John Lancaster Spalding

John Lancaster Spalding (June 2, 1840 – August 25, 1916) was an American Catholic author, poet, advocate for higher education, the first bishop of Peoria in Illinois from 1877 to 1908. He was also a co-founder of the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. and a co-creator of the Baltimore Catechism. Spalding was also a prolific writer on religion and education.

Biography

Early years John Spalding was born on June 2, 1840, in Lebanon, Kentucky. He was also related to Mother Catherine Spalding, co-founder of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.

Spalding graduated in 1856 from St. Mary's College in St. Mary's, Kentucky.

Priesthood Spalding was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Louisville in Mechelen, Belgium, by Archbishop Engelbert Streckx on December 19, 1863. After his ordination, Spalding continued his studies at the Belgian Pontifical College in Rome. He returned to Louisville in 1865 to become assistant pastor of the Cathedral of the Assumption Parish. In 1866, Spalding attended the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore as a theologian to Archbishop François Blanchet. In 1872, Spalding travelled to New York City to write a biography of Martin Spalding, now deceased. During this period, he served as an assistant pastor of the St. Michael Parish in Manhattan. He also oversaw the construction of St. Mary's Cemetery in West Peoria, Illinois.

One of Spalding's ambitions was to found a Catholic university in the United States. He believed it was necessary to educate more American-born priests and to create a Catholic intellectual center in this nation. In 1882, he present his proposal for a university to Pope Leo XIII, who approved it. He also obtained a pledge for $300,000 from family friend Mary Gwendoline Caldwell t o start the project. Spalding in 1884 attended the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, a meeting of all the bishops and archbishops in the United States. The Council approved the acceptance of the Caldwell pledge to start the Catholic University of America.

Spalding achieved national prominence for helping US President Theodore Roosevelt and banker J. P. Morgan end the Coal Strike of 1902 in Pennsylvania. Spalding served on the arbitration commission that awarded the miners a retroactive 10% wage increase and reduced their work day from 10 to 9 hours. Spalding received an honorary degree from Columbia University in New York City in 1902, and from Western Reserve University in Cleveland in 1904.

Retirement and legacy

Spalding was paralyzed by a stroke in 1905. John Spalding died in Peoria on August 25, 1916, at age 76.

The following facilities were named after Spalding:

The Spalding Pastoral Center, a child care center in Peoria operate by the Diocese of Peoria The former Spalding Institute, a Catholic boys high school in Peoria The former Spalding Hall at Catholic University of America Spalding Catholic School in Alton, Iowa. Spalding, Nebraska and Spalding Academy.

Views on education Spalding believed that education was a fundamental aspect of human life and that it should be grounded in Catholic ideals. He advocated for research in an atmosphere of freedom and improved education of the clergy. Spalding's philosophy of education was centered on the value of human life above all else, and he believed that life should be the ends and means of education. He opposed government interference in education and urged Catholics to support a parochial school system without seeking public financing. Spalding believed that education should be accessible to all, and he was a strong advocate for the education of women, workers, and African Americans. In his writings, Spalding emphasized the role of the teacher and encouraged the development of heroic qualities in students.

Caldwell sisters William Shakespeare Caldwell, a wealthy Kentucky gas baron, was married to Mary Eliza Breckinridge of the Kentucky Breckinridges. Although Protestant, Mary Eliza had attended Nazareth Academy founded by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, and was subsequently baptized Catholic by Bishop Spalding of Louisville. When Mrs. Caldwell died unexpectedly in 1867, "Shake" sought solace in his wife's religion. He founded Sts. Mary and Elizabeth Hospital in Louisville, run by the Sisters of Charity, in her memory; and a home for indigent men in Richmond, operated by the Little Sisters of the Poor. Caldwell moved to New York and enrolled his two daughters, Mary Guendaline and Mary Elizabeth in the Academy of the Sacred Heart on 17th Street. Caldwell died in 1874. Under the terms of his will, he subsidized ten places in the Richmond home for poor individuals of Fredericksburg; He also stipulated that upon reaching the age of twenty-one, his daughters were to donate one-third of their substantial inheritance to establish a Catholic university.

When Mary Guendaline was 21, she gave the money to buy the land for Catholic University and to build Caldwell Hall, which was named after her. Mary Elizabeth funded Caldwell Hall's chapel. Mary Elizabeth married Baron Moritz Curt von Zedtwitz (1851–1896), The Marquise separated from her husband in 1905, but paid him an annual stipend of $8,000 in order to keep her title.

In 1906, Mary Elizabeth's book, The Double Doctrine of Rome, in which she takes issue with "Popery", its beliefs, and practices, was published. That same year she sent a letter to The Converted Catholic, stating that Spalding was never their guardian, nor had her parents ever met him.

Spalding was later accused of having an affair with both sisters though the allegation was questionable. The potential for scandal cost Spalding appointment to the See of Chicago and he remained Bishop of Peoria. "here is general consensus that the sisters’ stories about Spalding bore little relation to the facts, that their tragic marriages and psychic illnesses, plus Spalding's unwillingness to arrange an annulment for Mary Elizabeth, contributed to their turning against the church."

Publications Essays and Reviews, Hansebooks GmbH (1877) Lectures and Discourses, Catholic Publishing Company (1882) Education and the Higher Life (1890) Aphorisms and Reflections: Conduct, Culture, & Religion (1901) Socialism and Labor: And Other Arguments, Social, Political, and Patriotic (1902) Religion, Agnosticism and Education, 1902, A.C. McClurg & Company Brilliants, From the Writings of Rt. Rev. J. L. Spalding, D.D. 1908 In addition to books published under his own name, Spalding wrote several books and poetry under the pseudonym Henry Hamilton.

The Poet's Praise Opportunity and Other Essays