Fesch

Joseph, Cardinal Archbishop of Lyons, and brother of Létiti a Ramolini, mother of Napoleon I.; born in Ajaccio, Corsica, Jan. 3, 1768. He was educated in France for the Church; in 1790 he was appointed by his nephew, General Bonaparte, commi ary-general of the army of Italy, in which capacity he realized a princely fortune. He afterward resumed his clerical studies, and adopting the profe ion, was, in 1802, consecrated Archbishop of Lyons. In the year afterward, Fesch received a cardinal’s hat and was sent to Rome as French amba ador. In 1804 he accompanied Pius VII. to Paris, to a ist at the emperor’s coronation, and in the following year was created Grand Almoner of France. As president of the - Council of Paris he energetically opposed his nephew on many occasions, and especially espoused the cause of the unfortunate Pope. He finally fell into disgrace with the emperor, and retired to Rome, where he pa ed the remainder of his life in dignified ease and affluence, po e ing the finest library and picture-gallery that even Rome could boast of. He died in Rome, May 13, 1839.