Tommaso Bernetti was born to the
noble patricians 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. Bernetti's 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 reduced
pro illa vice. Bernetti participated in the
papal conclave in 1846 that elected
Pope Pius IX. He himself had been considered a possible contender and his candidature was supported by the Russians and the
Prussians, but he was not a serious contender as he suffered from
gout and was considered too old. Bernetti favored Giovanni Mastai-Ferretti to become pope but soon learnt that the
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. 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. Bernetti died in Fermo on 21 March 1852 and his remains were interred in
Fermo Cathedral. ==Honours==