A Closer Look: Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Olean
From the Photo series: A Closer Look: Explore Western New York’s architectural treasures series
This Catholic church began in 1852 as a small wooden "shanty" church, built with $300 that a Cuba priest collected from railroad workers. Construction of the current Gothic Revival church — named a minor basilica in 2017 by Pope Francis — started in 1913 under the supervision of architect Emile Ulhrich, who several years later was hired to design Our Lady of Victory in Lackawanna.
A Closer Look: Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Olean
In 1852, Rev. Joseph McKenna started collecting money from railroad workers (predominantly Irish and German) along the railroad to build a Catholic church in Olean. With $300, he was able to purchase a lot (where the church today stands) from a trustee of First Baptist Church for $200. He used the remaining $100 to build a small wood "shanty" church with timber cut just a couple blocks away.
A Closer Look: Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Olean
The Gothic Revival-style building was constructed between 1913 and 1917 at a total cost of $250,000. French-trained architect Emile M. Ulrich designed the building, which has twin 150-foot towers capped with stone steeples and was built almost exclusively of white Pennsylvania marble. Ulrich was hired soon after by Father Nelson Baker to construct the Basilica in Lackawanna, Our Lady of Victory.
A Closer Look: Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Olean
The church is dedicated to the patroness of the mother-church of the Franciscan Order at Assisi, St. Mary of the Angels.
A Closer Look: Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Olean
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."
A Closer Look: Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Olean
The altars, railing, pulpit and baptismal font are crafted from Carrara marble from Italy.
A Closer Look: Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Olean
The floor of the 750-seat church is slightly sloped from the vestibule to the altar. The 17-inch incline was designed to help improve the sight line from the back pews to the 30-foot high altar.
A Closer Look: Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Olean
Buffalo Bishop Charles H. Colton laid the cornerstone of the church in November 1913. He had ordered the Olean church built in the Gothic style in keeping with the new cathedral building he was constructing in Buffalo.
A Closer Look: Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Olean
The Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels has had a few restorations/renovations: in 1926; in 1952, for the centennial; in 1988; and in 2015.
A Closer Look: Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Olean
An image of the original church, built in 1858 by the Rev. Pamphilius DiMagliano for $10,000.
A Closer Look: Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Olean
A stained glass depiction of the crucifixion in the back of the church above the choir loft.
A Closer Look: Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Olean
Specially commissioned stained glass windows were crafted and installed in the church in 1919. They were crafted in the Munich style by European immigrant glass artisans in America during World War I.
A Closer Look: Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Olean
Thomas 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.
A Closer Look: Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Olean
On Feb. 14, 2017, Pope Francis granted the title of Minor Basilica to St. Mary of the Angels in Olean, making it the 83rd basilica in the United States.
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