Joseph Rosati

Joseph Rosati, CM (30 January 1789 – 25 September 1843) was an Italian-born Catholic missionary to the United States who served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Saint Louis in the Missouri Territory from 1826 to 1843. He built the first seminary and the first cathedral for the diocese. He also sent missionaries to areas such as Illinois, Arkansas and the Oregon Country.

A member of the Congregation of the Mission, in 1820 Rosati was appointed provincial superior, in charge of all Vincentian priests and seminarians in the United States. Rosati undertook a high-level diplomatic mission to Haiti in 1841 on behalf of the Vatican

Joseph Rosati was born as Guiseppe Rosati on 30 January 1789 in Sora in the region of Campania, then part of the Kingdom of Naples. Having decided to become a priest, he entered his diocesan seminary in 1804. He completed his education there in 1807.

Due to the invasion of Naples by French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte, the Congregation of the Mission, known as the Vincentians, allowed Rosati to take his vows early in 1808. Rosati then went to Rome to study theology at the Vincentian center of Monte Citorio.

Rosati was ordained a priest on 10 February 1811 in Rome by Bishop Giuseppe Bartolomeo Menocchio. While studying at Monte Citorio, Rosati started learning Hebrew. However, his Vincentian preceptor, Reverend Felix de Andreis, advised him to learn English instead.

In 1815, Reverend Louis Dubourg, the French apostolic administrator of Louisiana and the Two Floridas, was recruiting priests to come to the United States. His jurisdiction covered a vast area of the American South and Midwest. Although technically based in New Orleans, Dubourg had faced hostility from the clergy there. He then moved this base to St. Louis in the Missouri Territory. After arriving in St. Louis, the Catholic population of Perryville offered Dubourg 640 acres of land to build a church and seminary if he would recruit the priests for them. Accepting the offer, Dubourg travelled to Europe to find priests for this project.

While in Rome, Dubourg stayed at Monte Citorio. He persuaded the Vincentians to send some priests with him to the United States. De Andreis agreed to go and then convinced Rosati to join him. Before leaving Rome, Dubourg was consecrated as bishop of the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas.

In 1815, Dubourg, de Andreis and Rosati embarked from Bordeaux, France to Baltimore, Maryland, on the American brig Ranger. At that time, Baltimore was the center of Catholicism in the United States.