Father Nelson Baker

Rebroadcast of the long running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour", a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org Nelson Henry Baker (February 16, 1842 – July 29, 1936) was a Roman Catholic priest and church administrator in the Buffalo, New York area. After returning home from the Civil War, Baker started a successful feed and grain business with his friend, Joseph Meyer, another veteran. He demonstrated a strong interest in religious matters and joined the St. Vincent DePaul Society. Nelson Baker entered Our Lady of Angels Seminary (now Niagara University) on September 2, 1869. During his studies at the seminary, Baker was part of a group of 108 that went on a pilgrimage to Rome in 1874 to support the creation of the Papal States. On this pilgrimage, the group stopped in Paris, France and toured the Our Lady of Victories Sanctuary. There were thousands of evidences of cures that had occurred here through Our Lady’s intercession. Although the pilgrims later visited Lourdes, the tombs of the Apostles in Rome, St. Peter’s and the Holy Father in Rome, his mind kept returning to the wonderful shrine in Paris and the possibility of honoring her in the same way in America. Father Baker lived to be 95 years old and is heralded for building what's been called a “city of charity” in Lackawana, New York. By the time of his death in 1936, his initiatives for the poor included a minor basilica, an infant home, a home for unwed mothers, a boys' orphanage, a hospital, a nurses' home, and an elementary and high school.