The history of Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica is intertwined with the life of Father Nelson Baker, who as a seminarian was taken ill after two years of studies in theology.

The illness would become the catalyst for his lifelong apostolate.

Father Baker made a pilgrimage to Europe and in Paris visited the Church of Our Lady of Victories. It was there that he promised that, if he recovered his health and was ordained a priest, he would dedicate his entire priesthood to the Blessed Mother under the title of Our Lady of Victory.

His prayers were answered. Father Baker recovered fully and was ordained two years later on March 19, 1876, the feast of St. Joseph. He was then assigned by the bishop of Buffalo to St. Patrick's Church and St. Joseph's Orphanage in Lackawanna, N.Y.

Dedicated to fulfilling his promise, Father Baker over a period of several years built a virtual city of charity. It included an expanded orphanage for children, a protectory, a maternity home that later became an infant home for unwed mothers and their children, a general hospital and a parish school serving more than 400 students.

Father Baker's final work was the building of a basilica that rivals, in splendor if not immensity, many of the great basilicas of Europe. Construction began in 1921 and included the dismantling of St. Patrick's little red-brick church, for the new basilica was built on the same site.

The basilica opened in 1926 and was declared a national shrine within months. Today Our Lady of Victory is not only a national shrine but also a parish church within the Diocese of Buffalo. Each year up to 25,000 pilgrims and visitors come through its doors.

Victorious Vistas

The basilica that Father Baker built is a model example of 15th-and 16th-century Roman- and Renaissance-revival architecture. The exterior features twin copper-tipped towers and a copper dome reaching 165 feet into the sky. Four 18-foot copper angels flank the dome, pointing in each of the four directions of the compass. At the main entrance, a domed niche houses a 12-foot-high, 8-ton statue of Our Lady of Victory.

Step inside and note how gracefully the light tones of the French Baroque design harmonize with the rich Italian and American marbles to create a warm and welcoming environment. Before your eyes even find the tabernacle, you're well aware of the physical presence of God here.

One of the unique aspects of this basilica, which seats 1,000, is a bal-dacchino whose red-marble colonnades define the space around the main altar. These 25-foot spiral columns were given to Father Baker by a farmer in Spain when he learned about the building of the basilica. The altar features a 9-foot carrera marble statue of Our Lady of Victory. This statue was taken to the Vatican and personally blessed by Pope Pius XI.

Also sure to catch the eye are the life-size Stations of the Cross, each of which was carved from a solid block of marble.

On the right side of the main altar is a canopeum, a special umbrella that would be carried in procession were the Holy Father to come here to celebrate Mass. (It is proper for every basilica to be prepared for such a possibility.) On the left side of the main altar, complimenting the canopeum, is a tintinnabulum — a processional bell to be carried ahead of the Holy Father in procession.

On the left and right, above the walls of the nave, are the titles of Our Lady in Latin as taken from the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mother. Above the Stations on either side are stained-glass windows depicting scenes from the life of Our Blessed Mother. There are also five stained-glass windows around the main altar along with rose windows on either side, east and west.

Around the main altar are six smaller altars. The most ornate is the altar of St. Patrick because the basilica replaced the original St. Patrick's Church. Above the nave is a 112-foot-high dome, 80 feet in diameter, with a painting of Our Lady's Assumption into heaven and crowning as Queen of Heaven.

Eleven-foot tall statues of the four evangelists stand on marble pedestals around the dome's base. From the great dome to the choir loft, the high arch of the basilica is covered by five giant murals. Because the Blessed Mother is the Queen of Angels, there are between 1,500 and 2,500 statues and images of angels.

Father Baker Beckons

In 1987, with the assistance of Bishop Edward Head, then bishop of Buffalo, the cause for Father Nelson Baker's sainthood was introduced. In 1998, it was suggested to Bishop Henry Mansell, the present bishop of Buffalo, that Father Baker's remains be removed from Holy Cross Cemetery, located adjacent to the church property, and brought into the basilica. That event was accomplished the following year. A sarcophagus was erected at the Our Lady of Lourdes altar within the basilica; his remains were placed there.

It is now common to see people praying at Father Baker's tomb, seeking his intercession. It's also common to hear the call of the basilica's carillons, automatic bells that ring every 15 minutes from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.

What a wondrous place this is to worship and reverence the living God. No wonder Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, prior to becoming Pope John Paul II, visited and called this basilica a “heavenly house.”

Joseph Albino writes from Syracuse, New York.