The Rev. John Schaus cared for the spiritual needs of the Italians of Lancaster and assisted them in organizing Our Lady of Pompeii parish until they got a resident pastor in 1908 in the person of the Rev. John Tommei.
The church was dedicated March 14, 1909. The parish was later attached to St. Mary's.
Rev. Thomas Donohue, D.D., History of the Diocese of Buffalo (Buffalo, New York: The Buffalo Catholic Publication Co., Inc., 1929), p. 307.