Necedah Shrine

Necedah Shrine, officially known as the Queen of the Holy Rosary, Mediatrix of Peace Shrine, is a Marian shrine located in Necedah, Wisconsin. On November 12, 1949, creator of the shrine, Mary Ann Van Hoof (1909–1984) reported receiving a vision from the Virgin Mary. She claimed that in subsequent visions she was told to "bring the truth to people" through prayer and the Rosary. Van Hoof later created a small shrine at where she supposedly saw the Virgin Mary, which grew into what it is today. The Roman Catholic Church investigated and found the reported visions and other phenomena indisputably faked, and when Van Hoof and her followers refused to desist in their worship at the Necedah Shrine, put them under interdict. Van Hoof and the shrine's followers then left the Roman Catholic Church and joined themselves to the Old Catholic movement. The shrine has accumulated various controversies over time, including a shrine-related shooting, various allegations of pedophilia, an alleged connection to a failed recall election in Wisconsin and inadequate medical practices at a shrine-ran orphanage. Mary Ann Van Hoof was born in 1909 and raised in Philadelphia, where she was baptized as a Catholic but not raised in the church. Her mother was a spiritualist. Van Hoof moved to Wisconsin at age 21 to pursue a job as a housekeeper, and married her employer, Godfred "Fred" Van Hoof, four months later. The two worked as sharecroppers. Van Hoof continued to report experiencing visions until her death in 1984. Mary Ann Van Hoof's first vision reportedly occurred at night on November 12, 1949, when she saw a figure wearing a veil approaching her. She was frightened, and did not tell anyone about the experience for a month afterward. Van Hoof's husband Godfred, a Catholic, was the first to suggest that the figure was the Virgin Mary. On April 7, 1950 (Good Friday), Van Hoof claimed to have seen the crucifix on her wall glow and heard the voice of the Virgin Mary tell her that "while her cross was heavy to bear, the world faced a greater burden of sorrow unless she would pray." The voice also instructed her to ask the local parish priest to direct the congregation to pray the Ros

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