Итальяндық миссионер және Сент-Луис алғашқы епископы Джозеф Розати

Italian born Catholic missionary

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 between 1826 and 1843. A member of the Congregation of the Mission, in 1820 he was appointed provincial superior over all the Vincentians in the United States.

Rosati was born in the town of Sora, then in the region of Campania, part of the Kingdom of Naples. He completed his education in 1807 and entered the Congregation of the Mission, commonly called the Vincentian Fathers, in 1808. He was ordained a priest in 1811. Rosati had taken up the study of Hebrew. Felix de Andreis, his friend and preceptor, advised Rosati to put aside Hebrew and take up English as he would need it in someday preaching in an English speaking country. The Apostolic Administrator of Louisiana and the Two Floridas, Louis Dubourg, had gone to Rome for his consecration as a bishop. While in Italy, DuBourg stayed at Monte Citorio, the mother church of the Congregation of the Mission order in Rome, and seeking personnel to help carry out his mission on the American frontier, he eventually convinced the Vincentians to send a contingent to Missouri to construct a seminary. During his time in Europe, he traveled about. One recruit he made was de Andreis, who, in turn, recruited his friend Rosati to accompany him to the New World.

On 12 June 1816 the two Vicentians sailed from Bordeaux on the American brig Ranger, Dubourg having paid their passage. Rosati was ill for the entire forty three days it took to sail to Baltimore, Maryland. There they found hospitality with the Sulpicians, with whom they stayed about a month. They then traveled by flatboat from Pittsburgh to Louisville, Kentucky, where bishop, Benedict Joseph Flaget invited them to Bardstown, Kentucky. The two Italians taught theology at St. Thomas Seminary there, while they perfected their knowledge of the English language and adapted to life on the new continent. During his stay at Bardstown, Rosati made a mission excursion to Vincennes.

In 1822, Rosati was appointed vicar apostolic of Mississippi and Alabama, and, the following year, appointed coadjutor bishop to Dubourg, whose territory extended from Louisiana to Florida. He was based in St. Louis, while Dubourg lived in New Orleans. This arrangement lasted until 1826, when, in the course of a trip to Rome, Dubourg unexpectedly submitted his resignation to the Holy See. Rosati wrote, "I was absolutely bewildered and could not persuade myself it was true." Rosati's achievements include the opening of Mullanphy Hospital (later DePaul Hospital) by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul in 1828, the founding of St. Mary's of the Barrens College and Seminary, the establishment of what would become Saint Louis University in 1829 and the construction of the first Cathedral of St. Louis from 1831 through 1834. Rosati owned slaves. In a financial ledger from 1830–1839, Rosati recorded the sale of "my negro boy called Peter about nine or ten years old" to the Vincentian priest John Bouiller for the sum of $150.

"Bishop Rosati was eminent for his holy life, his zeal as a priest, his successful administration as a bishop, his learning, his eloquence. He built up the diocese from a very slender beginning, organized the Indian missions, and extended the work of the Church beyond the Rocky Mountains." Rosati has an open cause for sainthood and has been titled a Servant of God, the first stage of the canonization process.