The exterior is a vision of beauty, gleaming in white marble from Georgia. The majestic copper-clad dome — 80 feet in diameter — includes four copper angels, each 18 feet tall. They are depicted sounding their trumpets in each direction of the compass both to guard the shrine and to summon people to enter and worship at Our Lady of Victory National Shrine & Basilica in Lackawanna, New York.

Exactly 100 years ago on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 1925, Father Nelson Baker celebrated the first Mass in the newly constructed shrine that he shepherded to completion. The seating for 1,200 people overflowed with hundreds upon hundreds more Massgoers flocking there that Christmas. This year, as really for all past Christmase Masses, the shrine will again overflow with worshippers.

“This Christmas, when I celebrate the midnight Mass, I already can feel the emotions of what it’s going to be like,” said Msgr. David LiPuma, the pastor and rector of OLV National Shrine & Basilica. “Christmas is always special. But to be able to say, 100 years ago, Father Baker stood here and offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, giving glory to God and to our Savior — that’s the excitement,” he added.

In many ways the centennial is also a story of miracles. Father Baker began this project of building a magnificent shrine in 1921, when he was 78 years old. The size of the shrine church proved monumental. For one, the 80-foot dome became the second largest in the United States, surpassed only by the Capitol dome in Washington. And within a short four years, this shrine-basilica was completed to open Christmas Day 1925. It was a grand victory for Our Lady of Victory and for her Son’s birthday.

This Marian title originates from the 1571 naval victory at Lepanto, attributed to her intercession after Pope Pius V called the Catholic faithful to pray the Rosary. It is now more common to say “Our Lady of the Rosary — though Father Nelson’s sacred edifice still bears the original. 

Deep Devotion to Mary

Father Baker was determined to build a national shrine honoring Our Lady of Victory. While in the seminary — Catholic trivia: He and Blessed Michael McGivney were classmates at Our Lady of the Angels Seminary in Lewiston, New York — he made a pilgrimage to Rome and France in 1874, where he “fell in love with Our Lady of Victory in Paris, when he went to Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Basilica and experienced firsthand seeing the intercessory miracles on the walls surrounding her in that beautiful church,” Msgr. LiPuma said. That moment is “where he said, ‘I’m going to dedicate the rest of my life to your patronage.’” From then on, he attributed all he did to the help of Our Lady of Victory.

In 1882, as pastor of St. Patrick Church, Father Baker was also put in charge of the Buffalo Diocese’s Limestone Hill Institutions that included an orphanage and an institution sheltering and training neglected and abandoned young boys in religion, morals and manual and industrial pursuits. With serious debt to deal with, he turned to Our Lady of Victory for help. As a result, he founded the Association of Our Lady of Victory, where members gave 25 cents a year — and the debt quickly cleared.

Miraculously out of debt, he built “a ‘City of Charity’ from womb to tomb to care for people,” said Msgr. LiPuma. His outreach was to orphans, delinquent and troubled youth. He provided a home for them and taught them trades, “always believing that he could change lives for the better through the grace of God and through the intercession of Our Lady of Victory,”  Msgr. LiPuma recounted. 

In 1908, praying for the intercession of Our Lady Victory, Father Baker built a maternity hospital, a place for unwed mothers and an infant home to address the moral problems in the local area, as well as facilitating adoptions.

“Today, Our Lady of Victory takes care of 12,000 children and families every year through our human-service umbrella. And that’s another miracle,” Msgr. LiPuma said of today’s six schools, making Our Lady of Victory the sixth-largest human-service provider in western New York. One of the schools is the parish school — students attend Mass at Father Nelson’s basilica every Friday.

Magnificent Shrine Rises

When a fire damaged St. Patrick’s Church, Father Baker replaced it with his vision of a national shrine to honor Our Lady of Victory, who was constantly providing countless victories in his outreach to the lowliest. As a way of thanking the Blessed Mother for her constant patronage, he envisioned a shrine as magnificent as those in Europe. Father Baker wrote that he wanted it to be a shrine “for all people, where Holy Church will show her tenderness, her Motherly care and solicitude, where God’s Mother will befriend all who watch at her doors.”

“Father Baker did not want to spare any expense, so we brought in the best artisans,” Msgr. LiPuma said of the project. Father Baker chose and worked closely on the design with architect Emile Uhlrich, a French emigree to the United States. 

Framed by twin towers, the main entrance of the Renaissance neoclassic church features an archway and huge dome that shelters a 12-foot-tall marble statue of Our Lady of Victory.

Magnificent liturgical, architectural and artistic surprises abound. Marble is everywhere, with 46 different types used throughout the nave as well as sanctuary and shrine altars, most from Italy; from Spain came the rare red Pyrenese marble for the gently spiraling pillars of the baldacchino, carved to suggest the style by Bernini in St. Peter’s Basilica that also inspired the marble floors and columns.

Despite the interior’s size, worshippers have unobstructed views of the main altar because the pews of rare African mahogany stand upon a floor that slopes gently.

“The Stations of the Cross are a sight to behold,” noted Msgr. LiPuma. They are nearly life-sized, include much detail including facial expressions, and were carved in Italy, each from a single block of Carrara marble. To the tradition 14 Stations is an “added” Station: The Agony in the Garden.

