For more information about the history of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, please contact us at (502) 348-1500 or click here to send us your request.

Our Foundress,
Mother Catherine Spalding

Mother Catherine Spalding, along with Rev. Jean Baptiste Marie David, are honored and remembered as co-founders of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.

In 1812, in the newly-formed diocese of Bardstown, Ky., Bishop Benedict Joseph Flaget was overwhelmed by the responsibility of providing religious education for the children of Catholic families who had migrated to Kentucky from Maryland after the Revolutionary War.

In response to this need, Father David called for young women willing to devote their lives to the service of the Church. From among the first group of six women, Catherine Spalding, a 19-year-old originally from Maryland, was chosen as first superior of the Community.