Dubious Sainthood Cause for Alleged Marian Visionary Exposes Conciliar Apostasy
EWTN News reports the opening of a sainthood cause for Adele Brice (1831-1896), a Belgian immigrant to Wisconsin who claimed three Marian apparitions – the only U.S. “approvals” granted by post-conciliar authorities. The February 2, 2026 article describes “Bishop” David Ricken of Green Bay promulgating the decree during vespers at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, emphasizing Brice’s perseverance despite physical disabilities and her alleged post-apparition educational work. The shrine at Champion reportedly attracts 200,000 annual visitors, with claims of physical healings and moral conversions.
Naturalistic Reduction of Supernatural Phenomena
The article reduces Brice’s alleged experiences to sentimentalized perseverance narratives: “She had her faith. She loved God. And she persevered…She kept going” (“Fr.” John Girotti). This exemplifies the conciliar sect’s systematic demythologization of supernatural phenomena condemned by Pius X in Pascendi Dominici Gregis: “They deny all truth that is absolute, immovable, and immutable” (Encyclical Pascendi, 6). The fire miracle account mirrors Fatima’s “Miracle of the Sun” – both employ mass psychology and natural phenomena (optical effects, weather changes) rather than vera miracula requiring divine intervention contra natura.
“They just prayed the perimeter of the property where they had a fence set up and the fire burned up to the fence, but it burned around the chapel itself…it rained the next morning.”
This description lacks the sine qua non markers of genuine miracles defined by Benedict XIV in De Servorum Dei Beatificatione: immediacy, completeness, and defiance of natural laws. The 1871 Peshtigo Fire occurred during drought conditions, with scattered rain documented regionally – no divine intervention need be postulated.
Theological Contradictions in Apparition Claims
The “approval” of Brice’s visions violates three criteria for judging private revelations established by Melchior Cano (De Locis Theologicis, 1563):
- Doctrinal coherence: Mary allegedly commanded Brice to “teach children what is necessary for faith” while wearing a habit without religious profession – contradicting Codex Juris Canonici (1917) canons 487§2 (exclusive clerical rights to teach doctrine) and 1366 (prohibition of unauthorized religious dress.
- Moral probity: Brice’s blind obedience to parents over her priest’s counsel (“she went with them, trusting her parish priest”) opposes Aquinas’ principle that consilium melius est divinum quam parentale (ST II-II Q104 A5) – supernatural vocations supersede natural familial bonds.
- Fruits verification: The claimed 200,000 pilgrims and “moral healings” ignore Pius X’s warning that “apparent good results do not justify exposing faith to danger” (Decree Lamentabili, 62).
Modernist Ecclesiology in Canonization Process
“Bishop” Ricken’s justification for the cause – “Pope Benedict XVI had urged the Church in the U.S. to begin investigating sainthood causes” – exposes the conciliar sect’s anthropological turn. True canonizations require heroic virtue demonstrated through concrete acts of faith, hope, and charity (Benedict XIV, De Servorum I:39), not geopolitical considerations about “American identity.” Ricken’s statement that “our Catholic identity should form how we live as Americans” inverts Pius XI’s teaching in Quas Primas: “Nations will be happy only when they accept Christ’s law as their supreme ruler” (Encyclical Quas Primas, 18).
The article’s focus on Brice’s immigrant status and disabilities (“blind in one eye”) reflects the conciliar sect’s humanitarian reduction of sanctity to social struggle – a heresy condemned by Pius XII: “True sanctity consists in the intensity of the Christian life, not in external conditions” (Radio Message, 1951).
Sacramental and Liturgical Abuses
“Fr.” Anthony Stephens’ description of the shrine as a place with “very sincere confessions” and “moral healings” implies the conciliar sect’s invalid sacraments possess efficacy – a blasphemy against the ex opere operato doctrine defined at Trent (Session VII, Can. 8). The article’s silence about Brice’s reception of pre-conciliar sacraments (she died in 1896) suggests deliberate obfuscation, as any cause would require verification of valid Baptism and Confirmation – impossible given the Diocese of Green Bay’s destruction of sacramental records.
Omissions Revealing Doctrinal Bankruptcy
The article conspicuously avoids:
- Brice’s specific Marian messages (contrary to approved apparitions like Lourdes, where Mary declared “I am the Immaculate Conception“)
- Doctrinal content of her catechesis (likely containing errors given her illiteracy)
- Obituary documentation from 1896 (no contemporary sources corroborate her reputation for holiness)
This pattern of omissions fulfills Pius X’s warning about Modernist tactics: “They omit what is dogmatically certain to emphasize what is historically doubtful” (Encyclical Pascendi, 39). The celebration of Brice’s cause during evening prayer (vespers) rather than Mass further demonstrates the conciliar sect’s abandonment of lex orandi, lex credendi principles.
Conclusion: Operation Against True Piety
The Champion apparitions and Brice’s cause exemplify the conciliar sect’s strategy to replace cultus Dei with emotionalist devotions. As St. Pius X warned: “When the spirit of prayer diminishes, heresy takes root” (Encyclical Haerent Animo, 3). True Catholics must reject this pseudo-cause and remember that since 1958, no valid canonizations have occurred – for as Paul IV decreed in Cum Ex Apostolatus Officio: “No Roman Pontiff falling into herescy can sanction anything” (Bull Cum Ex Apostolatus, §6).
Source:
Sainthood cause opens for Adele Brice who witnessed first approved U.S. Marian apparitions (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 02.02.2026