Basilica of St. Mary of the Assumption (Lancaster, Ohio)

The Basilica of St. Mary of the Assumption is a Minor Basilica of the Catholic Church located in Lancaster, Ohio, United States, and a parish church of the Diocese of Columbus. The parish was founded in 1818 and the current church building was completed in 1864. When the Holy See declared the church a minor basilica in 2022, it became the 91st in the United States, the seventh in Ohio, and the first in the Diocese of Columbus.

The first Mass celebrated in Lancaster was said by Edward Fenwick, O.P., the future Archbishop of Cincinnati, in the home of Michael Garaghty, at the corner of Main and High Streets. Fenwick, his nephew and fellow priest Nicholas Young, and other Dominicans traveled from St. Joseph's Church in Somerset to minister to Catholics in Lancaster. While the exact date of the foundation of the parish is not known, it was between the end of 1818 and the dedication of the first frame church on Chestnut Street on Easter of 1819. In 1821, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati was founded and St. Mary was transferred to it from the Diocese of Bardstown. Upon the founding of the parish, pastoral care of it was given to the Dominican Order, and in 1834 Thomas Martin was made the first resident pastor. In 1839, the parish was entrusted to diocesan clergy from Cincinnati and Joshua Young became the pastor, serving in that role for 15 years before eventually becoming the bishop of the Diocese of Erie. Young built the second church which was dedicated on November 1, 1840, as the first church had been outgrown. In 1847 a parochial school was opened, with women of the parish serving as teachers.

Following Young's move to Erie, Henry Lange became the pastor of the church in February 1854. Seeing that the present building was once again too small for its congregation, he initiated the construction of a third church, the cornerstone of which was laid on August 28, 1859, by Archbishop John Purcell of Cincinnati. However, the construction of this church was greatly hampered by the outbreak of the American Civil War, and was only able to continue because of the generosity of wealthy parishioners. Fr. Lange died on February 9, 1864, mere months before the completion and consecration of the present church on June 5 of the same year. Several temporary pastors followed Lange before Louis DeCailly became pastor in 1868, who constructed a new parish rectory on Chestnut Street and improved the parish school, contracting Dominican Sisters to teach there in 1872. In March 1868, the Diocese of Columbus was established and the governance of St. Mary was transferred to it. in 1881, a 12-acre plot of land was purchased to serve as a parish cemetery and consecrated on All Souls' Day of that same year by Bishop John Ambrose Watterson. The parish school expanded to include a 3-year high school program in 1891, which continues on today as William V. Fisher Catholic High School.

In February 1906, J.B. Mattingly became pastor and constructed a new school building, as the prior was simply the church building of 1840 that had been repurposed. As the 100th anniversary of the founding of the parish approached, Mattingly undertook major improvements to the church itself, including a new pipe organ, pulpit, pews, and stained-glass windows. The centennial of the parish was celebrated August 15–17, 1920, with the parish congregation numbering about 3,000 at the time. Following Mattingly as pastor was David Quailey, who expanded the high school program from three years to four, and oversaw the construction of a new high school building for the parish.

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