Joseph Rosati (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. Early life 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. Missionary in America 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. Dubourg himself returned to the United States on 4 September 1817, accompanied by a large group of priests and religious, also landing in Baltimore. From there he sent a request to Flaget that he accompany the two Vincentian priests to St. Louis to prepare the groups' arrival. Flaget