TONELLO, MICHELANGELO. – Political figure, born in San Secondo on 29 May 1800, died in Turin on 2 December 1879. Professor of canon law and later of Roman law at the University of Turin, he served as deputy to the Subalpine and Italian Parliaments and as senator from 1868.
His name gained widespread renown in 1866 when he was entrusted with a special mission to Rome to negotiate with the Holy See the issue of the numerous vacant episcopal sees within the territory of the Kingdom. In carrying out this task, Tonello achieved particularly notable results, succeeding where a similar mission entrusted a few months earlier to Hon. Vegezzi had failed. While the latter had framed negotiations around a comprehensive solution to the problem, thereby shifting the matter into the political sphere, Tonello preferred to leave all questions of principle unresolved and to discuss each diocese individually, thus reaching agreement in most of the cases he handled. Of special importance were the discussions concerning the archdioceses of Milan and Turin: for Milan, the Holy See consented to the appointment of Monsignor Nazari di Calabiana, ending a vacancy that had lasted since 1859, and for Turin an agreement was reached for the promotion of Monsignor Riccardi di Netro as bishop of Biella. Tonello likewise achieved equally positive results regarding the no less significant matter of the property of religious communities.
His mission failed, however, with regard to the Holy Father’s spontaneous renunciation of temporal power, which he had been charged by Ricasoli to request confidentially from Pius IX.
The tact and skill with which he discharged his mandate earned Tonello, in addition to the gratitude of Victor Emmanuel II, the personal sympathy of the Pope.