Seer of Our Lady of Champion now “Servant of God”

On January 30, on what would have been her 195th birthday, Adele Brice was declared a Servant of God. The official opening of her canonization was the result of devotion of the faithful, and signals the beginning of the diocesan phase of investigation into her life.

Adele Brice (1831–1896), a Belgian immigrant to Wisconsin, was the only seer to witness apparitions of Mary, Our Lady of Champion, in 1859. She spent her life teaching the catechism to children, devoted to the mission Mary gave her to teach people what they need to know for their salvation. 

In opening her cause, Bishop David Ricken explained, “We believe and I declare worthy that Mary, the Queen of Heaven, appeared to Adele and shared her wishes for her to educate the children in this wild country. And she spent her whole life fulfilling that mission.”

After Vespers with the faithful at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Bishop Ricken explained that during his 18 years in the diocese he had heard “countless stories of the life and virtues of Adele.” It is for this reason that he was motivated to further a study of Adele’s life and open the cause for her canonization.

Referring to his request for people to submit testimonies about Adele at the end of 2025, the Bishop said, “I have received dozens of stories since the December 28th release of the edict that have confirmed my conviction to open this cause.”

Fr. John Girotti is serving as the Episcopal Delegate (Bishop Ricken’s representative) for Adele’s cause as it enters the diocesan phase. He explained that a tribunal will be formed during this phase and it will basically consist of three parts:

This will comprise, Fr. Girotti explains, individuals who are experts in history, who will study documents, places that Adele Brice lived, documents of her birth, documents of her baptism, things that she wrote. And we will investigate that to paint a picture historically of Adele Brice in a particular time and place here in northeastern Wisconsin in the 1800s.

“These theologians who are trained in the Church's teachings will investigate from a theological perspective, a religious perspective, the life of Adele Brice, how she followed the way of the Lord Jesus and lived a life, we believe, of heroic virtue. Heroic virtue is a radical following of the gospel of Jesus Christ, a person who is in love with God, who loves his or her neighbors, and who follows the way of the Lord Jesus as a Christian.”

“This area where we live here in Northeastern Wisconsin is the largest Belgian settlement of immigrants to the United States. And these individuals have lived on these family farms for generations and generations and generations. They have stories to share. We want to hear those stories. And these stories many times involve this humble Belgian woman, Adele Brice. We'll collect those stories. This tribunal will review these stories and we will look for examples of holiness and perhaps even answered prayers.”

Fr. Anthony Stephens, CPM, is the Rector of the Shrine of Our Lady of Champion and said quite candidly that Adele wasn’t considered an attractive person, nor was she considered intelligent.

Adele's face was disfigured, particularly her left eye, when lye splashed on it when she was a child.

“But in the eyes of heaven … we recognize her beauty, her seal, and her new status as a Servant of God, as one who is helping us to reflect the love of Christ because she was so in love with the Lord.”

He is particularly joyful over the opening of Adele’s cause because he hopes that, through her story, people will realize that “anyone can be a saint no matter their education, their physical location, or their spiritual foundation.”

“We hope that Adele's story will continue to inspire the faithful, as it has many who have come to the shrine, to humbly follow God's will with prompt obedience and simple faithfulness.”