Birth. April 25, 1724, Venice. Of a patrician family. Second of the five children of Aurelio Rezzonico and Anna Giustiniani. Brother of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Rezzonico (1770). The other three siblings were Quintilia, Lodovico and Abbondio. Nephew of Pope Clement XIII.

Education. (No information found).

Priesthood. Ordained (no date found), by his uncle Carlo Rezzonico, bishop of Padua, future cardinal and pope. Domestic prelate of Pope Benedict XIV. Protonotary apostolic numerary participante, March 3, 1748. Referendary of the Tribunals of the Apostolic Signature of Justice and of Grace, May 2, 1748 (1). Member of the S.C. of the Tridentine Council. Vicar of his uncle the cardinal in the titular church of S. Marco, Rome. Secretary of Memoriali. President of the Apostolic Chamber, September 30, 1751. Cleric of the Apostolic Chamber, July 1753-1758. Abbot in commendam of the abbeys of S. Zeno, Verona; and S. Maria, Lunaga, August 1758.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal and reserved in pectore in the consistory of September 11, 1758; published in the consistory of October 2, 1758; received the red hat on October 5, 1758; and the title of S. Lorenzo in Damaso, November 22, 1758. Vice-chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, November 22, 1758 until January 24, 1763. Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, January 24, 1763 until his death; and as such, grand chancellor of La Sapienza University, Rome. Opted for the title of S. Clemente, January 24, 1763. Abbot comendatario of Grottaferrata. Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals, February 20, 1764 until February 4, 1765. Participated in the conclave of 1769, which elected Pope Clement XIV. Opted for the title of S. Marco, December 14, 1772.

Episcopate. Opted for the order of bishops and the suburbicarian see of Sabina, retaining in commendam the title of S. Marco, March 15, 1773. Consecrated, March 21, 1773, church of S. Marco, Rome, by Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Albani, bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina, assisted by Giuseppe Contesini, titular archbishop of Atena, and by Orazio Mattei, titular archbishop of Colosse. Participated in the conclave of 1774-1775, which elected Pope Pius VI. Opted for the suburbicarian see of Porto e Santa Rufina, retaining his title in commendam, January 29, 1776. Vice-dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals. Secretary of the Supreme S.C. of the Roman and Universal Inquisition, January 17, 1777 until his death. Archpriest of the patriarchal Lateran basilica from January 1781. He was member of twelve congregations of the Roman Curia. Protector of the Orders of the Gerosolimitani; of Our Lady of Mercy; of the Benedictine Cassinese; and of the Minimi of S. Francesco di Paola. Protector of Collegio Germanico; and of Collegio Greco Illirico. Protector of Magliano and other cities and places. Protector of the Chapel Corsini of the patriarchal Lateran basilica. Protector of Accademia de' Rennovati, Asolo, province of Treviso. Lorenzo Cardella dedicated to him the second volume of his work Memorie storiche de' cardinali, comparing him to Cardinal S. Carlo Borromeo. Because of his bad health, he was the only cardinal who was allowed to stay in Rome when the French invaded the city in 1798.

Death. January 26, 1799, after suffering from a very painful illness (languore) that kept him in bed for two years, in his Roman. The body, dressed with cardinalitial and episcopal vestments and accompanied by the clergy, was taken to and exposed in the church of S. Marco, where the funeral of the canons took place because the French authorities prohibited the celebration of a cardinalitial funeral; and buried in the chapel of B. Gregorio Barbarigo, of his family, in that same church. His brother Prince Abbondio erected a marble monument to his memory in the chapel of the Manger in the patriarchal Lateran basilica; the monument was designed by Antonio Canova and executed by Antonio d'Este; the inscription was composed by Stefano Antonio Morcelli.

Bibliography. Beltrami, Giuseppe. Notizie su prefetti e referendari della Segnatura Apostolica desunte dai brevi di nomina. Città del Vaticano, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1972, p. 174, no. 530; Marchesi Buonaccorsi, Giorgio Viviano. Antichità ed eccellenza del Protonotariato appostolico partecipante, colle più scelte notizie de' santi, sommi pontefici, cardinali, e prelati che ne sono stati insigniti sino al presente, opera di Monsignor Giorgio Viviano Marchesi Buonaccorsi forlivese. Faenza : pel Benedetti, 1751. Note: Book; Computer File; Internet Resource, p. 553-554; Moroni, Gaetano. Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica da S. Pietro sino ai nostri giorni. 103 vols. in 53. Venezia : Tipografia Emiliana, 1840-1861, LVII, 165-166; Ritzler, Remigium, and Pirminum Sefrin. Hierarchia Catholica Medii et Recientoris Aevi. Volumen VI (1730-1799). Patavii : Typis et Sumptibus Domus Editorialis "Il Messaggero di S. Antonio" apud Basilicam S. Antonii, 1968, pp. 20. 40, 41, 43, 44 and 45; Weber, Christoph and Becker, Michael. Genealogien zur Papstgeschichte. 6 v. Stuttgart : Anton Hiersemann, 1999-2002. (Päpste und Papsttum, Bd. 29, 1-6), II, 800; Weber, Christoph. Die päpstlichen Referendare 1566-1809 : Chronologie und Prosopographie. 3 vols. Stuttgart : Anton Hiersemann, 2003-2004. (Päpste und Papsttum ; Bd. 31/1, 31/2, 31/3; Variation: Päpste und Papsttum ; Bd. 31), III, 841.

Webgraphy. His portrait and brifef biographical data, in Italian, Wikipedia; his portrait and biography, in french, Wikipédia; his portrait, Scuola Italiana, diocese of Sabina; painting of his head by Anton von Maron, Christie's; his portrait, Araldica Vaticana; engraving, portrait and arms, Araldica Vaticana; his portrait, secolo XVIII (1700-1799), ambito bolognese, regione ecclesiastica Emilia Romagna, diocesi Bologna, Beni Ecclesiastici in web (BeWeB); his portrait, secolo XVIII (1773-1776), scuola italiana, regione ecclesiastica Lazio, diocesi Sabina-Poggio Mirteto, Beni Ecclesiastici in web (BeWeB); his portrait, secolo XVIII (1740-1760), ambito bolognese, regione ecclesiastica Emilia Romagna, diocesi Bologna, Beni Ecclesiastici in web (BeWeB); his portrait by Anton Raphael Mengs, oil on Canvas, Wikigallery; another engraving, Bildarchiv Austria. Die Bildplattform der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek; his prosopography, in German, Requiem Datenbank; his tomb, Requiem Datenbank; Orazione del marchese Gioseffo Canarisi, patrizio, decurione e giure-consulto collegiato di Como : recitata li 6. febbrajo dell'anno 1759 nella chiesa de' RR. Padri della Compagnia di Gesù in occasione della festa solennizzatasi dall'almo collegio de' nobili giure-consulti conti, cavalieri e giudici per l'esaltamento alla sagra porpora di monsignore Carlo Rezzonico, nipote e segretario de' memoriali di N. S. Clemente XIII. In Como, M.DCC.LIX. Per Ottavio Staurenghi Stampatore Vescovile,e del S. Offizio, Con Licenza de' Superiori, Hathi Trust.

(1) This is according to Weber, Die päpstlichen Referendare 1566-1809, III, 841; and Marchesi Buonaccorsi, Antichità ed eccellenza del Protonotariato appostolico partecipante, p. 554. Beltrami, Notizie su prefetti e referendari della Segnatura Apostolica, p. 174, no. 530. says that he was named on September 30, 1751.

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