Thousands of pilgrims are expected to take part May 2 in the annual “Walk to Mary,” a 22-mile pilgrimage in northeast Wisconsin that culminates at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion — the site of the only Church-approved Marian apparition in the United States.
According to the pilgrimage's website, the walk "spiritually prepares" participants to encounter the Marian apparition site as an act of prayer and devotion to the Blessed Mother.
The pilgrimage will begin at the National Shrine of St. Joseph in De Pere and end in the town of Champion, where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Servant of God Adele Brice in 1859.
The “Walk to Mary” is the only pilgrimage in the world linking a national shrine dedicated to St. Joseph with a national Marian shrine, symbolically reflecting the unity of the Holy Family, according to an April 15 press release from the Champion Shrine.
Shrine Rector Father Anthony Stephens, CPM, said the pilgrimage allows participants to embrace community and grow in love of the Blessed Virgin.
“In a world that moves too fast,” Fr. Stephens said in the release, “‘Walk to Mary’ allows thousands to choose to slow down, walk together, and rediscover Our Lady as she leads them one step at a time to her Son.”
Described as “America’s Mini-Camino,” the release added that the pilgrimage is a unique opportunity to experience the region through faith, history, and shared purpose.
As Zeale News previously reported, a diocesan investigation is underway into whether Servant of God Adele Brice, a 19th-century catechist who had visions of the Blessed Mother, should be canonized.
The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Adele Brice in 1859 at the site of the present-day shrine. Calling her to a mission of catechesis, the Blessed Mother instructed her to teach the faith and prepare others for the sacraments. The apparitions were formally approved by the Church in 2010, and the shrine has since drawn more than 200,000 pilgrims annually.
In 2025, about 7,000 people attended the Walk to Mary pilgrimage. Bishop David Ricken of the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin, told Zeale News in a February interview that he credits the high turnout to the Blessed Mother’s intercession, noting that the shrine’s campus has a notable “spirit of peace.”
Bishop Ricken added that he is a frequent visitor to the shrine and said he, too, has experienced that sense of peace.
“I know that when I arrive there,” the bishop told Zeale News, “all that tension and stress is going to disappear, and almost, all you have to do is give it to the Blessed Mother, and it just kind of goes [away.]”
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