Catholic pioneer honored with Louisville statue

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The city of Louisville has unveiled its first public statue of a historic woman.

Multiple media outlets report that a statue of Mother Catherine Spalding was dedicated Sunday outside the Cathedral of Assumption.

The bronze statue features Spalding with two children in tow. It is located outside the cathedral where she taught students, cared for orphaned children and worked to heal the cholera-stricken in the early 19th century.

Spalding co-founded the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, a religious order that has taught thousands of children in many of Louisville’s parochial schools going back 200 years.

Eleanor Jordan, executive director of the Kentucky Commission on Women, praised the placement of the statue and says there need to be more statues honoring the accomplishments of women in Kentucky, which are often forgotten.

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