall I teach them who know so little myself?”

“Teach them,” replied her radiant visitor, “their catechism, how to sign themselves with the sign of the Cross, and how to approach the sacraments; that is what I wish you to do. Go and fear nothing, I will help you.”

Adele devoted her life to traveling on foot as far as fifty miles through the Wisconsin wilderness to teach families and children regardless of the weather, “offering to do household chores in exchange for the privilege of teaching the children their catechism,” according to the Shrine. Her obedience to Our Lady knew no bounds. 

“Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they need to know for their salvation.”
—Our Lady of Champion

Adele’s family built a chapel on the apparition site shortly after the visions occurred. When the devastating Peshtigo Fire swept through the region in October 1871, almost 12 years to the date of the apparition, many took refuge in this chapel and prayed the Holy Rosary. The fires took between 1,200 and 2,400 lives and burned 1.2 million acres, but all who took refuge in the chapel were spared.

“After hours of horror and suspense, the heavens sent relief in the form of a downpour. “The fervent prayers to the Mother of God were heard. The fire was extinguished, but dawn revealed the ravages wrought by the conflagration. Everything about them was destroyed; miles of desolation everywhere. But the convent, school, and chapel on the holy land consecrated to the Virgin Mary shone like an emerald isle in a sea of ashes. The raging fire licked the outside palings and left charred scars as mementos. Tongues of fire had reached the chapel fence, and threatened destruction to all within its confines; the fire had not entered the Chapel grounds.”
—Account of Father Peter Pernin, local priest at the time of the fire

Our Lady of Champion is the patroness of evangelization, rural missionary work, and catechists who emphasizes fidelity in everyday spaces. Just as she did with Adele, she turns to us as a model of gentle conviction, confidence, and obedience to the Lord.

Go and fear nothing.

Cause for Canonization Opened for Adele Brice

On January 30, what would have been Adele’s 195th birthday, a press release from the Catholic Media Association brought beautiful news to both American and Belgian Catholics. The Most Reverend David L. Ricken, Bishop of Green Bay, has opened the cause for canonization for Servant of God Adele Brice, lay Belgian immigrant and Seer of Our Lady of Champion. This is the only approved Marian apparition in the United States. 

Born in 1831 in Dion-le-Val, Belgium, Adele immigrated to the United States with her parents at age 24. She had promised the Blessed Virgin Mary that she would become a religious teaching sister when she received her first Holy Communion, but her family’s migration to America prevented this future from playing out. Her adult life was entirely devoted to following Our Lady of Champion’s instruction. “Adele founded a school with some local companions on the grounds where Mary appeared to her,” the press release states. “There, they would care for the children and teach them the Catholic faith until she passed away in 1896. Her headstone reads, ‘Sacred Cross under thy shadow I rest and hope.'” She is buried on the grounds of The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion. 

According to a timeline included in the press release, Bishop Ricken declared Adele Brice’s Marian apparitions “Worthy of Belief” by the Authority of the Catholic Church in 2010. In 2016, the USCCB designated the ground of the apparition as a National Shrine, and she was recognized as “Servant of God” in 2025. During Vespers on January 30 at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Bishop Ricken shared Adele’s encounter with Our Lady and her abiding dedication to the Blessed Virgin’s instructions. 

“In my 18 years as Bishop in the Diocese of Green Bay, I have heard many stories of Adele’s life and virtues. Through my continued discernment of Adele’s life and ministry and given the testimonial I have received in recent weeks, I am compelled to open this cause and name her a Servant of God.”
—The Most Reverend David L. Ricken, Bishop of Green Bay

The next stages include gathering stories “that have been passed down . . . by Adele or about Adele,” as explained by the Very Reverend John Girotti, Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia for the Diocese of Green Bay, in a press conference. He emphasized the oral tradition as a “very real thing” in Northern Wisconsin, the largest Belgian settlement in the United States. Adele herself could neither read nor write, and the Shrine describes the accounts of her life and visions that have been passed down through generations as a “constant testimony of the Christian faithful since Our Lady’s appearance to Adele.” “From a theological standpoint, a picture will be painted of her life,” said Fr. Girotti. “All of this will help in the discernment, whether we can go to the next step.” 

All of the information gathered will be sent to Rome. After a cause for canonization is opened and an individual is declared “Servant of God,” there are two more steps before the Church can officially declare them a Saint, during which the Church decides if they are “Venerable” (if they lived a life of heroic virtue or were a martyr) and then if they are “Blessed” (a miracle is confirmed as a result of the individual’s prayers or assistance). 

The process can be very lengthy. Regardless of the outcome, Adele’s faithfulness to God serves as an example for all laypeople who strive to reach Heaven and encourage others on their paths, and this recognition furthers her example’s reach. With her initial aspirations in Belgium having been thwarted by her family’s move, Adele proceeded to “bloom where she was planted,” as St. Francis de Sales urges us all to do. She embraced sanctity in duties other may find mundane, her perseverance was extraordinary, and she exchanged acts of physical service for the opportunity to be of spiritual service to the families she visited. 

Adele took heed of Our Lady’s word amid inconvenience, ridicule, limited education, and treacherous conditions. Nothing touched her faith, and she sought no external reward. She was radically available to God—a true Servant to His will.   

Prayer for Adele’s Cause, with Ecclesiastical Approval of Bishop Ricken

God our Father in Heaven, you lift up the lowly and the meek of heart to show your great mercy and power. With fervent devotion to the Mother of God, your servant, Adele Brice, sought to instruct the ignorant in what they needed to know for salvation. In imitation of her prompt obedience and simple faithfulness, may we do our part to work for the salvation of souls and pray for the conversion of sinners. 

Asking the intercession of your daughter Adele Brice, and if it be Your Will that she be honored on earth for Your glory, we humbly beseech you to hear and answer our prayer [your intention]. May we also “go and fear nothing” with confidence in your care for us and the maternal protection of the Queen of Heaven. Amen. 

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be 

Access the Adele Brice Media Kit here to watch the January 30 Vespers service and the press conference and view photos and downloadable assets. Learn more about Adele at https://adelebrice.org and visit The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion here. 

For all media questions, contact media@championshrine.org.

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Lead Editor Franci Revel Eckensberger holds a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from Cornell University. With years of experience as a copyeditor for academics, fellow writers, and various small businesses, she takes pride in maintaining clarity, consistency, and beauty in each client’s voice. 

Franci finds grace and insight in the Catholic Church’s rich relationship to language and invites that relationship to influence both her literary and editorial work. Saint Cecilia and Catherine of Siena continue to play a vital role in her journey to the faith as an artist. She lives in coastal Delaware with her husband and daughter.