This week in Christian history: John Gano dies; Bud Robinson conversion; Martin Spalding ordained
Martin John Spalding ordained – Aug. 13, 1834
This week marks the anniversary of when Martin John Spalding, a prominent Catholic archbishop who helped found the American College of Louvain, was ordained in Rome.
A native of Kentucky who was also an apologist and academic lecturer, Spalding became bishop of Louisville in 1850 and then head of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Maryland in 1864.
“Few, if any, American prelates surpassed Spalding in his range of interests and activities, whether as organizer, administrator, legislator, apologist, author, orator, or scholar,” noted the archdiocese.
“Perhaps to a great degree than any other bishop at mid-century, John Hughes not excepted, he contributed to the shaping of the immigrant Church by articulating its attitudes, breathing life into its institutions, and systematizing its discipline.”
