A group of 50 people from the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin, recently walked in the footsteps of Servant of God Adele Brice during a 10-day pilgrimage to Belgium where they visited locations associated with the Marian visionary at the center of the story behind the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion — the only approved Marian apparition site in the United States.
Led by Bishop David Ricken of the Diocese of Green Bay, the group visited the cities of Brussels, Bruges, Antwerp, Dion-le-Val, and Leuven from Oct. 10–20 on the first-of-its-kind pilgrimage.
Among the stops were the Church of Our Lady, home to The Madonna of Bruges sculpture created by Michelangelo; the Basilica of Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel, Belgium's most visited Marian shrine; the tomb of St. Damien of Molokai, a Belgian priest known for his service to the leper community on the island of Molokai in Hawaii; the Catholic University of Leuven, the oldest Catholic university in the world; and several locations associated with Brice, including her hometown of Dion-le-Val, her home parish, the site of her confirmation, and the port where Brice and her family embarked for New York in 1855.
In an interview with EWTN News, Ricken described the pilgrimage for those who took part as a "discovering of roots."
He explained that most of the pilgrims were from Door County in Wisconsin, which is one of the largest Belgian communities in the United States.
"There's a Belgian heritage center here and lots of deep connections, and they haven't forgotten those," he shared. "And they just loved Adele from the time she came."
With this in mind, and since Brice's cause for canonization was officially opened in February, Ricken and others involved with the pilgrimage thought it could serve as a "moment of connecting with her [Brice's] roots so that we can understand her better" as well as give the pilgrims in attendance "a chance to reconnect" with their Belgian roots.
Ricken recalled that one of the most impactful stops on the pilgrimage was the Mass celebrated at Brice's home parish, the Church of St. Martin in Dion-le-Val. This small parish typically has roughly 20 people in attendance — as Catholicism in Belgium is currently at a low point, Ricken explained — but for this Mass, 250 people crammed into the space to celebrate the special occasion.
"I think it gave them a whole new sense of pride in their own history over there. So it was a renewal for them. You could see that. The people were so thrilled to have us," he shared.
After the Mass — which was concelebrated by Ricken, several other priests from the Diocese of Green Bay who were on the pilgrimage, and local Belgian priests — a reception was held. Despite having a language barrier, Ricken said everyone was still able to communicate and many of the local Belgians recognized the family last names of the American pilgrims and found family connections. He shared that one of his priests from the diocese found a relative of his that he "never knew existed before."
"It was just beautiful and it's going to take quite a while to unpack all of that and understand exactly what happened, but it was deeply enriching for everybody, including me," he said.
The Church of St. Martin was also the recipient of the Our Lady of Champion Adele Brice icon done by Father Paul Czerwonka from the Diocese of La Crosse in Wisconsin. The icon depicts the Blessed Virgin Mary appearing to Brice and has two angels holding a banner with the message the Blessed Mother gave Brice: "I am the Queen of Heaven … Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation. Teach them 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."
The icon is 8 feet tall by 4 feet wide and took two months to complete.
Ricken said one moment that was very personal for him during the pilgrimage was when the group visited the Catholic University of Leuven. The bishop received his graduate degree in sacred theology and completed his seminary formation at this university in 1980. While the seminary building is now used for student housing, the chapel from the seminary is still in use.
"We were able to arrange for an anointing service of the pilgrims … there in the seminary chapel where I attended Mass every day as a student and loved it so much," he shared. "And I was able to lead the anointing service. And many people took advantage of that … not everybody, but many did, and it was so beautiful that right there in the former seminary chapel to be able to take care of my own people from here who went on that pilgrimage. That was very touching."
Reflecting on the pilgrimage as a whole, Ricken said he believes "there will be a lot of answered prayers" through Brice's intercession.
Ricken said he hopes those who went "see all of their instincts and their love of their culture and language as something that's still alive, still vibrant in certain places, and that the shrine is their connection with home."
"They've always felt that, but now they actually saw it themselves. They were able to go to her hometown and experience that connection," he added.
"And my hope is that they'll continue to volunteer and do all the beautiful things they do and have even more commitment to it and be able to identify the work of grace and the Holy Spirit in everything that's happening today in and around the shrine through Adele [Brice] and through the Blessed Mother."
