1. Catherine Spalding, known as Mother Spalding, was an American educator who was a co-founder and longtime mother superior of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.
21 Facts About Catherine Spalding
1. 2.
Catherine Spalding pioneered education, health services and social services for girls and orphans in Louisville and other Kentucky cities.
3.
Catherine Spalding's mother died the next year and her father later deserted the children due to the stress of financial obligations.
4.
An uncle and aunt, Thomas and Elizabeth Catherine Spalding Elder, raised the five Catherine Spalding children with their own ten children.
5.
At age 16, Catherine Spalding moved in with her cousins, Richard and Clementina Elder Clark, living there for three years.
6.
Catherine Spalding developed a passion to care for other children orphaned by death or desertion,.
7.
In January 1813, the 19-year-old Catherine Spalding, accompanied by her uncle, arrived at St Thomas Seminary farm in Nelson County, Kentucky, to join with Teresa Carrico and Elizabeth Wells in establishing the new religious community.
8.
In 1814, Catherine Spalding helped establish a girls school on St Thomas Farm.
9.
Catherine Spalding later raised funding to build a separate house for 25 orphans.
10.
Catherine Spalding later opened St Joseph Infirmary in part of the orphanage building.
11.
Catherine Spalding was often seen on the streets in Louisville, visiting businesses to solicit donations or attending to the poor in their homes.
12.
Catherine Spalding was elected to several six-year terms as mother superior by the members of SCN.
13.
From 1838 on, Catherine Spalding served two more terms in leadership.
14.
The other Sisters did not want the merger and Catherine Spalding believed that a distant administrator in Maryland would hinder their work in Kentucky.
15.
In 1842, Catherine Spalding sent several Sisters to establish institutions in the Diocese of Nashville.
16.
In 1843, Catherine Spalding opened the first free school in Louisville.
17.
Catherine Spalding eventually moved the St Joseph Infirmary into its own building so that the St Vincent orphanage could expand.
18.
In 1858, Catherine Spalding contracted pneumonia while working with the sick.
19.
Catherine Spalding has been called the founder of social work in Kentucky.
20.
Catherine Spalding founded Nazareth Academy, St Vincent's Academy, St Catherine's Academy in Lexington, Kentucky, Presentation Academy, St Vincent's Orphan Asylum, St Joseph's Hospital, and St Francis' School at Owensboro, Kentucky.
21.
In 2015, a statue of Catherine Spalding was unveiled in Louisville, the first statue of a historic woman in public space in the city.