Tommaso Bernetti

Roman Catholic prelate and cardinal who served in the Secretariat of State and the Roman Curia during his time in the cardinalate.^[1] He came from Fermo and was named a cardinal in 1826 before beginning his work in the Curia. He had worked prior to his time in the cardinalate as a papal legate and governor with a dispensation for not having been a priest

Count Salvatore Bernetti and Countess Giuditta Brancadoro in Fermo on 29 December 1779. His uncle Cesare Brancadoro on his maternal side was a cardinal that Pope Pius VII named in 1801 and his brother Alessandro became a bishop.^[1]

Czar Nicholas I of Russia in 1826 and he left Rome on 13 June to join Cardinal Tommaso Arezzo. He was unable to attend the coronation in Moscow for reasons unknown though did meet the czar later in Saint Petersburg instead on 22 October. He returned to Paris following this.^[1]

1830-31 conclave that elected Pope Gregory XVI.^[1] Bernetti during this time served in the Secretariat of State and his brother Alessandro ordained him as a priest in 1839. In 1836 he left the Secretariat of State and in 1844 was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor for the Apostolic Chancery; in 1844 he opted to become the Cardinal-Deacon of San Lorenzo in Damaso

Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I wanted to invoke the right of veto against the latter. He realized he had to act fast to secure votes for him and so - in an effort to also prevent his rival Luigi Lambruschini from being elected - lobbied other cardinals to secure the votes needed for Mastai-Ferretti therefore leading to his election before the veto could be imposed.^[3] He later sought refuge in Sant'Elpidio following the assassination of Pellegrino Rossi and later joined Pius IX in Gaeta in 1848. In 1849 he returned to his hometown of Fermo and would live there until his death.^[1]