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.

Early years

John Spalding was born on June 2, 1840, in Lebanon, Kentucky. His uncle, Martin Spalding, was bishop of Louisville. 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. He briefly attended Mt. St. Mary College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, then transferred to Mount St. Mary's Seminary of the West in Cincinnati, Ohio. He graduated from Mount St. Mary's in 1859. Martin Spalding then arranged for his nephew to attend the American College of the Immaculate Conception in Louvain, Belgium.

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 1868, Bishop William George McCloskey tasked Spalding with founding the first African-American parish in the diocese. St. Augustine Parish in Louisville opened in 1870. 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.