Chapel lights way for many

During this Jubilee year, we are asked to turn our hearts back to God, to be reconciled with God and with one another. One way to set our hearts and minds upon this reconciliation is through a pilgrimage.

Bp. Robert Banks has designated 10 pilgrimage sites for the Jubilee Year. Pilgrims may receive a special Jubilee Year indulgence granted by Pope John Paul. Conditions for the indulgence, besides the pilgrimage itself, include: Sacramental confession, at any time and place, during the Jubilee Year; Eucharistic Communion; and prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father.

Once at a pilgrimage site, the pilgrim is asked to recite the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles or Nicene Creed and a prayer for the Holy Father. Below is one of the 10 pilgrimage sites:

Chapel of Our Lady of Good Help

4047 Chapel Dr., Robinsonville

Weekend Masses: 7 a.m. Sunday.

Holy Hour with Rosary and benediction: 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Sundays.

History: In 1859, the history of "The Chapel" began with the alleged apparitions of Mary to Adele Brice. The Belgian immigrant girl dedicated her life to teaching religious education, as she claimed Mary told her to do. She established a school and a community of women known as the Sisters of Good Help at the site near New Franken along Cty. K. (One of the members of Adele's community, Pauline LaPlant, became one of the four women founders of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross at Bay Settlement. That community, founded in 1868, took over The Chapel after Adele Brice died in 1896. They remained there until 1992.)

Chapel grounds: La Chapelle was spared from the Oct. 8, 1871, Peshtigo fire by what many believe to be a miracle. During the night of the fire, the faithful carried a statue of Mary around the perimeter of the grounds in prayer. Outside the perimeter, everything was burned; the inside of the five-acre perimeter remained unscathed. Since then, every Aug. 15 on the feast of the Assumption, the procession is repeated around the chapel grounds. (The procession seems to date to 1861, but became better-known after 1871.)

Adele Brice, who died on July 5, 1896, is buried in a small cemetery on the grounds.

Shrine building: The current chapel (the fourth on the site) was dedicated by Bp Paul Rhode on July 12, 1942. The crypt holds a shrine to Mary, built on the site of the alleged apparitions. The statue is from France and was donated by Fr. Philip Crud in 1907. The crypt also holds crutches left by those who claim to have experienced cures.

A stained glass window in the upper church depicts the two trees -- a maple and a hemlock -- between which Adele said Mary appeared. In November 1999, The Chapel hosted the relics of St. Therese of Lisieux.

Carmelite monastery: In 1992, the Carmelite Monastery of the Holy Name of Jesus was established at Robinsonville. The monastery is housed in the former chapel school, dating back to 1885, which also served as a pre-novitiate for the Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross, Bay Settlement.

(Sources: Compass files; diocesan archives; The Chapel by Sr. M. Dominica, OSF)