[2] Born into one of the most prominent Bohemian noble families, he was the youngest child of Count Johann Nepomuk I von Sternberg (1713-1798) and his wife, Countess Maria Anna Josefa Kolowrat-Krakowsky (1726-1790).

Originally a student of theology, he attended the Collegium anglicum in Rome, from where he obtained a lower ordination.

In his youth, he aspired to be a soldier, but soon, under the pressure of his parents and brothers, he decided to pursue an ecclesiastical career.

In 1805, during an extended stay in Paris, he met with Alexander von Humboldt and came under the influence of a number of French paleontologists and botanists.

Here, he created a botanical garden, and conducted important paleobotanical research at recently opened coal mines located in the surrounding areas.