Pilgrim Passport to 3 Wisconsin Marian shrines help faithful mark their Jubilee journey

When you travel overseas, you take your passport along. It identifies who you are, while its many and varied stamps serve as a history of where you’ve been. Passports also lead us to look forward to where we are going.

That is also the idea behind a Pilgrim Passport for the Jubilee Year of 2025, developed by three Marian shrines in Wisconsin. Each is a designated pilgrimage site for the Jubilee Year:

— The Basilica and National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians in Hubertus, near Milwaukee. It is locally known as “Holy Hill.”

— The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion, near Green Bay.

— The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse.

“Pilgrimage is, of course, a fundamental element of every Jubilee event,” the late Pope Francis wrote in announcing the Jubilee. “Setting out on a journey is traditionally associated with our human quest for meaning in life.”

Reflecting on this meaning brought the Pilgrim Passport idea to the staff at Champion.

“It was in response to ‘How can we make this a fun year for pilgrims who are traveling this Jubilee Year?'” explained Chelsey Hare, communications director at Champion. “Not everyone can make it to Rome. And so (we thought), there are these beautiful shrines in Wisconsin dedicated to Our Lady. And we’ve had such a beautiful response already (to the passports).”

Hare, who designed the passports, said that they reflect Pope Francis’ naming Mary as “Our Mother of Hope” in his 2024 bull of indiction announcing the Jubilee Year, “Spes non confundit” (“Hope does not disappoint”).

“The Jubilee Year is a profound invitation for Catholics to deepen their faith through pilgrimage,” said Discalced Carmelite Father Mark-Joseph DeVelis, rector at Hubertus. “By uniting our shrines through the Pilgrim Passport, we are offering a tangible way for the faithful to mark their journey and embrace the grace of this Holy Year.”

Each shrine has free passports and pilgrims may get theirs stamped at each shrine’s gift shop. Each stamp bears the unique logo of its shrine for pilgrims to collect as they travel. The passports also include information and highlights about each shrine, as well as devotions and explanations about the Holy Year’s plenary indulgence. While the passports are currently in English, a Spanish version will be available soon.

The hope, Hare said, is to get the passports to people as they travel during the prime pilgrimage season — mid-April through October. Pope Francis, in his letter, had called upon Catholics to become “pilgrims of hope.”

In that vein, Father Anthony Stephens, a Father of Mery, who is rector of the shrine at Champion, noted that, “We are delighted to partner in this meaningful endeavor to bring more pilgrims to Jesus through Our Lady.”

Pilgrims always travel in hope. This is as true today as it was for the Catholics who settled the area that became Wisconsin. The earliest came from Canada, arriving as 17th-century fur traders. They and their families spread the Catholic faith to the Indigenous people around Green Bay and the Fox River. Next came Europeans, such as the Irish and Germans who came in the 1840s to the 1890s.

The first diocese in Wisconsin was established in Milwaukee in 1843 under Bishop (later Archbishop) John Henni, himself an immigrant from Switzerland. Even today, Milwaukee has the largest population of German Americans in the United States.

Wisconsin also attracted Catholics from Poland and other East European countries, as well as Belgian and Dutch Catholics. In later days, the state became home for Hispanic and Southeast Asian immigrants.

The faith of all led to the founding of churches and shrines, including the three Pilgrim Passport shrines:

— Holy Hill: The National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians traces its roots to the Irish immigrant farmers who first called it “Holy Hill” or “St. Mary’s Hill” in the mid-1800s. In the early 1860s, Francois Soubrio arrived from his native Quebec to live as the “Hermit of Holy Hill.” The first shrine church was dedicated in 1863. The present one was consecrated in 1931. Carmelites serve the shrine.

— Our Lady of Champion: The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion arose after a Belgian immigrant — Adele Brise — experienced three visions of the Queen of Heaven in October of 1859. The first chapel was built by her father, Lambert. The present chapel was built in 1940. In December 2010, Adele’s visions were designated as “worthy of belief,” and the site was named a national shrine in 2016. Fathers of Mercy serve the shrine.

— Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse: This shrine was begun by Cardinal Raymond L. Burke while bishop of La Crosse. Construction of the church began on May 13, 2004, with its dedication on July 31, 2008. The shrine, set on 100 acres, includes the Memorial to the Unborn. The Italianate-style church has a 100-foot dome.

As pilgrims travel to each of these shrines, their use of the Pilgrim Passports will be an aid in reflection during this Year of Hope.

“The Pilgrim Passport is more than a keepsake,” said Father Edward Nemeth, a St. Louis archdiocesan priest, who is executive director of the La Crosse shrine. “It is an invitation to prayer, reflection and spiritual renewal through the lens of Mary as our Mother of Hope. We pray that all who embark on this pilgrimage can draw inspiration from her unwavering hope and maternal guidance, knowing it will always lead us closer to the heart of her son, Jesus.”

For more information, see: https://www.holyhill.com; www.championshrine.org; and https://guadalupeshrine.org.

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