THE father baker story 

Born in Buffalo in 1842, Nelson Baker was a grocer’s son, a Civil War veteran who served at the Battle of Gettysburg, and a young businessman searching for purpose.

At age 27, he entered the seminary, answering a call to serve God. Ordained in 1876, he soon dedicated his life to spreading devotion to the Blessed Mother under the title Our Lady of Victory after a transformative pilgrimage to Europe.

Assigned to struggling institutions on Limestone Hill (present day Lackawanna, N.Y.), Father Baker faced crushing debt, but met the challenge with bold faith and creativity. In 1882, he pioneered direct-mail fundraising through the founding of the Association of Our Lady of Victory, a donor club that built a national community of supporters. His resourcefulness even extended underground: the “Victoria Well” struck natural gas in 1891, dramatically reducing heating costs.

Moved by reports of an increasing number of abandoned infants, he opened the OLV Infant Home in 1908, expanding his growing “City of Charity” to care for children from birth through adulthood.

After a devastating church fire, Father Baker launched his most ambitious project: the European-inspired OLV National Shrine & Basilica, completed in 1925 and named a Minor Basilica in 1926.  At the time it was only the second in the U.S.

During the Great Depression, the “Padre of the Poor” provided hundreds of thousands of meals, clothing items, and nights of shelter to those in need.

When he died in 1936, an estimated 500,000 people came to pay their respects.

Today, his mission lives on through OLV Human Services, OLV National Shrine & Basilica, and OLV Charities.

Named a Servant of God in 1987 and declared Venerable in 2011, Father Baker’s Cause for Canonization continues and we patiently await news of the miracle that could move him one step closer to sainthood!