House of Visconti
Filippo Maria Visconti was born on 19 August 1721 in Massino Visconti, a village near Lake Maggiore which was the original land tenure of the House of Visconti, a main noble family of the Duchy of Milan and to which Filippo Maria belonged. Filippo Maria earned a doctorate in Theology, and was ordained priest on 31 May 1749. He served as diocesan priest in Milan, first as canon of the Basilica of San Lorenzo, and later as canon of the major chapter of the Cathedral of Milan, of which in 1783 he was elected provost. In force of this office he temporarily administered the diocese of Milan after the death of the Archbishop Giuseppe Pozzobonelli in April 1783.