He was later novice master and held important posts at Malta, Genoa, and Parma. Prior of the monastery of S. Scolastica in 1891, in 1892 he became procurator general and consultor of the Congregations of the Holy Office, of Propaganda Fide, and of Bishops and Regulars. Elected abbot general in 1896, he brought to a successful conclusion protracted and difficult negotiations for the vindication of the rights of the cathedral abbey church of Subiaco and revived monastic discipline. Leo XIII, in 1900, appointed him archbishop of Spoleto. Sent by Bl. Pius X as apostolic delegate to Mexico in 1904, he acquitted himself so well in safeguarding the spiritual interests of the country that he won the esteem of the episcopate and the faithful, as well as the consideration of civil authorities and foreign representatives. The same Pontiff in 1912 named him titular archbishop of Seleucia in Isauria and assessor of the Congregation of the Holy Office; then on 25 May 1914 he created him cardinal.
In the Conclave following the death of Pius X his name was insistently put forward among the cardinals as a successor. Benedict XV from 1914 had appointed him pro-prefect of the Congregation of Propaganda Fide and, on the death of Card. Gotti (1916), prefect.