Visits drew crowd, not credenceNecedah woman claimed to see Blessed Virgin; multitudes didn'tBy Dennis McCann
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 Photo/ACME TELEPHOTO Anna Van Hoof blesses the visitors who in 1950 came to witness her vision of the Virgin Mary at her farm in Necedah. Tens of thousands of people showed up on her "vision day." |
In 1950, Wisconsin Catholics were in a stir over two women. One was Anna Van Hoof of Necedah, a farm wife with a fourth-grade education who said she had been visited six times -- by the Blessed Virgin.
Mary had appeared from a blue mist, Van Hoof said, in a blue robe studded with white stars and holding a rosary.
And, Van Hoof revealed, on Aug. 15 Mary would appear again.
The thought of a Juneau County farm as the next Fatima caused a faithful uproar. In June, Milwaukee newspapers predicted 10,000 would make pilgrimages to Necedah for the visit, while by August the estimate was 30,000. The simple farm wife and mother of seven had drawing power.
Van Hoof said the Virgin's messages to her had been for people to say the rosary daily, live Christian lives and work to convert godless Russia.
But some were skeptical. In June, spokesmen for the La Crosse diocese called publicity "spurious and regrettable" and said the claims were being investigated.
By August, when every available bus in Milwaukee had been chartered and extra trains scheduled, the message was stronger. Van Hoof's claims were "highly questionable," said a statement by Bishop John Treacy, who regretted the "unstable emotionalism and misguided zeal."
"Stay at home," he said, "and pray the rosary there."
Some trains were canceled, but the "alleged visit," as the papers put it, was still on. "I must go ahead with it," Van Hoof said, "or the blessed Virgin will punish me."
"Vision Day" drew uncounted thousands -- estimates were from 35,000 to 100,000 -- along with food and souvenir vendors. Some merchants added rosaries to their inventory, while Van Hoof complained that visitors were crushing her flowers and disturbing her chickens.
Even doubters acknowledged Van Hoof seemed sincere, but true believers brought the ill and the lame to be in her presence.
"Most pathetic of the pictures in the meadow was the fenced lane leading to the shrine -- the space reserved for cripples," a reporter wrote.
In front of the multitudes, Van Hoof was again visited, she said. A reporter said several women fainted, from excitement or heat, but "if anyone else thought he saw the apparition, the reporter has not heard about it . . . but it's hardly likely anyway. This is Anna Van Hoof's vision, jealously cherished."
A church spokesman debunked the "vision," saying those who say they saw something "were seeing things."
A much smaller crowd attended the last visit in October. While describing the Virgin's message that day, Van Hoof collapsed near her statue of the Lady of Fatima and struck her head.
But doubt was growing. In Milwaukee, church disapproval forced cancellation of radio broadcasts of Van Hoof sharing Mary's message, and a shrine at the farm was removed at the direction of the archdiocese.
Years later Van Hoof said she still talked regularly with the Virgin Mary, but few listened. And fewer believed.
