Born in 1863 in Louisville, Kentucky, Mary Caldwell was of a wealthy family. After her mother╒s death she lived in New York City, and after her father╒s death in 1874 she and her younger sister were left heirs to several million dollars. While attending the Academy of the Sacred Heart in New York she became acquainted with the Reverend John L. Spalding, subsequently the first Catholic bishop of Peoria, Illinois. In 1884╤whether of her own initiative or following a condition of her father╒s will, it is uncertain╤she made through Spalding to the Third Plenary Council of the American Catholic hierarchy meeting in Baltimore an offer of $300,000 for the founding of a national Catholic school of philosophy and theology. The offer was accepted, along with her stipulation that she be known as the founder of the institution. In April 1887 the Catholic University of America was incorporated in the District of Columbia by act of Congress, and in November 1889 it was formally opened. Caldwell subsequently made two smaller endowment gifts, but they were lost in the failure of a brokerage. In October 1896 she married in Paris the Marquis des Monstiers-MÄrinville, with Bishop Spalding officiating. In 1899 Notre Dame University awarded her its Laetare Medal. By that time, however, her attachment to Catholicism was weakening, and in October 1904 she renounced her former faith. She separated from her husband in 1905. Mary Caldwell died aboard the German liner Kronprinzessin Cecile outside New York on October 5, 1909.
