Holy Hill Sunset

Via Wikipedia

“Tradition says that the hill was first discovered in 1673 by Father Marquette with Joliet.[4] However, modern historians generally view this as unlikely.

The United States government owned the land until 1855,[5] and the hill was known as “Government Hill” for surveying work was done there. Forty acres were purchased by Fr. Paulhuber, from Salzburg, Austria.[5]Holy Hill-3

The first resident on the hill was a hermit named Francois Soubrio.[6] Around 1862, an area farmer found him living on the hill. Soubrio had heard about the hill when he was working as an assistant to a retired professor in Quebec, Canada. He had found an old French diary and map dated 1676 showing a cone-shaped mountain in Wisconsin. The diary described how the author placed a stone altar, raised a cross, and dedicated the hill to Jesus‘s mother Mary. The diary account corresponds with Jesuit missionary work in the area between 1673 and 1679.[5]
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The name “Holy Hill” was first given to the place by Irish settlers in the area.[6] Father George Strickner dedicated a log chapel as the first Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians on May 24, 1863.[7] A set of wooden crosses were placed for the Stations of the Cross in 1875. In the winter of 1879, Fr. Raess sent a proposal to Archbishop John Henni to construct a new shrine to Mary. Construction began that spring. Pilgrims began flocking to the shrine, and it was decided that a religious order should administer the shrine. A group of Discalced Carmelites came from Bavaria at the invitation of Archbishop Sebastian Messmer, and the Shrine of Mary was put under their care on June 26, 1906.[8] The building now known as the Old Monastery Inn and Retreat Center was completed in 1920. The second shrine was removed in 1925 so that a third shrine could be built. The cornerstone of the third and present shrine was placed by Archbishop Messmer on August 22, 1926.[5] The present church was completed and consecrated in 1931.[5]Holy Hill-1
Another tradition describes a German priest who was recreant to his vows who came to America for penance. He found a reference to the hill in Marquette’s diary and decided to take a pilgrimage. He became ill in Chicago, and was paralyzed. He reportedly found the hill, crawled to the summit on his hands, and was cured of his paralysis.[4]”Holy Hill-6Holy Hill-4