Nelson Baker

Nelson Henry Baker (February 16, 1842 – July 29, 1936) was an American Catholic monsignor in Lackawanna, New York, whom the Vatican has declared as venerable.

Starting out in a parish deeply in debt, Nelson developed a national fundraising campaign that allowed him to build social institutions over the next 54 years that benefited the entire Western New York Region. He expanded and upgraded an existing orphanage and reform school. He created a home for abandoned infants and unwed mothers, a maternity hospital and two schools, among other facilities. During the Great Depression, he provided food, shelter and clothing to the needy of all religious faiths.

For his work with the disadvantaged and the outcasts of society, Baker was given the name "Padre of the Poor". A devotee of Mary, mother of Jesus, he constructed the Our Lady of Victory Basilica in Lackawanna. Since 1986, the Diocese of Buffalo has worked to secure Baker's canonization. He was declared venerable in 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI.

History

Early life Nelson Baker was born in Buffalo, New York, on February 16, 1842, to Lewis Becker (later Baker) and Caroline Donnellan. Nelson Baker was the second eldest of four sons. Lewis Becker, a German Evangelical Lutheran, was a retired mariner who opened a grocery store on Batavia Street in Buffalo. Nelson's mother, Caroline, was a devout Irish Catholic.

Nelson Baker was baptised a Lutheran as an infant. However, under his mother's influence, he was re-baptized a Catholic in 1851 and raised a Catholic. After graduating high school, Nelson Baker worked in the family store. Lewis Baker was said to have instilled an astute business sense in his son.

After being discharged from the militia, in August 1863, Baker started a successful feed and grain business in Buffalo with his friend and fellow veteran, Joseph Meyer. Baker began to exhibit a strong interest in Catholicism and joined the Vincent DePaul Society. He began taking Latin classes at St. Michael's residence in Buffalo at night.

Seminary

In the summer of 1869, needing a vacation from work, Baker took a steamship trip along Lake Erie, using the time to think about his future. At stops along the way, he attended masses at local parishes. In 1871, his studies were interrupted for 18 weeks with a hospitalization for erysipelas. During his stay, doctors lanced 11 areas of cellulitis on his legs. After his recovery and return to the seminary, Baker was appointed head of its chapter of the Vincent de Paul Society.

Baker in 1874 joined a group of seminarians on a pilgrimage to Rome. They wanted to support the restoration to the Vatican of the Papal States, which four years earlier had been seized by the Kingdom of Italy. While stopping in Paris, France, the seminarians toured the Basilica of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires. Several biographers of Baker note that this visit to the basilica initiated Baker's lifelong devotion to Our Lady of Victory, a title of Mary, mother of Jesus. After the seminarians arrived in Rome, they toured St. Peter's Basilica and other religious sites; Pope Pius IX granted them a brief audience at the Vatican.

When Baker arrived at St. Patrick's, the orphanage and protectory were already $21,000 in debt. By 1881, that figure had risen to $60,000. Frustrated by Hines' unwillingness to deal with the financial problems, Baker requested a transfer from the diocese to another parish. They sent him that year to serve as an assistant pastor at St. Mary's Parish in Corning, New York.

To repay the debt load, Baker founded the Association of Our Lady of Victory." Working at night, he wrote to postmasters across the country, asking for mailing lists of the Catholic women in their areas. He then sent solicitations to these women, asking for donations for the orphanage and protectory. The women could join the Association for a donation of 25 cents a year.

Legacy In 1956, OLV closed St. John's Protectory and moved its clients into Baker Hall, a set of cottages, that was named after Nelson Baker. In Lackawanna, the Father Baker Bridge over New York State Route 5 was named for Nelson Baker as well as the Father Baker Boulevard in that city The Father Baker Museum, located in the basement of the Our Lady of Victory Basilica, was originally opened in 1941 as the "Father Baker Memorial Rooms" and offered a replica of Father Baker's sitting room and bedroom. It has since been renovated several times.