The Founders

Felix DeAndreis and Joseph Rosati were the leaders of the volunteer group of Vincentians sent on mission from Rome to answer the appeal of Louis Dubourg, Bishop of Louisiana, for priests to serve the vast see of Louisiana, comprising the entire area of the Louisiana Purchase. The long trip from Rome to Bordeaux, and then by sea to Baltimore, and then down the Ohio River to Bardstown, Kentucky, was difficult, and the pioneer world of the United States presented challenges and opportunities to the priests, brothers and students. Among the many difficulties and obstacles the early Vincentians encountered were language differences, culture shock moving from stratified European society to informal unstructured frontier life, the predominant Protestant presence and the overwhelming needs of the nascent Catholic Church.

Felix DeAndreis never actually lived in Perryville. From Bardstown, he went directly to St. Louis, where he worked throughout his three years of ministry in the United States. Frail of health, he died at age 42 in 1820. His confreres buried him at the Barrens, a place he had never visited in life. DeAndreis´ character, zeal and saintly spirit inspired not only his contemporaries, but also succeeding generations of Vincentians.

Joseph Rosati traveled with DeAndreis from Rome to Bardstown and in the fall of 1818, he moved to the Barrens settlement. With the health to withstand the rigors of frontier life and the ability to develop skill in languages, he saw the fledgling Vincentian seminary through the difficult early days in a pioneer community. His scholarly bent was evidenced in his documenting the need for books and a library at the seminary. In 1824 he was ordained a Bishop, and in 1827 became first Bishop of St. Louis, Missouri. His skills were utilized in administering his immense frontier diocese and in serving the church in the United States and the Holy See. He died in Rome in 1843 while returning from a papal diplomatic mission to Haiti.