III 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 606 

Commemorating the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Sisters of 

Charity of Nazareth, on December 1, 1812. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 30, 2012 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself and Mr. MCCONNELL) submitted the following 

resolution; which was considered and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Commemorating the 200th anniversary of the founding of 

the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, on December 1, 1812. 

Whereas 19-year-old Catherine Spalding, born in Charles 

County, Maryland, and Bishop John Baptist David, born 

in France, responded to the need for education on the 

Kentucky frontier by founding the Sisters of Charity of 

Nazareth (referred to in this preamble as the ‘‘Sisters’’), 

on December 1, 1812; 

Whereas, after Ellen O’Connell, a gifted teacher from Baltimore, Maryland, and daughter of a college professor, 

joined the Sisters and prepared Catherine Spalding and 

Harriet Gardiner for teaching, the 3 Sisters opened their 

first school, in 1814, at St. Thomas Farm, in Nelson 

County, Kentucky; 


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Whereas, after 2 years of teaching, the school serviced both 

boarding and day students with a total enrollment of 37 

girls, including 13 non-Catholic students; 

Whereas, in 1822, the Sisters purchased property located 3 

miles north of Bardstown, Kentucky and named that 

property Nazareth; 

Whereas, at Nazareth, the Sisters built log houses and a new 

school, known as Nazareth Academy; 

Whereas, in 1825, Henry Clay, Kentucky statesman and orator, gave the first commencement address at Nazareth 

Academy, where his daughter, granddaughter, and greatgranddaughter eventually received an education, along 

with Sarah Knox Taylor, the daughter of President 

Zachary Taylor; 

Whereas, during the Civil War, the Sisters nursed both 

Union and Confederate soldiers; 

Whereas Dr. J. O. Murray, a physician in the Union Army 

in Louisville, Kentucky, wrote to Nazareth, ‘‘I regret very 

much to inform you of the death of Sister Catherine Malone on January 31, 1862, at General Hospital No. 1 in 

this city. She, as well as the other sisters at this hospital, 

have been untiring and most efficient in nursing the sick 

soldiers. The military authorities are under the greatest 

obligation to the sisters of your order.’’; 

Whereas, in 1861, at the request of a commanding officer of 

the Union Army, 22-year-old Sister Mary Lucy Dosh and 

the other Sisters at St. Mary’s Academy in Paducah, 

Kentucky closed their school to nurse Union soldiers and 

Confederate prisoners of war; 


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Whereas, while nursing, Sister Mary Lucy Dosh consoled patients and often gave up her own food to provide nourishment for the sick and wounded; 

Whereas Sister Mary Lucy Dosh contracted typhoid fever and 

died on December 29, 1861, resulting in doctors and soldiers from Union and Confederate forces calling a truce 

to mourn her death and officers from both sides accompanying her body up the Ohio River on the U.S. Gunboat 

Peacock, for burial at St. Vincent’s Academy, in Union 

County, Kentucky; 

Whereas, on January 17, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln 

sent the following letter to Nazareth as a precaution 

against any military intrusion: ‘‘Let no depredation be 

committed upon the property or possessions of the Sisters of Charity at Nazareth Academy, near Bardstown, 

Kentucky.’’; 

Whereas, in 1878, a yellow fever epidemic besieged the people 

of the Mississippi River Valley, during which time approximately 120,000 cases of yellow fever were reported 

and 20,000 people died; 

Whereas, in Holly Springs, Mississippi, the Sisters closed a 

local parochial school to nurse the sick, with 6 of the Sisters succumbing to yellow fever between September 22 

and October 11, 1878, which prompted the townspeople 

to erect a monument at the gravesites of the 6 Sisters, 

honoring their service and sacrifice; 

Whereas, in 1918, 29 Sisters, along with sisters from other 

orders, helped nurse over 10,000 wounded and sick 

World War I soldiers at Camp Taylor, in Louisville; 

Whereas the Sisters, finding the soldiers sleeping on bare 

mattresses and dressed in uniforms and boots, requested 


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bed linens and hospital clothing for the sick and wounded 

at Camp Taylor; 

Whereas 90 soldiers, many with Spanish Influenza and battle 

wounds, died during the night that the Sisters first arrived at Camp Taylor; 

Whereas deaths at Camp Taylor noticeably declined as the 

Sisters provided skilled nursing and a commitment to hygiene; 

Whereas an officer remarked that he knew when a Sister was 

in the barracks at Camp Taylor, because the men were 

especially quiet and well-mannered; 

Whereas, by the mid-20th century, the Sisters were located 

in 10 States, taught in more than 100 elementary 

schools, 30 secondary schools, 2 colleges, and 6 schools 

of nursing, and cared for the sick in 12 hospitals and 

children in 6 orphanages; 

Whereas the Sisters opened their first foreign mission in 

India in 1947, and subsequent foreign missions in Belize 

in 1975, Nepal in 1979, and Botswana in 2000; 

Whereas, in 1986, Nazareth Home, a nursing care facility 

that the Sisters opened in 1976, in Louisville, became the 

first long-term care facility in Kentucky to accept HIV/ 

AIDS patients; 

Whereas, as of November 2012, the Sisters— 

(1) staff an HIV/AIDS hospice and administer 2 

preschools in Botswana; and 

(2) provided disaster relief and housing assistance in 

many places, including— 

(A) New Orleans, Louisiana; 

(B) Joplin, Missouri; 

(C) Nelson County, Kentucky; 


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(D) Appalachia; and 

(E) Belize; and 

Whereas the Sisters find inspiration and strength for their 

service in the words of 2 Corinthians 5:14, ‘‘Caritas 

Christi urget nos’’ (‘‘the charity of Christ urges us’’): 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) commemorates the 200th anniversary of the 

3 founding of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth (re4 ferred to in this resolution as the ‘‘Sisters’’), on De5 cember 1, 1812; 

6 (2) commends the dedicated service of the Sis7 ters who provided nursing care during the Civil War, 

8 World War I, and epidemics of yellow fever, cholera, 

9 and smallpox in the South; 

10 (3) recognizes the service of the Sisters in pro11 viding health care on the frontier of Kentucky and 

12 elsewhere through the establishment of hospitals in 

13 Kentucky, 4 other States, the District of Columbia, 

14 and abroad; 

15 (4) lauds the role that the Sisters continue to 

16 play in providing education, health care, and nursing 

17 home care in response to the needs of economically 

18 and socially disadvantaged individuals, families, and 

19 communities; and 


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1 (5) directs the Secretary of the Senate to trans2 mit an enrolled copy of this resolution to the Sisters. 

Æ 


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