Sacred Spaces: St. Adalbert Basilica

In 1886 a group of Polish immigrants applied to then-Bishop Rt. Rev. Stephen Ryan and received his approval to build a church on Stanislaus Street, becoming the first congregation to break away from the area’s only Polish church at the time, St. Stanislaus. Work began on the current brick Romanesque church building in 1890. At the time, St. Adalbert was the largest church in Western New York, and was dedicated in 1891.

The year 1907 marked a momentous occasion for St. Adalbert when it became the first Basilica in the United States. 

At St. Adalbert Basilica, guests will see a portrait of Our Lady of Czestochowa (the Black Madonna) featuring the rare and detailed needlework for which the Felician Order of Nuns is known in Poland, brought back to America by the first pastor, and shown at the 1891 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo. You’ll also find multiple paintings by Joseph Mazur, as well as rare wood and paper mâché Stations of the Cross and stained-glass windows imported from Munich Germany.