[1] Casani served in numerous roles of leadership within the Piarists due to being a close assistant to Calasanz and travelled across the Italian peninsula for visitations of various houses while living in Rome and Naples as part of his duties.
[2] His beatification cause commenced on 22 March 1922 - under Pope Pius XI and he became titled as a Servant of God: the first stage in the sainthood process.
[2] He felt called to enter the Congregazione della Beata Vergine Maria - that Giovanni Leonardi founded - after his mother's death in 1591.
He decided he couldn't face the insinuations of the girl for much longer so jumped out of a window while injuring his leg in the process; this injury remained with him throughout his life.
[1] In April 1594 he asked to be admitted into Leonardi's order and a chronicle from the order stated: "God, in His mercy, this year of 1594, moved the heart of a young man who was educated with us, since he belonged to our parish, the son of the good Gaspare, called the blind ... and because his vocation was thought as a miracle, having a father of such a terrible nature; our fathers did not care of taking him for six months as a test; on the contrary, he took the habit the following Monday of the liberty Sunday.
Leonardi's death in 1609 prompted Cardinal Benedetto Giustiniani in 1613 to suggest to the institute to offer their assistance to Joseph Calasanz and his new religious congregation known as the Piarists.
Calasanz wished to unite the two institutes together which enabled Pope Paul V to approve the union in 1614 and Leonardi's order became known as the Congregation of the Mother of God.
[2] From 1613 until 1614 he lived in Trevi near Rome and opened a study house there and in 1614 preached a Lenten retreat at the church of San Lorenzo in Damaso.
[2] In mid 1819 Calasanz called him to Rome and in 1622 the order was made official in a decree that Pope Gregory XV issued.
In March 1626 he left Rome for Messina with two religious and made a detour to Naples where they remained for two months; he set sail for Sicily at the end of May and took his position as rector.
In 1631 he helped open the house of the order in Cosenza and moved to Naples; he lived there until October when he went back to Rome for the general chapter.
At the beginning of 1637 he was gravely ill and was confined to rest until he recovered; he was able to resume his duties in April 1638 when he was made the general commissary for the Piarists in Germany when the order was in Moravia.
[2] He arrived in Nikolsburg on 12 May 1638 with one cleric and two priests while on 1 July 1638 he attended the welcoming ceremony the city gave to the new Emperor Ferdinand III.
The Holy Office on 8 August 1642 summoned Calasanz and several others while Pope Urban VIII - on 15 January 1643 - ordered an immediate visitation of the Piarists which began on 2 March 1643 that Father Augustine Ubaldini undertook.
On 22 January 1991 he was proclaimed to be Venerable after Pope John Paul II confirmed that the late priest had lived a model Christian life of heroic virtue.