Father Nelson Baker left behind, in the city of Lackawanna, New York, near Buffalo, an incredibly beautiful basilica dedicated to Our Lady of Victory.
This church was built as an act of love and thanksgiving to Jesus and the Holy Mother by a priest who lived a life of great faith.
Father Nelson Baker was born on February 16, 1842, in Buffalo, New York, to a Catholic mother and a Lutheran father. Nelson and his two brothers were raised as Lutherans, but at the age of nine, he was baptized as a Catholic and later received Holy Communion and Confirmation. From a young age, he devoted himself to the Holy Mother.
Nelson attended local public schools and, after graduating high school, worked for his father in his general store and grocery. He had a brief stint in the army, serving as a private in the New York State militia for six weeks during the Civil War in 1863; his unit was sent to quell the New York draft riots.
Afterward, Nelson and another man started a grain and feed business that met with some success. Nelson also began volunteering with Father Joseph Hines at the orphan asylum. He began to discern a call to the priesthood and received instruction in Latin from a Jesuit priest, the pastor of St. Michael's Church in Buffalo. After an Ignatian retreat, he asked the Bishop of Buffalo if he could be admitted to the seminary. The following year, in 1869, he entered Our Lady of Angels Seminary in Niagara, New York.
While at the seminary, Nelson became very ill. He contracted erysipelas, a skin disease, and had to be hospitalized for eleven weeks. In 1874, he learned of an American pilgrimage to Rome led by the Bishop of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and asked his bishop and the seminary rector if he could go as an act of thanksgiving for his healing. They agreed.
The pilgrimage began in Paris, and it was there that Nelson had an experience that would greatly influence his life. While visiting the Church of Notre-Dame des Victoires, Nelson felt a great love for Our Lady under that title and promised to dedicate his life to her service and to promote devotion to her. After two more years of seminary, Nelson Baker was ordained a priest on the feast of St. Joseph, March 19, 1876, at the age of 34.
Father Baker's first assignment as a priest was to assist Father Hines at St. Patrick's Church, St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum, and St. John's Protectory in the Limestone Hill area of West Seneca. (This area was later renamed Lackawanna).
The institutions were heavily in debt, and as Father Baker did not expect them to remain open, he asked for a new assignment. He was then appointed vicar at St. Mary's Parish in Corning, New York, for a year. When Father Hines resigned as superintendent in February 1882, Father Baker was appointed the new superintendent of the institutions and pastor of St. Patrick's Church.
His first task was to meet with creditors and propose a partial payment of the debt, using his own savings. However, the institutions still needed a regular source of funding. One evening, while praying in the church, Father Baker had the idea for an association dedicated to Our Lady of Victory, whose members could financially support the institutions.
He wrote to the post office to request the names and addresses of Catholic women who might be interested in helping his organization. When he received the list of names, he wrote letters to these women asking them to join the Our Lady of Victory Association for a small donation of 25 cents per year and to tell their friends about the Association. Members were offered seven novenas of Masses at the institutions and 100 Masses at seven European shrines. Members promised to pray the Litany of Our Lady of Victory daily. Father Baker also launched three publications to promote the association's mission. Father Baker's Association is considered one of the earliest examples of fundraising through direct mail.
At that time, the United States had many homeless children whose parents had died or who could not afford to care for them. Different organizations ran orphanages, and other charities sent them on "orphan trains" to be adopted by farmers in Western states. Father Baker was particularly concerned that Catholic children be raised in the faith.
Father Baker was willing to take in any boy in need, and boys were sent to him from many other states and Canada. Another issue at the time involved homeless children who were truant or committing crimes. The St. John's Protectory had been founded to help Catholic boys in this situation and offer them vocational training. Under Father Baker's leadership, the boys at St. Joseph's and St. John's attended Mass every day and were encouraged to receive Holy Communion frequently.
The boys also developed their devotion to the Holy Mother. In addition to caring for the boys spiritually, the two homes offered them an excellent education and time for recreation each day. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Buffalo and the Brothers of the Holy Infancy and Youth of Jesus helped Father Baker care for and educate the boys in both homes. Father Baker was a true father to the boys.
He guided them to become good Catholics, encouraged them, played ball with them, and organized activities for them such as country walks, trips to a lakeside and Niagara Falls, a summer camp, and an annual picnic in Buffalo. In 1897, he was appointed director of the Working Boys' Home for boys and young men aged 15 and older. In the 1930s, he established a Working Girls' Home in Buffalo for unemployed young women.
Father Baker was always thinking of ways to help the institutions better serve the children. One of his ideas was to save money on heating costs by drilling for natural gas. He believed gas existed on the property and that Our Lady would help him find it. When he learned that the bishop had recently received a $5,000 donation for the diocese, he prayed to the Holy Mother before asking for the bishop's help, and the next day he met with him and asked for money to drill a gas well.
