Biography

Episcopate. Elected titular archbishop of Efeso, July 11, 1836. Consecrated, July 17, 1836, in the patriarchal Liberian basilica, Rome, by Pope Gregory XVI, assisted by Giovanni Soglia Cereoni, titular Latin patriarch of Constantinople, secretary of the S.C. of Bishops and Regulars, and by Giovanni Giacomo Sinibaldi, titular archbishop of Damiata, president of Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. In the same ceremony was consecrated Karl August von Reisach, bishop of Eischtätt. Nuncio in Austria, July 18, 1836. Assistant at the Pontifical Throne, July 19, 1836.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal and reserved in pectore in the consistory of December 14, 1840; published in the consistory of April 21, 1845; received the red hat, September 11, 1845; and the title of S. Maria in Portico Campitelli, deaconry elevated pro illa vice to title, November 24, 1845. Pro-secretary of Memorials, 1845-1847. Participated in the conclave of 1846, which elected Pope Pius IX. President of Rome and its district, November 2, 1847. Member of the triumvirate that governed Rome between July 1849 and April 1850; the other two members were Cardinals Luigi Vannicelli Casoni and Gabrielle della Genga Sermattei. Secretary of Memorials, January 17, 1855 to 1857. Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, March 19, 1857 until his death. President of the Consulta of State for Finances, December 1859. Opted for the order of bishops and the suburbicarian see of Albano, December 17, 1860. Prefect of the S.C. of the Index, September 5, 1861. Archpriest of the patriarchal Lateran basilica, March 8, 1863. Archchancellor of the Roman University. During the cholera epidemic that affected his diocese, he assisted the sick and the dying and he himself contracted the malady