A newly composed sacred hymn — The Champion Hymn — debuted at the Oct. 9 solemnity in Wisconsin, honoring the Church’s first approved Marian apparition in the United States.

Mirror of the Resurrected, you reflect the Savior's face,
shelter us, the unprotected, Grand protectress of this place,
you whose womb he well accepted,
Lady, Champion, full of grace.

Bishop David Ricken celebrated the Mass on Oct. 9 honoring her in this first approved apparition in the United States.

One verse recalls and describes when our Blessed Mother first appeared to the young girl Adele Brise:

You, dear Mother, saw your daughter, laden with her sheaf of grain
’mid the fir and maple sought her, made the sinners’ doomsday plain,
Offering up the Blood that bought her, she could their conversion gain. Salve Regina Coeli!

Another of the eight verses points to Adele's mission of teaching the children, proclaiming:

Teach the children of this nation, of this wilderness below,
have them sign their own salvation and prepare for grace to flow.
Thus, Adele, as her oblation, Christ's immortal seeds did sow. Salve Regina Coeli!

The hymn reflects the thought of the Peshtigo fire from which Our Lady saved Adele and all the people who gathered at the chapel where the shrine now stands, but at the same time it extends that to Our Lady’s continuous protection of us today:

We give thanks for your protection in the fires and in the chill.

Another stanza again shows how Our Lady of Champion is always with us day by day, noting especially this sacred shrine, drawing everyone into honoring and turning to Our Lady of Champion and how she helps us:

Mother, save us from earth's sadness by the peace we here receive.
Heaven's light dims this world's madness, hallows all that we perceive.
Pilgrims drawn by gentle gladness, we see not, yet we believe. Salve Regina Coeli.

Then the final verse speaks for itself of our Blessed Mother, her appearance here, and what it means for people coming to the shrine:

Mirror of the Resurrected, show us to his glorious Face.
He from heaven has now effected signaled wonders in this place.
You unveil the Church perfected, Mary, Champion of the race. Salve Regina Coeli.

A choir of more than 30 junior and senior students from the Chesterton Academy of St. John Paul II in Green Bay and St. Ignatius Chesterton Academy in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, sang The Champion Hymn at Mass.

It was co-written by Michael Miller and Doug Taylor-Weiss. Miller is the director of music for the diocese, and he oversees musical activities in a variety of locations, including the shrine. Taylor-Weiss is a member of St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Grand Rapids.

Miller shared that his formal musical training is in composition, “so it was natural for me to be involved in this project of a hymn to Our Lady of Champion,” he said. He became the composer, and Taylor-Weiss the author of the verses.

The Champion Hymn is not their first hymn together. The two previously worked together on a hymn for the feast of the Conversion of St Paul.

Miller said their collaboration began when they met at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Grand Rapids, where Miller was at the time the director of music. He and his wife entered RCIA to convert to Catholicism. Both had been raised Baptist.

“Doug was our RCIA sponsor, and that was the context in which we forged a deep friendship,” Miller explained. “Like us, Doug was a convert to Catholicism, being raised Baptist and then becoming an Episcopal minister. When he converted it meant giving up his work as a priest in the Episcopal Church, and he really missed his sermon preparation. So he turned to poetry and became a dedicated student of the craft.”

Miller continued, “Our first hymn project together was a hymn for the Conversion of St Paul. There are not many hymns for that particular feast, but since it was a patronal feast day for our church, we thought that was something we could gift the community with.”

When the National Eucharistic Revival was announced, he suggested Doug try writing a text for Holy Communion. “He delivered a wonderful text, and we use that hymn from time to time here in the diocese.”

“So when we started talking formally about commissioning a text for a hymn to Our Lady of Champion, it was natural that I would turn to Doug,” he said. “He was thrilled. He and his wife made a trip to the shrine this past summer, to research, talk with Bishop Ricken and others who have been involved with the shrine over the years, listen to pilgrims, and to pray. He then went home and in a rather short span of time delivered a rich text, which I then set to music.”

Along with the Mass and a Rosary Procession, The Champion Hymn has become another way for pilgrims who come to the shrine to recall the apparition of Our Lady, to honor Our Lady of Champion, and to seek her intercession always.

The only video that is available of the hymn at this time is a short clip of the choir rehearsing.