History Book

BRAND NEW
3rd Edition!
More photos and more stories...
A Place Set Apart is a fully-documented complete history of the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Olean, NY from 1850-1956. It includes a final chapter overview of the modern history to the present day. This new edition contains additional text with updated information and a new chapter on how the Spanish Flu epidemic affected our region, detailing our parish/community response. Another new chapter touches upon the era of the Great Depression and our parish/community response to that economic challenge. 

You get the COMPLETE STORY of our amazing parish:

• from the frontier days with missionary priests
• to the 20-year service of the Franciscan Friars
• to the first Diocesan pastor, Fr. Hamel,
• to the construction of our present building with Fr. Rengel, all the way to today. Many NEW historic photos! Written by the parish's author of the Vatican application for Minor Basilica status, Jennifer Kane, this book is the fruit of the Vatican application process which entailed extensive research into our amazing history. 

     It is a gothic wonder in white marble containing breathtaking works of art. Curiously, during the life of this church, no one could figure out why such a magnificent house of God was built in such a relatively remote rural corner of New York State. Then on Valentine’s Day, 2017, Pope Francis added to the intrigue by granting this parish church in Olean the dignity and title of a minor basilica—the 83rd in the United States. In lay terms, he bestowed upon Saint Mary of the Angels a royal status, for “basilica” means “royal house.”

     Astoundingly, this Roman Catholic basilica’s pedigree begins with a “shanty” church built by Irish immigrants in 1852 using wood cut from trees in the neighborhood. It is not just a Catholic story; it is an American Catholic story, and the transition over the next century reveals a remarkable faith community containing an extraordinary cast of characters who either enriched and ennobled this parish or were blessed by it. This is a look at the first part of the basilica’s inspiring history focusing on the years 1850-1956. A brief outline of its modern history to the present is also included. 

     This is history on an intimate scale about ordinary people creating something sublime in this house of God in this improbable corner of the world— a stunning testament of their faith as they attempted to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

     In consecrating the cornerstone of this church that forever changed the skyline of Olean, Bishop Colton in 1913 promised it would change the little city as well. He then  decreed this gothic edifice as “a place set apart” for God, a concept which the Franciscan friar who named it characterized as “a sublime idea.” May you be inspired by their stories.

394 pages; softcover

You may purchase this book in person:
at our Parish Office Monday-Friday 9am-5pm. 
OR
At McCarthy's Emporium in downtown Olean. Online purchases cannot be picked up at McCarthy's. 
You may make a secure online purchase using the order form below. We ship to the continental United States.

Proceed to Order Form here