In 1954, a Polish immigrant named Walter Ciurzak sold fifteen acres of Lewiston farmland to the Barnabite Fathers for one silver dollar. Ciurzak credited his recovery from a stroke to Our Lady's intercession, and his condition was plain: a shrine to Our Lady of Fatima must rise on the land. The Barnabites, recently arrived in the Diocese of Buffalo to teach in Catholic schools, accepted.
Where farmland stood, a saucer-shaped dome now rises 55 feet over a 100-foot span, its two layers of glass and Plexiglas tracing a map of the Northern Hemisphere. A ten-ton granite statue of Our Lady of Fatima, thirteen feet tall and cut from Vermont stone, stands at its summit. Below, more than a hundred marble and bronze saints line the Avenue of the Saints, the walk pilgrims take toward the basilica doors.
Pope Paul VI elevated the church to a minor basilica in 1975, and the shrine carries the further title of Patroness of the United States — the devotion the Barnabites brought here from Fátima, Portugal, where three shepherd children reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1917 and a call to prayer and penance.
📜 History & Spiritual Significance
The land came through Fr. Gino Andreani, a Barnabite priest who arranged the donation from Walter Ciurzak in 1954. The Barnabite Fathers — formally the Clerics Regular of St. Paul — had recently arrived in the Diocese of Buffalo to teach in the diocese's Catholic schools. The shrine was formally established on the fifteen donated acres in 1960. Construction of the basilica began in 1963, and the church was dedicated in 1965.
The architect was Joseph E. Fronczak, working in a Modernist idiom uncommon among American shrines of the period. The dome he designed spans 100 feet and rises 55 feet, its glass and Plexiglas panels forming a map of the Northern Hemisphere; sixty-three steps climb two flights to reach the dome's summit. Atop it stands the thirteen-foot granite statue of Our Lady of Fatima, cut from Vermont stone and weighing ten tons.
Pope Paul VI raised the church to the rank of minor basilica in 1975. A forty-eight-foot bell tower, dedicated to Fr. Charles M. Barlassina, was added in 1981. A renovation completed in 2008 added roughly 7,400 square feet of granite-walled space, with new arched doorways and stained glass.
The shrine honors Our Lady of Fatima as Patroness of the United States, carrying into America the devotion born of the 1917 apparitions at Fátima, in which three shepherd children — Lúcia, Francisco, and Jacinta — reported visions of the Virgin Mary. Pilgrims walk the Avenue of the Saints, past more than a hundred marble and bronze statues, toward the basilica and the Rosary Pool set among the grounds for outdoor prayer.
☩ Pilgrimage Sites in Lewiston
Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima
The basilica anchors the shrine the Barnabite Fathers built on farmland donated in 1954. Its saucer dome, 100 feet across, is worked in glass and Plexiglas into a map of the Northern Hemisphere, and a ten-ton granite statue of Our Lady of Fatima crowns the summit. The Avenue of the Saints, a walk lined with more than a hundred marble and bronze statues, leads pilgrims across the grounds toward the basilica doors, past the Rosary Pool set aside for outdoor prayer. The shrine's mailing address falls in Youngstown's postal zone, though the grounds sit within the Town of Lewiston, off Swann Road.
🕯️ Annual Feast Days & Celebrations
Fatima Pilgrimage — 13th of each month, May through October
Following the pattern of the 1917 apparitions at Fátima, the shrine keeps the 13th of each month from May through October with Mass, an outdoor rosary procession around the grounds, and Eucharistic benediction.
Filipino Day Pilgrimage — late July
Filipino-American and Canadian Catholics gather by the thousand for a rosary procession and a Mass offered in Tagalog, followed by a potluck lunch and cultural performances in Fatima Hall. The pilgrimage grew over decades from a small gathering into one of the shrine's largest annual events.
Festival of Lights — December
Fifteen acres of the grounds are strung with Christmas lights around a nine-foot illuminated Nativity, drawing visitors through the winter season.
🛏️ Where to Stay
No lodging is offered on the shrine grounds; pilgrims stay in nearby Lewiston village or across the river in Niagara Falls, New York.
Niagara Crossing Hotel & Spa (hotel) — On the Niagara River in the village of Lewiston, about 6.6 km from the shrine. Website
Riverside Motel (guesthouse) — A small, family-run riverside property in Lewiston village, about 6.9 km from the shrine. Website
The Butler House Bed & Breakfast (B&B) — An American Foursquare house of 1910 in the Park Place Historic District of Niagara Falls, New York, roughly 14 km from the shrine. Website
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Niagara Falls New York (hotel) — A full-service hotel in downtown Niagara Falls, New York, roughly 14 km from the shrine. Website
🚗 Getting There
By Air: Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF) is the nearest major airport, about 28 miles (40 minutes) by car via I-190. Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ), across the Canadian border, is roughly 79 miles (about 1 hour 25 minutes) away and serves international travelers on a longer approach.
By Train: Amtrak's Niagara Falls, NY station, served by the Maple Leaf line between New York City and Toronto, is about 6 to 7 miles from the shrine.
By Car: From Buffalo, I-190 North runs to Lewiston, about 28 miles. From Niagara Falls, NY, the Niagara Scenic Parkway or NY-104 covers the roughly 6 to 7 miles to the shrine in about 10 minutes. Travelers from Toronto cross the US border at the Lewiston–Queenston Bridge, which links the village of Lewiston directly with Queenston, Ontario.
📚 Further Reading
Books:
Fr. Andrew Apostoli. Fatima for Today: The Urgent Marian Message of Hope — An accessible modern account of the 1917 apparitions and the message the Barnabite Fathers built this shrine to spread.
William T. Walsh. Our Lady of Fatima — The long-standing historical account of the apparitions and the three shepherd children, Lúcia, Francisco, and Jacinta.
Fr. Michael E. Gaitley. 33 Days to Morning Glory: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat in Preparation for Marian Consecration — A self-guided consecration retreat drawing on Fátima alongside Lourdes and Guadalupe.
🎥 Recommended Videos
Our Lady of Fatima Shrine – The Glass Basilica – Lewiston, NY — A visitor's walkthrough of the dome and grounds.
The Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima on May 13 — Footage from the shrine's May 13 observance, uploaded by a Barnabite-affiliated channel.
The Three Secrets of Fatima Explained — EWTN's short explainer on the message behind the 1917 apparitions.
🔗 Useful Links
Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima — The shrine's official site, run by the Barnabite Fathers.
🧭 Nearby Pilgrimage Destinations
Toronto (59 km) — St. Michael's Cathedral Basilica and shrines to Canada's Jesuit martyrs and Marian devotion, across the border in Ontario.
Midland (184 km) — Canada's Martyrs' Shrine, honoring eight Jesuit saints martyred in the 17th century while bringing Christianity to the Huron.
Fonda (376 km) — The National Kateri Shrine, marking the site of Kateri Tekakwitha's baptism in 1676.
Auriesville (383 km) — The National Shrine of the North American Martyrs, where three Jesuit missionaries were killed between 1642 and 1646, and the birthplace of St. Kateri Tekakwitha.
Emmitsburg (414 km) — Two national shrines in one Maryland town: St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes.
Doylestown (451 km) — The National Shrine of Our Lady of Częstochowa, home to a Black Madonna icon and run by the Pauline Fathers since 1955.
🪶 Closing Reflection
"The message of Fátima is a call to conversion, alerting humanity to have nothing to do with the 'dragon' whose 'tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth.'"
— Pope St. John Paul II, Homily at the Beatification of Francisco and Jacinta Marto, Fátima, 2000
