He was educated at the Seminary of Tivoli and the Pontifical Academy of Ecclesiastical Nobles, where he obtained a doctorate in theology in 1879.

He was awarded the numerous orders and decorations: In May and June 1907, when Bisleti was still a Monsignor and Maggiodomo di Sua Santita, the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862-1947) who was in Rome painting a large portrait of Pope Pius X (North American College, Via dei Umilta, Rome), and had painted two portraits of Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val, also completed a portrait of Bisleti, a fact that was recorded in the New York Herald on Sunday 27 December 1908.

As cardinal protodeacon he announced the election of Pius XI[1] and crowned the new pope with the Papal Tiara on 12 February 1922.

In October 1911 he married the future Emperor of Austria-Hungary Charles I of Austria (from the Habsburg family) with his wife Zita of Bourbon-Parma.

He then opted for the order of cardinal priests and his deaconry was elevated pro hac vice to title on 17 December 1928.