Early life Jean-François Gerdil was born in 1718 at
Samoëns in the
Duchy of Savoy to Pierre Gerdil, a
notary, and Françoise Perrier, a native of
Taninges. When 15 years old, he joined the
Barnabites at
Annecy, taking the name Hyacinthe Sigismond. He was sent to
Bologna to pursue his theological studies; also having an interest in the sciences, he devoted his mind to the various branches of knowledge with great success. While he improved his command of
Italian, he came the attention of Propero Lambertini,
Archbishop of Bologna, later
Pope Benedict XIV, who used the young
seminarian to translate French texts. After Gerdil had completed his initial studies in 1738, he was assigned to teach philosophy first at the Barnabite college in
Macerata, then at the school at
Casale Monferrato (1739-1748). During this period, in 1741, he was
ordained to the priesthood. By 1749, the range and quality of his writings led to his induction by various scientific and literary societies across Europe, ranging from the
Bologna Institute of Sciences and the
Royal Society of London to the
Accademia degli Arcadi in Rome. That same year he was appointed as professor of philosophy at the
University of Turin, transferring to the teach of
moral theology in 1754. However, that pope died before his appointment could be made public. He was appointed as a consultor to the
Holy Office in 1776 by
Pope Pius VI, moving to Rome, where he took a residence next to the General
Motherhouse of the Barnabite Order at the Church of
San Carlo ai Catinari. The
King of Sardinia named him the
commendatory abbot of the Abbey of
San Michele della Chiusa in January 1777. He carried out his supervision of the distant abbey from Rome through correspondence, devoting much of the
benefice he gained to the help of the poor. In March of that same year, Gerdil was appointed the
bishop of the
titular see of Dibona, and was consecrated at the Barnabite church by Cardinal
Marcantonio Colonna, the
Vicar General of Rome. The following June he again named a
cardinal in petto by Pope Pius, receiving the red hat on 18 December 1777 and the
titular church of
San Giovanni a Porta Latina on 30 March 1778. The pope also appointed him to various congregations of the
Roman Curia, including that of Prefect of the
Propaganda Fide. Gerdil changed his title to that of the
Basilica of
Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. He served briefly as the
Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church (1786-1787). Gerdil was member of the committee of cardinals which examined and refined the text of the response against the
Puntuazione di Ems, issued by the
archbishops of Germany in which they defied papal authority. From 1790 to 1794, he was member of the committee which prepared the final draft of the
papal bull,
Auctorem fidei (28 August 1794), which condemned the propositions of the
Synod of Pistoia, a similar stand by the bishops of
Tuscany. During those four years, he was also president of the particular congregation charged with the preparation of the papal documents which condemned the French Civil Constitution of the Clergy, the Civic Oath imposed to the French clergy in 1798, and other acts imposed on the Church by Revolutionary France. After the invasion of Rome by the
French Revolutionary Army in February 1798 the pope fled to
Siena, while Gerdil fled to his Abbey of San Michele. After the death of Pope Pius in 1799, he would likely have been elected pope at the
conclave of Venice in 1800, had not his election been vetoed by Cardinal
Franziskus Herzan von Harras, in the name of
Francis II, the last
Holy Roman Emperor. After the conclave accompanied the new pope,
Pius VII, to Rome, where he resumed his posts in the Curia, still being fit and active, despite being past the age of 80. After a brief illness he died at the Barnabite motherhouse and was buried in the Church of
San Carlo ai Catinari. ==Works==