FALZACAPPA, Giovan Francesco. – Cardinal, b. at Corneto on 7 Apr. 1767, d. at Rome on 18 Nov. 1840.
Entering the prelature at a very young age, Pius VI entrusted him with the presidency of the commission set up to assist French refugee priests in Rome after the outbreak of the Revolution; Pius VII made him a canon of St Peter’s and secretary of the Sacred Congregation of the Good Government. Exiled to Capraia for refusing to submit to the Napoleonic regime, in 1814 he was appointed secretary of the Sacred Congregation of the Council and titular bishop of Athens.
At the consistory of 10 Mar. 1823 he was preconized bishop of Ancona and Numana and created cardinal of the titular church of SS. Nereus and Achilleus; Leo XII entrusted him with the prefectures of the supreme tribunal of the Segnatura. Under Pius VIII he was transferred to the suburbicarian see of Albano, and under Gregory XVI, on 22 Nov. 1839, to the sees of Porto and S. Rufina and of Civitavecchia, which were united ad hoc, and he was named president of the Census. All these offices he discharged with profound zeal and lively piety, winning great esteem in the Sacred College and the Roman Curia.