It's not often you get to say that a bit of news reflects a history-making event, but this is one: Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay has been studying the case of a Marian apparition reported in 1859, witnessed by a young immigrant from Belgium by the name of Adele Brise.
Today, the bishop announced his verdict: the event is confirmed to be of supernatural origin, and the faithful are free to believe in the apparition.
This makes the appearance of the Virgin Mary in Wisconsin, under the title of "Our Lady of Good Hope", the first and only Marian apparition in the United States to be validated by Church authority. I can only wonder what lies ahead as the grace of this event is to be explored and shared for the good of God's people.
Today's announcement from the diocese is on-line, along with the relevant decrees by the bishop presening his judgment on the apparition and designating the long-standing chapel at the site to be a diocesan shrine. The web site of the newly-designated Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help (Notre Dame de Bon Secours) at Champion, WI also has information.
I thought Our Lady of America was the first?
Good question! Jimmy Akin has written a column about it at the NC Register:
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/americas-1st-approved-apparition-was-what/
It turns out that the devotion to O.L. of America has been approved, but the apparition itself has not been judged yet.
What I love about this apparition is that the message is so.... humble.
No big threats, no three days of darkness or big proclamations.
Just prayer, sacrafice, and making sure that the children learn their catechism! It's an important message, but a simple one.
And, it's close enough that we can actually AFFORD to go there, unlike Guadalupe, Fatima, and Lourdes! :)
Why not focus our devotion directly on Jesus?
There is no question of His authenticity or message.
That would be fine. Nobody is obliged to believe in any claim of a visitation by the Blessed Virgin.
However, reports of such phenomena are a long-running part of Catholic history; the earliest cases happened to some of the Church Fathers.
I found it interesting that this is an apparition that I have never heard about. There are so many stories of US "apparitions" floating about constantly that I got quite a chuckle out of the fact that the first approved one was one I have not heard mentioned ever. A good sign of its authenticity IMO!