ACTON, CARLO. - Cardinal, b. in Napoli on 6 March 1803, d. there on 23 June 1847. Son of Giovanni Acton, minister to Ferdinando IV of Napoli, he was educated in England, where he moved in 1811 upon his father’s death, attending Protestant schools and tutors until, in 1823, he came to Rome and entered the Pontifical Academy of Noble Ecclesiastics, which he left as a prelate. His exceptional abilities attracted the attention of Leone XII, who sent him to Paris to join the apostolic nunciature there, then headed by the future cardinal Secretary of State Lambruschini. Pio VIII recalled A. to Italy, appointing him vice-legate of Bologna, but shortly afterwards he left that post to go to England to attend the wedding of his only sister.
Cardinal of the Order of Priests, reserved in pectore by Gregorio XVI in the Consistory of 18 Feb. 1839, he was published in that of 24 Jan. 1842 and was assigned the title of S. Maria della Pace. During the visit of the emperor of Russia Nicola I to the Pope, in Dec. 1843, card. A. was present at the audiences granted by Gregorio XVI, drafting reports of them which are still preserved in the Vatican Archive.