CASELLI, CARLO FRANCESCO. - Cardinal, born at Alessandria on 20 Oct. 1740, died at Parma on 19 Apr. 1828. Having entered the Servites, he first became secretary and then, in 1792, provincial of his Order. After serving as consultor to the Congregation of Rites, he was sent in 1801 by Pio VII to Paris, together with Card. Consalvi, for the conclusion of the Concordat between the Holy See and France. Subsequently appointed archbishop of Sida, on 19 Aug. 1802 he received the purple with the title of S. Marcello. On 28 May 1804 he became bishop of Parma, where he proved an effective sacred orator.
In 1811, at the General Council of Paris, he was able to defend with great energy, against the imperial will, the principle of the liberty of the Church. He declined the archbishopric of Paris that had been offered to him and became counsellor to Maria Luisa, duchess of Parma. He was subsequently elected prior of the Constantinian Order of S. Giorgio. He was buried in the cathedral of Parma.