Charles Januarius Edward Acton, (1803 - June 23, 1847), second son of John Francis Edward Acton, after education in England and taking his degree at Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1823, entered the Academia Ecclesiastica at Rome. He left this with the rank of prelate, in 1828 was secretary to the nuncio at Paris and was made vice-legate of Bologna shortly afterwards. He became secretary of the congregation of the Disciplina Regolare, and auditor of the Apostolic Chamber under Pope Gregory XVI, who made Acton a cardinal in 1842.

Cardinal Acton was protector of the English College at Rome, and had been mainly instrumental in the increase, in 1840, of the English vicariates-general to eight, which paved the way for the restoration of the hierarchy by Pope Pius IX in 1850. He died on 23 June 1847.


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