ORMEA, CARLO VINCENZO FERRERO DI ROASIO, d’. — Piedmontese diplomat and mystic, born in Mondovì on 5 April 1680, died in Turin on 29 May 1745. A judge in Carmagnola, he was appointed by Vittorio Amedeo II intendant of the province of Susa, and later intendant general of finance. In 1722 the King conferred upon him the marquisate of O.
In 1725, in order to resolve the bitter jurisdictional dispute that was troubling Sardinia, recently acquired by the House of Savoy, d’O. was sent to Rome; after laborious negotiations, with the assistance of the Sardinian cardinal Agostino Pipia and through the intervention of Cardinal Prospero Lambertini, he succeeded in concluding with Benedict XIII the Concordat of 29 May 1727. However one may judge the opposing theses from a strictly juridical standpoint, this conciliation in practice had the beneficial effect of restoring religious peace to the island and, moreover, by removing every pretext for Spanish intervention, eliminated the danger of new conflicts. In 1730 d’O. was appointed Secretary of State for Internal Affairs and retained his office under Carlo Emanuele III as well, by whose order he had Vittorio Amedeo II arrested when the latter sought to revoke his abdication and resume power. In 1732 d’O. was given the Department of Foreign Affairs and inspired and directed the policy of the Kingdom during the
