On today's feast of the Immaculate Conception, patroness of the United States, apparitions of Our Lady in Wisconsin have been given official diocesan approval.
Reading from his decree at a special Mass today at the Champion, Wisconsin, shrine, Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay stated, "I declare with moral certainty and in accord with the norms of the Church that the events, apparitions and locutions given to Adele Brise in October of 1859 do exhibit the substance of supernatural character, and I do hereby approve these apparitions as worthy of belief -- although not obligatory -- by the Christian faithful."
Today?s declaration makes Our Lady of Good Help at Champion the first and only site in the United States of an approved apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
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