“The Fourth Station, Jesus Meets His Afflicted Mother, holds a place of honor in the basilica story,” the rector pointed out. “This station held special meaning for Father Baker, and he could often be found in front of the sculpture, contemplating the powerful and emotional scene.”

The 9-feet tall marble statue of Our Lady of Victory that stands high above the altar — 18 feet in all above the ground, including pedestal — was carved in Italy and personally blessed by Pope Pius XI before it was shipped to the Empire State. The intricately designed and carved baldacchino becomes much like an open crown over the Marian monument.

Angels appear everywhere, in every size and form, from archangels to cherubs. These 2,500 angels include life-sized marble ones holding depicted huge shells for holy water to diminutive ones and cherubs filling various biblical scenes in murals, to those large marble angels rendered as adorers around the main altar. Msgr. LiPuma emphasized, “Father Baker wanted wherever you looked to see an angel watching over you.”

The angels prompted a moving story from when the shrine was being constructed.

Father Baker chose liturgical artist and teacher Gonippo Raggi to produce the many paintings. For the interior of the 80 feet in diameter dome, the pastor wanted a heavenly scene — naturally including angels, The Italian emigree artist came up with a beautiful, dramatic scene of the Assumption and Mary being crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth that included a myriad of angels, a host of whom carry the rendering of Mary heavenward to the Holy Trinity awaiting her. The apostles and three archangels also make an appearance in the scene.

As Raggi was working on the sketches of the mural, he visited the Infant Home “that Father Baker started in 1908. He saw the beautiful babies faces and asked Father Baker if he could use them for the large crowd of angels around the Blessed Virgin in the dome. So the angels up in the dome are actually [the faces of] babies that were born here in Father Baker’s City  of Charity,” related Msgr. LiPuma. One hundred years later, this mural remains a beautiful and touching reminder of and connection to Father Baker’s legacy.

Our Lady Everywhere

Naturally, our Blessed Mother is celebrated prominently in the shrine. “As you go down the nave, everything is dedicated to our Blessed Mother in one way or the other,” pointed out Msgr. LiPuma, drawing attention to five huge murals across the arched ceiling that honor and depict her in various titles: Our Lady, Queen of Patriarchs; Queen of the Apostles; Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs; Our Lady, Queen of All Saints; Our Lady, Queen of the Angels.

Marian honors continue with the stained-glass windows, all designed and made locally in Buffalo at the Otto F. Andrle Stained Glass and Art Institute. Among the 200 throughout the basilica, those that line the upper heights of the nave honor Our Lady’s Seven Sorrows and Seven Joys. And, again, angels abound. A St. Michael window depicts him surrounded by a dozen angels.

Many New Testament scenes, including the magnificent Marriage of Mary and Joseph window, are superb in color, detail, exquisite facial features and expressions. All are superior and as remarkable as any of the popular German windows such as those of Mayer of Munich and Zettler. 

The biblical “seven” continues with seven smaller altars circling behind the main altar. All are as beautiful and elaborate as the main body of the basilica. Among them are the Sacred Heart altar and the St. Joseph altar, with its magnificent marble statue depicting Joseph holding the Child Jesus. Another honors St. Patrick, while yet another honors St. Vincent de Paul and was donated by children raised within Father Baker's “City of Charity.” The rest of the altars are dedicated to Mary Immaculate and Sts. Anne, Aloysius, Anthony and Thérèse.

By the Sacred Heart altar is the Grotto Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes. On his French pilgrimage, Father Baker also visited Lourdes. “He loved that so much that when he built the shrine, he had an exact replica of the grotto inside the basilica all out of the rock from Vesuvius in Italy,” Father LiPuma explained. In 1999, Father Baker’s canonization cause opened; and in 2011, with Benedict XVI naming him “Venerable,” Father Baker’s earthly remains were moved to and entombed at the Lourdes shrine he built. 

As if miraculously, and fulfilling Father Baker’s aim and wish, the shrine began that Christmas Day debt-free — everything was fully paid to the last penny. The church was consecrated in May 1926, and two months later, Pius XI named it a basilica — making it the second basilica in the United States.

The faithful continue to reap the spiritual benefits of Father Nelson’s grand church.

Msgr. LiPuma shared that every morning he kneels before Father Baker’s tomb. “I pray for his intercession, his guidance and his strength. And then I look to Our Lady of Victory because that’s exactly what he did. I just look to our Blessed Mother and I say, ‘You took care of Father Baker. Please take care of me and take care of this treasure that we’ve been given.’”

Every day the faithful — around 280,000 visitors annually — come to pray at this “treasure” honoring Our Lady of Victory. “People are being more and more drawn here,” said Msgr. LiPuma. 

Venerable Father Baker served here a total of 60 years. He died at the age of 94.

Fittingly, his words sum up his work as he wrote: “We have great confidence in Almighty God in taking care of our work, as He has always been remarkably good to us, and has always made it easy and pleasant for us to care for this large group of dependents, and we feel if we did the external temporal work, He would see necessary means would be provided.”

The answer he received is everywhere visible at Our Lady of Victory Shrine & Basilica.