The Basilica of St Mary of the Angels is a

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Minor basilica In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular ...

in the United States and a prominent

landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...

Olean, NY Olean ( ) is a city in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. Olean is the largest city in Cattaraugus County and serves as its financial, business, transportation and entertainment center. It is one of the principal cities of the Southern ...

. It is also a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

, located on the west side of South Union Street between West Henley Street and Irving Street in downtown Olean, near the

Allegheny River The Allegheny River ( ) is a long headwater stream of the Ohio River in western Pennsylvania and New York (state), New York. The Allegheny River runs from its headwaters just below the middle of Pennsylvania's northern border northwesterly into ...

. It is considered one of the most visible symbols of Roman Catholicism in Olean, New York.

History

Construction

This Catholic church began in 1852 as a small wooden "shanty" church, built with $300 collected from railroad workers. The noted

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

missionary, Rev. Pamphilius DiMagliano, OSF, replaced that church with a more formal building costing $10,000 in 1860. Father DiMagliano dedicated the church to the patroness of the mother-church of the Franciscan Order at

Assisi Assisi (, also , ; from la, Asisium) is a town and ''comune'' of Italy in the Province of Perugia in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio. It is generally regarded as the birthplace of the Latin poet Propertius, born aroun ...

, St. Mary of the Angels. Construction of the current Gothic Revival church started in 1913 under the supervision of French-trained architect Emile Ulrich of Cleveland. The

Bishop of Buffalo The Diocese of Buffalo is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church headquartered in Buffalo, New York, United States. It is a suffragan diocese within the metropolitan province of the Archdiocese of New York. The Diocese of Buffalo inclu ...

Charles H. Colton Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

laid the cornerstone of the church in November 1913. Completed in 1917 at a total cost of $250,000 (equivalent to $ million in ), the most prominent feature was the twin 150-foot towers capped with stone steeples built almost exclusively of white marble from nearby

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. The church was formally opened and blessed by

Venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cathol ...

Monsignor Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...

Nelson Baker Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

on September 26, 1915.

Restorations

In the centennial year of 1952, the entire church interior was redecorated, adding religious images and medallions painted on canvas in New York that was then applied to the walls of the church. Angels on clouds carry banners with the words to the Hail Mary prayer in Latin. "''Ora pro nobis peccatoribus, Nunc et in hora mortis nostrae''" (Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death). The altars, railing, pulpit, and baptismal font are crafted from

Carrara marble Carrara marble, Luna marble to the Romans, is a type of white or blue-grey marble popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It has been quarried since Roman times in the mountains just outside the city of Carrara in the province of Massa ...

from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Papal decree

On Feb. 14, 2017,

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

granted the title of Minor Basilica to St. Mary of the Angels in Olean, making it the 83rd basilica in the United States,

Notable associations

*In 1940,

Thomas Merton Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. On May 26, 1949, he was ordained to the Catholic priesthood and giv ...

, a well-known spiritual writer, came to Olean to teach at St. Bonaventure College. It was in Olean that Thomas Merton made significant choices in his life, as chronicled in his bestselling autobiography ''

The Seven Storey Mountain ''The Seven Storey Mountain'' is the 1948 autobiography of Thomas Merton, an American Trappist monk and priest who was a noted author in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Merton finished the book in 1946 at the age of 31, five years after entering Get ...

'' (1948). Merton often went to St. Mary of the Angels to pray and to go to confession. At the close of 1940, he stopped into St. Mary of the Angels one last time to pray the stations of the cross before boarding the train taking him to a Trappist monastery in Kentucky. He wrote of a particularly beautiful experience in the church that night in his memoir. *

Louis Zamperini Louis Silvie Zamperini (January 26, 1917 – July 2, 2014) was an American World War II veteran and an Olympic distance runner. He took up running in high school and qualified for the United States in the 5,000 m race for the 1936 Ber ...

was baptized at St. Mary of the Angels in 1917. When he was a young child, his Italian immigrant family moved to California, where he would become a famous Olympic champion and WWII war hero.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary of the Angels Basilica, Olean NY 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Roman Catholic churches completed in 1915 1852 establishments in New York (state) Shrines to the Virgin Mary Basilica churches in New York (state) Religious organizations established in 1852 Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo Churches in Cattaraugus County, New York Olean, New York