SALA, GIUSEPPE ANTONIO. — Cardinal, b. in Rome on 27 Oct. 1762, d. there on 23 June 1839.
He distinguished himself during the period of the French occupation and the Jacobin republic in Rome (1799), through his work in the Apostolic Delegation left by Pius VI. In 1801 he accompanied Cardinal Caprara to Paris, where he served as his collaborator and secretary, particularly in the negotiations with Napoleon for the Concordat. He nevertheless proved to be opposed to the Concordat signed by Consalvi, judging it excessively accommodating to the demands of the First Consul.
Upon his return to Rome, he served as secretary of the new Apostolic Delegation during the second French occupation; while in Cascia, he kept Pius VI, exiled in Savona, informed of events and drafted a plan of reform. With the Restoration, he began publication of the Piano di riforma, in which he proposed as the principal remedy the secularization of public offices; but this was suppressed by Cardinal Consalvi, who was present at the Congress of Vienna.
From 1815 Sala served as secretary of the Sacred Congregation for Reform, Ecclesiastical Affairs, Rites, and the Council. He took part in the negotiations for the new Concordat with France and for the regularization of ecclesiastical affairs with Piedmont. He was created cardinal by Gregory XVI (30 Sept. 1831) and appointed Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of the Index, and later of Bishops and Regulars.
As Apostolic Visitor of the hospitals of Rome (1824) and later president of the single Deputazione for the same hospitals, with energy and generosity he secured more prudent administration, more efficient technical and sanitary equipment, and provided careful religious-nursing care, directing and expanding the Istituto delle Suore Ospedaliere di Roma, or Sisters of Mercy. As president of the Commission for Public Safety, he successfully confronted the epidemic of Asiatic cholera in 1837 and defended the Roman population.
Among his unpublished writings he left a valuable and objective diary of the years 1798–99, and a copy of the Piano di riforma annotated and annotated by the young Gioacchino Pecci (Leo XIII), preserved in cod. Vat. lat. 1072.