Francesco (Francis) Cellini (b. circa 1781 – d. January 6, 1849) was a member of the Vincentian Order of priests connected to mission work (Congregation of the Mission) serving the mid-western section of the United States during the mid-1800s. Cellini was born in the province of Ascoli Piceno, Marche Region, Italy. By 1818 he was the chaplain of the Hospital Santo Spirito in Rome in the Rione neighborhood near Vatican City. That same year (at age thirty-seven) he was accorded the habit of the Vincentian Order (whose patron is St. Vincent de Paul). After serving in Louisiana, Missouri, and Illinois, Cellini's ministerial work concluded with a posting in St. Louis, where he was made Vicar General of the St. Louis Diocese.
Journey to America
Through the command of Bishop Louis Dubourg of St. Louis who was seeking priests to fulfill missionary work in the United States, Fr. Cellini and two other priests, Filippo Borgna and Antonio Potini, traveled to the Midwestern section of the U.S.
Cellini sailed from Livorno, Italy on July 2, 1818, to Gibraltar where on the 24th, he took another ship to Philadelphia. His journey from Europe to the U.S. took a reported “sixty-five days” with sixty of those days on open water without sight of land. Upon arrival at Philadelphia (landing around October 4), passengers were placed into quarantine. He wrote to Italy on October 8 informing Rome of his arrival. Proof of the letter exists in the archives at the Montecitorio in Rome. At that time, the Montecitorio was the seat of the Curia apostolica or, papal court.
Missouri
The clergymen ultimately settled at St. Mary of the Barrens in Perryville, Missouri in 1819. In the early 1800s the parish church and its surrounding community was in a very primitive state. The young community lacked basic shelter and so Cellini and others, including Du Bourg, “labored like hired work [men]” in the sun. After a period of time in Missouri, Cellini was then appointed “Procurator and General Factotum” of the parish church, that is he was charged with handling financial matters along with general clerical duties. In this period, Cellini was serving a community of “seventy French people”, a fact found in a letter written by Joseph Rosati who would later serve as first bishop of the Diocese of Saint Louis.
Cellini received his education in Italy and Italian was his native language. However once assigned to the Midwestern region of the U.S., he had to communicate with parishioners in their native tongues—French and English. “The zealous father preached every Sunday in French or English, but never could, in these alien tongues, acquire that perfect mastery…he possessed in the Italian. Besides he was subject to a slight stammer in his speech, which was scarcely noticeable except when the right word failed him.”
In published accounts of the era the reverend listed as Francis, under the English variant of his given name or he is seen listed as Francois, the French variant.
Louisiana
From Missouri, Cellini went on to serve as Pastor of Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau, Louisiana where he worked from 1822 to 1824. He is also documented as having been a part of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Grand Coteau. There is historical debate on why he left Grand Coteau, especially when his work was needed there and he not only ministered spiritual needs but his medical abilities were extensive, owing to the fact he'd reportedly been “a surgeon in the Italian army” so his skills were commanded.
Cellini's combination of clergyman-doctor was unique and was a bonus to the Catholic Church in the Midwest. “… the good Father found himself he also found body miseries and ills that called forth his sympathy and healing power.”
Fuelling debate as to why he left Louisiana, information in the St. Louis Catholic Historical Review of January–April 1922 noted Cellini took it upon himself to accept a donation in the name of the parish inter-vivos (third-party fiduciary relationship) from Mary Smith (née, Santee) of Opelousas, Louisiana while she was ill. The large donation was to be used for a preparatory seminary and Smith had a history of providing donations to the church at Opelousas.
It was Cellini's (and possibly Potini's) personal acceptance of the donation consisting of slaves, personal effects and real estate holdings that troubled church hierarchy. Even Smith reportedly asked Cellini to “annul the donation” so to avoid trouble over the “appearance of the transaction”. Tensions involving Cellini reached a climax to the point there were “threats on his life”. Cellini's superiors (chiefly Dubourg and Rosati) made a decision at that point to suspend him as well as to remove him from his post.