ERSKINE, CARLO. — Cardinal, born in Rome on 13 February 1743 into a most noble family originally from Scotland, died in Paris on 1 March 1811. Having devoted himself to the practice of law, he became renowned for the juridical acumen with which he conducted cases and was hailed as a restorer of elegant forensic writing due to his perfect mastery of the Latin language. Admitted to prelature, he was subsequently appointed by Pius VI as an advocate of the Roman Rota and auditor of His Holiness.
Cardinal Secretary of State Francesco Saverio De Zelada, on 6 June 1793, designated him as the representative of the Holy See at a congress that the belligerent powers were to hold against France. Pius VI sent him to London with the title of his representative at the court of England, and upon the Pope’s death he celebrated solemn funeral rites in his memory at the church of St Patrick, delivering an oration in English, which he published; this was the first time, after the Reformation, that such honorary funeral rites were accorded to a Pope in the city of London.
He also earned particular merits toward the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith and the Catholic missions. Created cardinal in pectore by Pius VII in the Consistory of 3 February 1801, his appointment was published on 17 January 1803 and he was assigned the deaconry of Santa Maria in Portico. For a time he retained the office of Secretary of Briefs, and during the Napoleonic occupation, having been taken to Paris, he was among the cardinals who attended the marriage of Napoleon to Marie Louise.