novena request

On December 8, 2010, the Church declared the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help a Marian Shrine. Located in Champion, WI, the shrine rests on the site of the first and only approved apparition in the US by the Church. The incredible history of Sister Adele and the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help can be found at http://shrineofourladyofgoodhelp.com.

We would like to ask you to pray with us a Novena beginning February 9, 2011; the Novena will ask Our Lady’s intercession for the creation of the Culture of Life Institute within the St. Paul-Mpls metro area. The novena will conclude on October 9, 2011, the anniversary of the apparition. We will gather at the Shrine on Sunday October 9, 2011, the conclusion of the Novena and you are most welcome to join us. After the completion of the Novena, we hope to be called to create this Institute.

Please let us know if you plan on praying this Novena with us. (Please use the attached Novena)

The Institute was conceived after realizing that our youngest daughter, Kyra Therese and all other Special Needs Children, are still unable to receive a quality, Catholic education in most dioceses.

This Culture of Life Institute would like to change that by providing a center that offers managed, individualized instruction for any child – regardless of abilities. It would also provide quality senior care and housing for the elderly. They, in turn, would be asked to stay actively involved and committed to the business of the Institute according to their talents and abilities. The Institute would offer protection and support for expectant single women. Finally, this Catholic Community Center would address the social, physical, spiritual needs of the greater Catholic community. The Institute will be a Center for the New Evangelization as called for by Pope Benedict XVl. We will “Not Be Afraid” to help those most vulnerable and lacking or to provide much needed spiritual, physical, and social supports. Our mission will be to answer the question posed by Our Lady to Sister Adele, “what are you doing here in idleness while your companions are working in the vineyard of my Son?’"

We have chosen Our Lady of Good Help, because Sister Adele understood the frustrations of living with a handicap/disability. An accident caused Sister Adele to be blinded in one eye. Despite this handicap, she started a school/convent for the poor children of her community without having initial support. Eventually her efforts created the Sisters of the Chapel of Our Lady of Good Help, a tertiary secular community whose members adopted simple religious garb, took no permanent vows, retained property and independence, and were free to leave. Their primary goal: provide the parochial education for the poor and needy. These members stood in testament to the church’s teaching that religious education of youth is a primary function and duty of the family and an orderly Christian society.

The US Catholic Bishops exhorted (a decree from the First Plenary Council of Baltimore, November 21, 1851) schools that “no parish is complete until it has schools adequate to the needs of its children.” Furthermore, the US Bishops instructed in 2007 that “the moral strength of a society is measured by how we treat our most vulnerable citizens.” How well are we faithfully working to complete this instruction? Please pray with us.


O QUEEN OF HEAVEN AND EARTH, Most Holy Virgin, we venerate thee. Thou art the beloved Daughter of the Most High God, the chosen Mother of the Incarnate Word, the Immaculate Spouse of the Holy Spirit, the Sacred Vessel of the Most Holy Trinity.O Mother of the Divine Redeemer, who under the title of Our Lady of Good Remedy comes to the aid of all who call upon thee, extend thy maternal protection to us. We depend on thee, Dear Mother, as helpless and needy children depend on a tender and caring mother.

Hail, Mary....

O LADY OF GOOD REMEDY, source of unfailing help, grant that we may draw from thy treasury of graces in our time of need.Touch the hearts of sinners, that they may seek reconciliation and forgiveness. Bring comfort to the afflicted and the lonely; help the poor and the hopeless; aid the sick and the suffering. May they be healed in body and strengthened in spirit to endure their sufferings with patient resignation and Christian fortitude.

Hail, Mary....

DEAR LADY OF GOOD REMEDY, source of unfailing help, thy compassionate heart knows a remedy for every affliction and misery we encounter in life. Help me with thy prayers and intercession to find a remedy for my problems and needs, especially for... (Indicate your special intentions here).On my part, O loving Mother, I pledge myself to a more intensely Christian lifestyle, to a more careful observance of the laws of God, to be more conscientious in fulfilling the obligations of my state in life, and to strive to be a source of healing in this broken world of ours.Dear Lady of Good Remedy, be ever present to me, and through thy intercession, may I enjoy health of body and peace of mind, and grow stronger in the faith and in the love of thy Son, Jesus.

Hail, Mary.....

V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of Good Remedy,R. That we may deepen our dedication to thy Son, and make the world alive with His Spirit.


In 1198, St. John of Matha founded the Trinitarians to buy Christian slaves from slave markets in order to set them free; this needed large sums of money. The Trinitarians placed their needs under the patronage of Mary. Over the centuries, the Trinitarians were able to free thousands of people and return them home safely. In gratitude for Mary’s miraculous assistance, St. John of Matha honored her with the title of "Our Lady of Good Remedy." The Church celebrates her feast day on October 8. Our Lady of Good Remedy is often depicted as the Virgin Mary handing a bag of money to St. John of Matha.