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The village of Medina, N.Y., prospered with the
building of the Erie Canal in the early 1820s. Located on the canal
route, the local businesses and farms had a valuable transportation
carrier for their products. Poles attracted to
this area as early as the 1890s, first traveled the distance to
Albion, to the only Polish parish in this part of Western New York.
In the next twenty years, their numbers increased
and by 1909 they petitioned the Bishop of Buffalo for their own
parish and priest. The pastor of St. Mary's in Albion, formed a
mission parish and the following year (1910), the Bishop sent the
Rev. Tomas Gwodz to serve as the first pastor. Fr. Gwodz built the
first church and also witnessed the increase in the parish
population.
Rev. Wojciech Cichy was the second pastor and
returned after a two year absence to serve again.
Fr. Cichy is remembered for his uplifting of the parish spiritually,
a mild mannered man, he is pleasantly remembered by many whose lives
he touched. Being a small rural parish, there was never a large
student population, but under Fr. Mioduszewski, a parish school was
organized under the direction of the Franciscan Sisters. Most
pastors served only short periods of time, gaining experience and
then transferring to larger urban parishes.
FATHER BAKER'S VISIT TO MEDINA by Adam Tabelski
It may surprise you to know that New York State has many strong
connections to saints, those individuals whom the Catholic Church
has recognized through canonization as having practiced heroic
virtue and holiness during their time on earth. There is St. Isaac
Jocques, St. Rene Goupil, St. Frances Cabrini, St. John Neumann, and
other Blesseds and Venerables. One day another name may be added to
the litany: Father Nelson Baker, a beloved and
accomplished priest of the Diocese of Buffalo. Over a long career
that included the establishment of the Our Lady of Victory Homes of
Charity and the construction of Our Lady of Victory Basilica, he
found time to do important administrative work in the
Diocese...including one assignment of local interest.
By the turn of the twentieth century the Polish community in Medina
had grown sizeable enough to look to building its own church.
Nominally members of St. Mary's, masses in Polish had begun to be
said in Polish at Wincenty Wysocki's Commercial Street Home around
1909. After petitioning the Chancery, Bishop Charles H. Colton
appointed Rev. Thomas Gwozdz as the Polish community's first pastor.
Construction began on Sacred Heart of Jesus Church on the northwest
corner of Ann Street and North Alley in the spring of 1910.
Bishop Colton was expected to come in person for the church's
dedication on a Sunday morning in October 1910, but for some reason
he couldn't make it. Enter Father Nelson Baker, who was sent in his
stead to perform the ceremonies. The Medina Tribune
reported that "for hours before the time was set for the
commencement of the services the church on Ann Street was crowded,
and hundreds of persons were unable to gain admittance. The weather
was ideal, and the crowd outside the church took part in the
services." The newspaper called the edifice a "pretty little
church," and it was also commonly known as the "Little Bethlehem
House" because of its humble appearance. The campus of the church,
rectory, and school would take final shape in the mid 1920's.
It is not known what Father Baker thought of the excited
congregation or what they thought of him. But is is most interesting
to note that the origins of Sacred Heart are forever linked with the
great work of the modern "Apostle of Charity." Father
Nelson Baker died in 1936 at the age of 94 and was buried in
Lackawanna's Holy Cross Cemetery. At that time his bodily fluids
were placed in separate vials in his coffin. When his body was
removed from the cemetery and interred in the OLV basilica in 1999,
an inspection found the fluids to be completely intact after 63
years. In 2003, Bishop Henry Mansell presented Father
Baker's position to Pope John Paul II. The document, a 750-page
summary of the life and virtues of Father Baker, is now being
reviewed by the Vatican's Congregation of the Causes of Saints,
Advocates of his cause are now hoping for miracles...literally. Then
the canonization process can move forward.
Editor's Note: Accompanying photo, from Ceil White's 1976
history of the parish, is of the "first" Sacred Heart, ca. 1910.
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