CASELLI, Carlo Francesco. — Cardinal, born in Alessandria on 20 Oct. 1740, died in Parma on 19 Apr. 1828. Having entered the Servites, he first became secretary and then, in 1792, provincial of his Order. After serving as a consultor of the Congregation of Rites, he was sent in 1801 by Pius VII to Paris together with Cardinal Consalvi for the conclusion of the Concordat between the Holy See and France. Appointed archbishop of Sidon on 19 Aug. 1802, he received the red hat with the title of S. Marcello. On 28 May 1804 he became bishop of Parma, where he proved to be an effective preacher.
In 1811, at the General Council of Paris, he vigorously defended, against imperial will, the principle of the Church’s freedom. He declined the archbishopric of Paris that had been offered to him and became counsellor to Maria Luisa, Duchess of Parma. Later he was elected prior of the Constantinian Order of St George. He was buried in the cathedral of Parma.