Necedah - There was no need for parking lot attendants or vendors selling refreshments when the faithful showed up at noon Wednesday at the Queen of the Holy Rosary Shrine.
They have been coming for more than half a century, ever since a woman named Mary Ann Van Hoof claimed she saw the Virgin Mary beneath several trees right outside her house.
At one time, crowds of more than 100,000 came to this spot. But on Wednesday, the flock numbered about 50. They carried rosaries and lawn chairs, and some had their own cushions to kneel on.
After the two-hour vigil marking the 58th anniversary since the first time Van Hoof said she saw the Virgin Mary outside her house, Sister Genevieve Bordac, 87, looked around at the sparse group and sighed.
"People pooh-pooh apparition sites, and the bishops and priests tell their people not to come, that it's a hoax," said Bordac, a nun who first visited the shrine in 1972 and moved to Necedah from Indiana in 1980. "They ought not tell their people that. This is an actual apparition site. It's genuine."
Necedah is no Lourdes or Fatima. Unlike the Marian shrines in France and Portugal that attract thousands of Christian pilgrims, the Queen of the Holy Rosary Shrine in Necedah is not sanctioned by the Catholic Church, which condemned it almost immediately.
Bordac and the others who believe in this shrine and find solace here came to kneel and pray at the spot where Van Hoof said the Blessed Mother spoke to her. Many stopped to kiss a granite stone marker in front of the trees before kneeling, fingering rosaries and quietly reciting prayers.
Vigils are held on the anniversary of each day Van Hoof said the Blessed Mother appeared - either in person or by voice - and on most of the days processions start the gatherings. Today and Friday are also anniversaries with processions starting at noon, followed by vigils at 1 p.m. at the site about half a mile east of Necedah, just off Highway 21.
Life-changing experience
Jim Sauter, 65, first came with his parents in 1965 and was so moved by Van Hoof and the shrine that he moved to Necedah from Minneapolis. Sauter, who carried a cross at the front of the procession to start Wednesday's event, remembers much larger crowds.
"Of course there were quite a few the first few years. The numbers are down. This is probably the worst I've seen for a May day," said Sauter, adding that more people usually come on the Oct. 7 and Nov. 12 anniversaries of Van Hoof's visions.
And it wasn't just the Virgin Mary who appeared to Van Hoof several times. Numerous saints also showed up to convey messages to her, said Van Hoof, who died in 1984. She dutifully passed along their words, which usually included the admonition to pray and stop taking drugs.
Wounds twice appeared on the Necedah woman's forehead, as if from a crown of thorns, and a black and white photo of Van Hoof with dots on her forehead is printed in guides visitors can pick up at the information center. The center also has a rack of modest clothes and a sign showing someone dressed in shorts and a skimpy top with a line through it. Another sign reads: "Modesty is the gem of all virtues."
As word got out and Van Hoof said the Blessed Mother kept appearing and communicating to her, hundreds and then thousands showed up. Then monuments were built, signs went up and shrines featuring life-size figures - of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington as well as biblical figures - were constructed.
Not everything is done, though. The Queen of the Holy Rosary Shrine depends on donations, and the flow of money has slowed over the years. Behind the sacred spot is a half-built circle of concrete bricks with rusting rebar poking out, part of what was supposed to be a large house of prayer.
An unwelcome spotlight
Necedah was thrust into the news earlier this month when criminal charges were filed against two people accused of leaving a 90-year-old woman's corpse to rot for two months on a toilet. Tammy D. Lewis, 35, also known as Sister Mary Bernadette, and Alan Bushey, 58, who went by Bishop John Peter Bushey, face charges in the case, which followers at Queen of the Holy Rosary Shrine say is unfairly linked to them.
"We had nothing to do with him. The first thing the press did was come here and snap pictures. Of course, that doesn't help the situation," said Sauter. "We knew (Bushey) was here and there was nothing we could do about it."
Van Hoof's modest home, where she said the Virgin Mother spoke to her twice in a bedroom, burned down in 1959. Her believers helped build a replica of the house. No one lives there now, but a sign outside explains to visitors what Van Hoof claimed transpired inside - Van Hoof, a mother of eight, said she heard the Virgin Mary's voice on Good Friday in 1950 and Mary promised to return when the flowers bloomed and the trees and grass were green. Apparently that meant May 28, which is why believers show up on that date each year, plus eight other days when Van Hoof said she heard from the Blessed Mother.
Virgil Bulcher, 68, doesn't come just on the anniversary dates. He visits the shrine every day. Like some others, he moved to be near Van Hoof and the shrine, pulling up stakes in Ohio four decades ago.
Holding a microphone plugged into the shrine's PA system, Bulcher led the faithful in prayer and religious songs before finishing the vigil with the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem.
"I have great peace in my heart when I come here to revere the Holy Mother. I've given my life to this," said Bulcher.
