NASALLI, Ignazio. - Cardinal, born in Parma on 7 Oct. 1750, died in Rome on 7 Dec. 1831. Ordained priest in 1785, he completed his studies in Rome at the Pontifical Academy of Ecclesiastical Nobles, of which he became pro-president. Canon of the cathedral of Ravenna in 1789 and domestic prelate in 1800, in 1804 he accompanied Pius VI on the journey to Paris for Napoleon’s coronation and at the famous ceremony of 2 Dec. he served as apostolic subdeacon. He lived privately in Piacenza during the captivity of Pius VII; after the restoration, he was entrusted by the dukes of Parma with handling the ecclesiastical affairs of the state before the Holy See and also drew up a draft concordat.
In 1819 he was elected titular archbishop of Circo and appointed apostolic nuncio to the Swiss Confederation. The principal task of his mission was to discuss with the cantons the plans for the erection of new dioceses, and in April 1820 the Langenthal Conference took place, in which the essential points for resolving the thorny issue were laid out, though the matter continued to drag on for several years. Without leaving his Swiss nunciature, in 1823 he was sent by Pius VII to the Netherlands, where he encountered serious difficulties, since King William I claimed the right to appoint bishops and sought to interfere in the administration of seminaries and thus in the education of clerics; at the same time, the influence of the Jansenist Church of Utrecht on the court and government officials was very strong. Leo XII, in the Consistory of 25 June 1827, created him cardinal.