NASALLI, IGNAZIO. - Cardinal, b. at Parma on 7 Oct. 1750, d. at Rome on 7 Dec. 1831. Ordained priest in 1785, he completed his studies in Rome at the Pontifical Academy of Noble Ecclesiastics, of which he became vice-president. A canon of Ravenna Cathedral 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 celebrated ceremony of 2 Dec. he served as apostolic subdeacon. Living privately at Piacenza during the captivity of Pius VII, after the Restoration he was entrusted by the dukes of Parma with conducting the ecclesiastical affairs of the State at the Holy See, and he also drafted an outline for a concordat.
In 1819 he was elected titular archbishop of Cyrrhus and appointed apostolic nuncio to the Swiss Confederation. The principal task of his mission was to discuss with the Cantons plans for the erection of new dioceses, and in Apr. 1820 the Conference of Langenthal took place, at which the essential points for resolving the difficult question were established; it nevertheless continued to drag on for some years. Without leaving the Swiss nunciature, he was sent by Pius VII in 1823 to the Netherlands, where he encountered serious difficulties, since King William I upheld the right to appoint bishops and intended to interfere in the administration of the seminaries, and therefore also in the education of clerics; at the same time, the influence of the Jansenist Church of Utrecht upon the court and government officials was very strong. Leo XII, in the Consistory of 25 June 1827, created N. cardinal.