The Convent in the Woods
Adele did as she was asked. She set out on foot, knocking on doors, offering to work for free, asking only that she be allowed to teach the children there their catechism and as payment. The need was great. Many in that wild country were not practicing the faith or teaching it to their children.
A chapel was built on the site of the apparition, some of the land cleared for it and for the logging industry in the area. Five acres were cleared, and a wooden fence a few inches thick belted the site. There was the chapel, a school and a small convent for Adele and a handful of women – all small buildings made entirely of wood.
A Strange, Deadly Fire
Twelve years later, almost to the day, on the evening of October 8, 1871, after a half year of little to no rain, a strange hurricane of wind and fire, the Great Peshtigo Fire, set the land and sky in flames.
It was the same night as the Great Chicago Fire, nearly at the same time. Thousands perished in the Wisconsin North Woods.
The fire was strange, and all consuming. The air itself was on fire. Those who could get to the fenced-in chapel grounds did so, with what little they could carry and even with their livestock.
They prayed all night, moving on their knees and carrying a statue of Our Lady of Good Help. The chapel grounds surrounded and domed with fire. There was no escape.
Before dawn of Oct. 9, 1871, the rains came and dowsed the flames, which had consumed everything for miles. Everything. Except the chapel grounds.
There is an account of what happened from Sister M. Dominica, OSF:
"Everything about them was destroyed; miles of desolation everywhere. But the Convent, school Chapel and the five acres of land consecrated to the Virgin Mary shown like an emerald isle in a sea of ashes. The raging fire licked the outside palings and left charred scars as mementos. Tongues of fire had reached the Chapel fence, and threatened destruction to all within its confines – the fire had not entered the Chapel grounds. "
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