The bishop gave him $2,000 for the project. Father Baker hired workers from Pennsylvania, and on the day they arrived in January 1891, he led a procession with sisters, brothers, and altar servers, blessed the field with holy water, placed a statue of Our Lady in the ground, and advised the foreman to drill near the statue. Drilling continued until August, but no gas was found.
The bishop supported Father Baker's efforts and gave him the remaining $3,000 when he asked for more money. On the ninth day of Father Baker's novena to Our Lady, the crew finally struck gas, which provided enough energy for all the institution's buildings. Father Baker had another idea for providing food for the homes. He created a farm where he raised cattle, pigs, chickens, and grew oats, potatoes, and corn.
Highly respected in the diocese, Father Baker was appointed vicar general on December 26, 1903, by Bishop Charles Colton, and was reappointed by the next two bishops. Pope Pius X named him a national prelate in 1903, and although he received the title "monsignor," he chose to continue to be called "father."
In addition to his work with the Our Lady of Victory institutions, Father Baker took on many responsibilities as a pastor. He established a parish school in 1895 and a high school in 1921, founded two mission parishes with schools, and managed a cemetery. He also participated in the founding of D'Youville College in Buffalo and served as its vice-chancellor from 1912 to 1935.
Father Baker can be considered one of the patron saints of the pro-life movement, as he worked to prevent abortions by offering a home to pregnant women and their babies. This ministry began when Father Baker learned that the bodies of more than 200 babies had been found in a sewer and realized the need to do something to protect the lives of babies.
He first rented a few rooms in a boarding house, then, as more and more women came seeking help, he rented the entire building, and after raising funds through the association, he had a home built in 1908 for young pregnant women, babies, and children up to the age of five. The mothers' privacy was very important to him. He kept everything confidential and also had a policy that anyone could leave a baby at the home at any time without having to fill out paperwork.
Babies were sometimes left in a basket in the hallway, near the front door which was not locked. Father Baker would go to the Infant Home almost every evening and bless the babies and young children. He also established a maternity hospital, which became a general hospital in 1932, and built two homes for the nurses who worked at the hospital and the infant home.
For many years, Father Baker dreamed of building a beautiful church in honor of Our Lady of Victory, which he hoped would become a national shrine. Finally, in 1921, at the age of seventy-nine, he undertook this great project, trusting in God and Our Lady that he could complete the construction of the church without any debt. Father Baker oversaw the entire construction of the church, which lasted five years.
The church was completed in December 1925 (without any debt) and the first Mass was celebrated on Christmas Day. It was consecrated on May 25, 1926, and designated a minor basilica on October 3, 1926. It became a pilgrimage site for Catholics from all over the United States.
Visitors to the basilica today can see a museum dedicated to Father Baker, with some of his furniture, his clothing, and the small notebooks where he wrote the names of people who asked for his prayers.
Father Baker lived very simply; he wore old clothes and did not spend money on himself. He was ascetic, did not drink alcohol, and ate very little. Father Baker put people before his work; he always had time for those who wanted to talk to him. Father Baker was very generous and gave money to anyone who asked him for help. During the Depression, he helped many people by paying rent for families so they could stay in their homes, giving clothing, providing shelter, arranging free medical care, and providing meals.
Father Baker had a lot of energy and remained active in his ministry until shortly before his death. He began a ministry to African Americans when he was 90 years old, with the help of a Redemptorist priest who had lived at St. Joseph's as a child.
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A brother who worked closely with Father Baker recalled that he never worried and never became discouraged. The source of his strength was his dedication to prayer. He did not attribute the success of his ministry to himself, but to the Holy Mother. He said:
"If we have succeeded in our work, it is because we have had boundless trust in the Holy Mother of God, for she has always been happy to bring us her generous help; in our poverty and need, surrounded by every necessity, when we hardly knew where to turn, Mary has always come to our aid and opened the way to success."
In 1935, Father Baker's health declined, and he had to spend much of his time resting in his room. He celebrated his 60th anniversary of ordination in March 1936, grateful for his priestly vocation. In April, he was hospitalized for pneumonia and returned to the hospital in July. On July 17, he received the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick and died on July 29, 1936, at the age of 94, from heart exhaustion and dilation. Two priests and his doctor were with him when he died, and some sisters and brothers were outside his room praying for him. His funeral was held on August 3, 1936, at the Basilica of Our Lady of Victory, with about 50,000 people in attendance.
During his lifetime and after his death, miracles were attributed to Father Baker's prayers. Many people considered him a saint. In January 1987, the Diocese of Buffalo began the cause for Father Baker's canonization, and on October 7, 1988, he was named a Servant of God. Father Baker was declared Venerable by Pope Benedict XVI on January 14, 2011.
God gave Father Baker many gifts, including the strength to carry out pastoral and administrative work for a great number of people until the age of 90, as well as the great virtues of faith, hope, and love. He is a great example of spiritual fatherhood for priests. His ministries continue today under the name "Our Lady of Victory Homes of Charity."
This article was originally published by Catholic Exchange and then translated by LeCatho | Original link.