Birth. October 7, 1750, Parma. Of a patrician family.

Education. University of Parma, Parma (doctorate in theology, July 6, 1774); Pontifical Academy of Ecclesiastical Nobles, Rome, 1775-1778.

Priesthood. Ordained, September 24, 1774. Canon of the cathedral chapter of Piacenza, 1789. Domestic prelate of His Holiness, 1800. Accompanied the pope to Paris for the coronation of Napoléon Bonaparte; he officiated as subdeacon in the mass of coronation on December 2, 1804. He retired to Parma during the French occupation of Rome. Referendary of the tribunals of the Apostolic Signature of Justice and of Grace, March 14, 1816. Civil lieutenant of the tribunal of the vicariate of Rome.

Episcopate. Elected titular archbishop of Cirro, December 17, 1819. Consecrated, December 19, 1819, Rome, by Cardinal Giulio Maria della Somaglia. Nuncio in Switzerland, January 21, 1820. Charged with an extraordinary mission before King Willem I of Holland, 1826; he closely collaborated with Cardinal Mauro Cappellari, O.S.B.Cam., future Pope Gregory XVI, in Rome, in the conclusion of a concordat with Holland on June 18, 1827.

Birth. October 23, 1766, Aix-en-Provence, France. Of a noble family. His father died when he was very young and he was sent to the seminary.

Education. Minor Seminary of Aix, Aix; there became a friend of Joseph Fesch, uncle of Napoleon Bonaparte, future archbishop of Lyon and cardinal; did not continue at that time his ecclesiastical studies. It is said that the friendship with Fesch and the Bonaparte family protected him during the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution. He sought refuge in Verona with the count of Provence, future King Louis XVIII of France, in 1794; he returned to Aix after the fall of Maximilian Robespierre. He went again to Italy after the coup of Fructidor. He established himself in Paris during the Consulate thanks to the protection of Cardinal Fesch, whom he accompanied to visit Pope Pius VII in Rome in 1803.

Early life. Auditor of the Sacred Roman Rota for France before December 7, 1803; confirmed by motu proprio of December 9, 1803; did not occupy the post until June 5, 1804; took the oath on July 22, 1803; and later, on March 10, 1823, became its dean and occupied the post until his promotion to the cardinalate. Received the ecclesiastical tonsure, April 18, 1805. Named domestic prelate of His Holiness.

Priesthood. Ordained, 1805. In 1809 accompanied Pope Pius VII to France and was confined in Grenoble and then in Savona. After the fall of Napoleon, returned to Rome as auditor of the Sacred Roman Rota again; the French authorities tried to have him replaced by Msgr. de Salamon but the Holy See firmly refused stating the permanent character of his post. During the return of Bonaparte to France, the one hundred days, he was named on June 13, 1815, chargé d'affaires of France before the Holy See with the purpose of maintaining the Concordat of 1801; but the appointment did not last after the second fall of Napoléon. King Louis XVIII of France named him baron on May 24, 1823. Consultor of the S.C. of the Holy Office, June 13, 1823. Prelate of the congregation for the reconstruction of the basilica of S. Paolo fuori le Mura, March 21, 1825.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of June 25, 1827; received the red hat, July 5, 1827; and the title of S. Pietro in Vincoli, September 17, 1827.