[2] He graduated from the Roman seminary, where he completed a doctorate in utroque iuris (civil and canon law).

[3] He was ordained a priest in 1860 and went on to become a canon of the Patriarchal Lateran Basilica and private chamberlain de numero participantium of Pope Blessed Pius IX.

On November 29, 1895, he was appointed titular Latin Patriarch of Constantinople[4] with residence in the Roman Curia.

He was consecrated by Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro, the Cardinal Secretary of State of the Holy See.

[3] Martin Bräuer, Handbuch der Kardinäle: 1846-2012 (Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2014).