orig. Vincenzo Gioacchino Pecci
born March 2, 1810, Carpineto Romano, Papal States
died July 20, 1903, Rome
Pope (1878–1903).
Born into the Italian nobility, he was ordained a priest in 1837 and entered the diplomatic service of the Papal States. He was appointed bishop of Perugia in 1846 and was named a cardinal in 1853. He was elected pope in 1878, and, despite his advanced age and frail health, he directed the church for a quarter of a century. Like his predecessor, Pius IX , he opposed Freemasonry and secular liberalism, but he brought a new spirit to the papacy by adopting a conciliatory attitude toward civil governments and taking a more positive view of scientific progress.
Leo XIII, 1878
The Bettmann Archive