Roman Catholic Cardinal. A native of Racconigi, Francesco Marchisano frequented the seminaries of Giaveno, Chieri, Turin, Rivoli Torinese, and the Lombard of Rome prior to his ordination in June 1952 in Turin. Moving to Rome for a brief period in order to further his studies, Cardinal Giuseppe Pizzardo soon had him called to the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Universities in 1956, which led him to spend the rest of his lifetime in Rome. First assigned with the European countries and later with the Latin American ones and successively with the nations of German and English language, the ones behind the Iron Curtain and the ecclesiastical colleges of Rome, in May 1968 he was named head of the Office of Seminaries and in June of the following year, undersecretary of the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Universities. Visiting numerous nations encouraging the formation of candidates to the priesthood and Catholic instruction, he taught catechism to deaf and mute children in Rome for thirty years. Appointed secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Preservation of the Artistic and Cultural Patrimony of the Church by Pope John Paul II, he received his episcopal consecration with the titular see of Populonia from the Pope himself on January 6, 1989. Appointed president of the Foundation John XXIII on October 20, 1988 and president of the Pontifical Commission of Sacred Archeology on September 4, 1991, Marchisano was furthermore named president of the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Patrimony of the Church on May 3, 1993 and president of the Artistic-Cultural Commission of the Grand Jubilee of the Year 2000 on March 17, 1995. Promoted to archbishop on July 9, 1994, by papal appointment, he was named archpriest of the Patriarchal Vatican Basilica, vicar general for the State of Vatican City and president of the Fabric of St. Peter's Basilica on April 24, 2002. President of the Permanent Commission for the Care of the Historical and Artistic Monuments of the Holy See on March 8, 2003, he resigned the Cultural Patrimony of the Church office in October that year, during which, on the 21st, he was also created cardinal deacon with the deaconry of Santa Lucia del Gonfalone by John Paul II. Resigning the presidency of the Pontifical Commission of Sacred Archeology in August 2004, he was appointed president of the Office of Labour of the Apostolic See on February 5, 2005, being relieved from the posts of vicar general of the State of Vatican City and of president of the Fabric of St. Peter's on that same day. He retired from the post of archpriest of the Patriarchal Vatican Basilica on October 31, 2006 and from the charges of presidency of the Permanent Commission for the Custody of the Historic and Artistic Monuments of the Holy See and of the Office of Labour of the Apostolic See in July 2009 due to age reasons. Opting for the order of cardinal priests on June 12, 2014 with his deaconry elevated pro hac vice to title, Cardinal Marchisano passed away a few weeks later in his Roman apartment at the Palace of St. Callistus.