Born in Uboldo, now the province of Varese, on May 2, 1828.
Died in Milan on March 2, 1907.
Ordained a priest on June 5, 1852, he wrote among the oblates. Appointed custodian of the Ambrosiana catalog on August 28, 1855, he became a doctor on May 15, 1857 and was appointed prefect on January 25, 1870. A profound connoisseur of classical and oriental languages, he taught Greek, Hebrew and sacred scripture in the theological seminary of Milan and studied and he published both Greek and Latin palimpsest codes, as well as ancient Latin, Greek and Oriental manuscripts. The fruit of his work was also the typical edition of the Ambrosian missal, published in 1902, after long and careful studies. Appointed consultant to the Biblical Commission in 1903, he dedicated his last writings to contrasting the new tendencies with a marked exegetical conservatism, refuting, in particular, the work of Loisy on the Gospel of John.
Don Guanella, present in Rome at the beginning of May 1906, wrote to Don *Alessandro Bianchi, doctor of the Ambrosiana, to report on an unspecified matter concerning Msgr. Ceriani.
Sources:
FAUSTO PARENTE, ad vocem, in Biographical Dictionary of Italians, vol. 23, zzzzz, pp. 737-743 and in Dictionary of the Ambrosian Church, vol. II, Milan, NED, 1988, pp. 787-788.
CESARE PASINI, The College of Doctors and studies at the Ambrosiana under the prefects Ceriani and Ratti, in History of the Ambrosiana. The nineteenth century, Milan, IntesaBci, 2001, pp. 80-90.
Guanellian sources:
Guanellian Letters, n. 385.
Photographs:
CESARE PASINI, The College of Doctors..., p. 79.