Roman Catholic Cardinal. The elder brother of Pope Leo XIII, Giuseppe Pecci was one of seven sons born to Count Ludovico Pecci and his wife Anna Prosperi Buzi, Countess Pecci. Joining the Society of Jesus in 1824, he was ordained priest in 1837. Lecturing rhetoric at the Jesuit schools in Urbino and Forlì and philosophy at the Jesuit schools in Reggio Emilia, Faenza and Modena, revolutionary problems in 1848 made him leave the Society following its expulsion from the Papal States and incardinate with the diocesan clergy of the diocese of Anagni. Moving to Perugia in 1852 following an invitation from his brother, Msgr. Gioacchino who then happened to be the local Ordinary, he lectured philosophy at the local seminary and participated in the initial steps of the restoration of the teaching of Thomistic philosophy, particularly in the foundation of Accademia Perugina di San Tommaso in March 1859. Occupying the chair of philosophy at La Sapienza University in Rome as of 1861, he lost the position in 1870 after refusing to take the oath of loyalty to the Italian government. Appointed vice-librarian of the Holy Roman Church with the mission of reorganizing the library on September 9, 1878, he lectured philosophy of law at the Accademia di Conferenze Storico-Giuridica. The Sacred College of Cardinals, following a suggestion from Cardinal Camillo Di Pietro, asked Pope Leo XIII to promote his brother to the cardinalate, which he did, in his first consistory held on May 12, 1879, with Giuseppe receiving the deaconry of Sant'Agata alla Suburra. Appointed prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Studies on February 16, 1884 and member of the Commission for Historical Studies on October 8, 1884, he collaborated in the preparation of the encyclical "Æterni Patris" on the restoration of Christian Philosophy in the schools, which was published on August 4, 1879. Rejoining the Society of Jesus in 1887, he was named first president of the Accademia Romana di Tommaso d'Aquino, founded by his brother Pope Leo on October 15, 1889. Suffering a cardiac crisis in 1888, Pecci died in Rome of an apoplexy following bronchitis and pneumonia less than two years later. His body was exposed in the basilica of the Ss. XII Apostoli, while burial followed in the chapel of the Society of Jesus inside the local Campo Verano Cemetery.