Birth. December 21, 1668, Turin. Of a noble Savoyard family.

Education. University of Nice, Nice, Savoy (master's in theology, August 28, 1688; doctorate in utroque iure, both canon and civil law, January 23, 1690).

Priesthood. Ordained, June 12, 1695. Auditor of Cardinal Baldassare Cenci. Privy chamberlain and prefect of the Dottrina Cristiana in the pontificate of Pope Clement XI.

Episcopate. Elected titular patriarch of Antioch, December 5, 1701. Assistant at the Pontifical Throne, December 8, 1701. Consecrated, December 21 (or 27), 1701, Rome, by Pope Clement XI. Appointed apostolic visitor with faculties of legate a latere in China and the kingdoms of the East Indies by apostolic brief of July 4, 1702. Traveled to the Far East. Jailed because of the controversy concerning the Chinese rites and handed over to the Portuguese in Macao. (1)

Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest in the consistory of August 1, 1707; never received the red hat and the title. Died shortly after learning that he had been created a cardinal.

Death. June 8, 1710, in confinement in the island of Macao. Transferred to Rome by his successor in the Chinese legation, Carlo Ambrogio Mezzabarba, titular patriarch of Alexandria, and was buried next to the main altar of the church of Collegio di Propaganda Fide, Rome, on September 27, 1723.