Bishop Casartelli

Of great importance to the Italian community of Ancoats was the first Italian Bishop of Salford and Manchester. Louis Charles Casertelli, son of Joseph Casartelli, was born in the Cheetham area of Manchester, in November 1852. Educated in the Salford Catholic Grammar School and the seminary of Ushaw, he went on to gain a London University M.A. in 1873. He was ordained at Salford Cathedral in 1876 and studied theology and Eastern languages at Louvain University. He became the Rector of St.Bede's College, Manchester, in 1891, and became the fourth bishop of Salford in 1903. Bishop Casartelli was fluent in several languages, and could preach with ease in Italian, French, English and German.
He was well respected in the Italian community, founded the Manchester Dante society in 1906, and is particularly rememberd for his work in the community during the First World War. Bishop Casartelli died in June 1925.

(The Casartelli family were also famous for the manufacture of barometers and mathematical instruments).