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| Venerable Nelson Baker |
Nelson Henry Baker was born in Buffalo, New York, on February 16, 1842. His father, Lewis, was Lutheran, and his mother, Caroline, was Catholic. The family lived behind the grocery store his father operated, where Nelson eventually worked and learned the practical demands of business. Baptized as a Lutheran, he entered the Catholic Church during childhood. Years later, the boy who had helped in his father’s store would use his business experience to care for people who had nowhere else to turn.
In 1863, during the American Civil War, Nelson served briefly in a New York militia regiment. After returning to Buffalo, he became a partner in a successful business selling feed and grain. He also joined the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul and volunteered at an orphanage, giving both his time and his money. As he considered the priesthood, he studied Latin while continuing to work. In September 1869, at twenty seven, he entered Our Lady of Angels Seminary in Lewiston, New York.
His preparation for the priesthood included a serious illness. A leg infection in 1871 interrupted his studies and required a lengthy recovery. In 1874, he traveled to Europe on a pilgrimage. At the church of Notre Dame des Victoires in Paris, his devotion to Mary under the title Our Lady of Victory deepened. That devotion would shape his future work. On March 19, 1876, the feast of Saint Joseph, Nelson was ordained a priest at Saint Joseph’s Cathedral in Buffalo.
Father Baker’s first assignment brought him to Limestone Hill, now part of Lackawanna, where an orphanage and a protectory for boys were already operating. Their debts were substantial. Following a brief assignment in Corning, he returned in 1882 to take charge of the institutions. He used his own savings to help meet their obligations and developed a wider source of support. Through the Association of Our Lady of Victory, he invited Catholics around the country to contribute twenty five cents annually. Those small gifts helped repay debts and expand the work.
Keeping the buildings warm was another pressing concern. Father Baker pursued the drilling of a natural gas well on the property, seeking an affordable supply of fuel for the institutions. In 1891, the well successfully reached gas. Named the Victoria Well in honor of Our Lady of Victory, it supplied fuel for heating and cooking. His care for the children included the ordinary necessities of daily life, and his experience in business helped him find ways to provide them.
His responsibilities continued to grow. In 1908, he opened Our Lady of Victory Infant Home, welcoming babies and mothers who needed assistance. A crib and blanket were placed near an unlocked entrance so that a mother unable to keep her child could leave the baby somewhere safe. Father Baker also made evening rounds among the children, blessing them and attending to their care. A maternity hospital followed in 1919. His institutions offered shelter, education, and opportunities to learn a trade as children grew older.
Father Baker also undertook the construction of a great church dedicated to Our Lady of Victory. Its cornerstone was laid in 1921, when he was seventy nine. The first Mass in the completed church was celebrated on Christmas Day in 1925. Dedicated in May 1926, it received the title of minor basilica that July. Contributions had paid for its construction by the time it was completed. The church gave enduring expression to the Marian devotion that had accompanied his years of service.
During the Great Depression, people came to Father Baker’s institutions seeking food, clothing, and somewhere to sleep. His charitable work continued even as he approached the end of his long life. Homes for unemployed women also became part of his response to the hardship around him. Known as the Padre of the Poor, he had become a familiar source of help for people facing hunger, homelessness, and uncertainty.
Father Nelson Baker died on July 29, 1936, at ninety four. His cause for canonization opened in 1987. On January 14, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI recognized his heroic virtues, giving him the title Venerable. The charitable institutions associated with Our Lady of Victory continue his work through education, health care, and support for children and families. His life joined prayer with practical responsibility, expressed through decades of feeding, sheltering, teaching, and caring for those entrusted to him.
