Born in Fino Mornasco (Como) on 11 January 1857.
Died there on March 10, 1938.
A priest since 1879 and a degree in literature from the University of Padua, he taught this subject in diocesan seminaries until 1902, when he was appointed parish priest and vicar forane of S. Stefano in Fino Mornasco. Appointed domestic prelate by Pius XI in 1922 and apostolic prothonotary in 1929, he was in the Comense diocese pro-synodal examiner, parish priest consultor and member of the Commission for press censorship, of the Supervisory Council against modernism and of the juridical-canonical council for extraordinary affairs of the diocese.
From 13 December 1912 Msgr. Cattaneo was in Rome with the Como-Piacenza pilgrimage for the inauguration of a monument to Msgr. *Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, pilgrimage attentively supervised by Don Guanella who went to the Termini station at midnight to receive the pilgrims and follow their accommodation in the Palazzo della Cancelleria and in the hospice of S. Marta. Don Guanella witnessed the two speeches, "clear and applauded", which Msgr. Cattaneo pronounced both for the inauguration of the monument to Msgr. Scalabrini and at the end of the visit made by pilgrims to the church of S. Giuseppe al Trionfale. In 1913, on the occasion of the entry into the parish of Rebbio of don *Alfonso Bianchi, nephew of mons. Scalabrini, Msgr. Cattaneo, in front of a certain number of priests gathered for lunch, wanted to observe to Don Guanella that he was "too imprudent in his works" and that one had to "step according to the leg", to which Don Guanella replied "with a placid smile, hinting that he was waiting for help from above". Finally, Don Guanella blessed Msgr. Cattaneo who, together with Don *Stefano Piccinelli, wanted to visit him in his last illness, encouraging them "to work zealously for the glory of God" and recommending them to attend the inauguration of the enlargement of the Church of the Sacred Heart.
Sources:
Historical archive of the diocese of Como (courtesy of Don Saverio Xeres).
www.centrorusca.it: Clergy database.
Guanellian sources:
"Divine Providence", 1895, p. 268; 1901, p. 43.
Luigi Guanella, From Rome, in «La Divina Provvidenza», 1912, p. 194.
Aloisii Guanella, Positio super virtutibus, Summarium, pp. 175 (witness Don Stefano Piccinelli), 183 (witness Don Serafino Rumi).
Photographs:
Scalabrinian General Archive (courtesy of Father Giovanni Terragni).