Joseph Rosati

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Joseph Rosati (1789 - 1843) was a U.S. (Italian-born) Catholic bishop. He served as the first Bishop of the Diocese of Saint Louis between 1826 and 1843.

He was born in Sora, Italy, in what was then the Neopolitan Republic. He completed his education in 1807, and took his vows as a Vincentian in 1808. In 1811, Rosati was ordained a priest.

In 1816, he arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, relocating to Bardstown, Kentucky later that same year. He would serve as professor of theology at St. Thomas' Seminary in Kentucky from 1817 to 1818. He moved to Perryville, Missouri, where he opened St. Mary's Seminary in 1818. For several years, he planned and supervised the construction of the school, while at the same time teaching most of the classes and functioning as the local pastor. In 1820, he was appointed the Vincentian superior for the Americas.

In 1822, he was appointed vicar apostolic of Mississippi and Alabama, and, the next year, appointed to be coadjutor bishop of Louisiana.

His achievements while in Louisiana include the opening of St. Louis Hospital by the Sisters of Charity in 1828, founding of St. Mary's of the Barrens Seminary, erection of what would become Saint Louis University in 1829, the erection of the first Cathedral of St. Louis from 1831 through 1834.

In 1841, he was appointed by Pope Gregory XVI to assist in negotiations between the Pope and Haiti. He died in Rome in 1843, after giving the pope his report on his mission.

[edit] References

• Christensen, Lawrence O., et. al. Dictionary of Missouri Biography. Columbia, MO:University of Missouri Press, 1997. ISBN 0-8262-1222-0
• Who Was Who in America:Historical Volume 1607-1896. Chicato:Marquis Who's Who, 1967.