You can help the National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion celebrate two important anniversaries this weekend. On Friday, the Champion Shrine will continue its traditional remembrance of the Peshtigo Fire. It has been 150 years since the firestorm that started in Peshtigo made its way east to burn portions of the Door Peninsula including the area near where the Champion Shrine sits today. It is believed that Adele Brise, who the Virgin Mary appeared before 12 years to the day earlier, refused to leave the Champion Shrine’s grounds. She instead gathered area people and prayed to Mary for protection. While the rest of the area around it burned, the chapel and its grounds were left unaffected. The Shrine’s Rector, Father John Broussard, says the Peshtigo Fire is just one of the many examples of miracles that have occurred there.
The Champion Shrine commemorates the Peshtigo Fire with Miracle of the Fire service at 7 p.m., which reads from a first-hand account of the event. It is proceeded by a rosary procession and all-night adoration and rosary until 7 a.m. Saturday. Bishop David Ricken will preside over an apparition anniversary mass at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
Picture courtesy of National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help
