Sacred Music Composer. He was one of twelve children, of whom only six survived infancy. Hailing from a family of church musicians, one of his brothers - Carlo - went on to become a cardinal, while another - Marziano - who became a Jesuit, was Maestro di Cappella of Milan's Duomo. Studying under Professor Michele Saladino at the Milan Conservatory, in 1890 Lorenzo obtained his first professional post as organist and teacher of piano at the Benedictine Abbey of Montecassino. Earning his diploma from the Milan Conservatory two years later, he furthered his studies in Regensburg at the Kirchenmusikschule, of which he was eventually offered a cattedra by the founder, Franz Xaver Haberl, with Perosi declining due to homesickness. Assuming instead the posts of teacher and director of Sacred Music in Imola, in August 1894 he moved to the Abbey of Solesmes in order to study with the Gregorianists Dom André Mocquereau and Dom Joseph Pothier. The Renaissance polyphony he learned from Haberl and the Gregorian chant he studied in Solesmes were the two pillars upon which Perosi'S future works would eventually rest. Named Maestro di Cappella of the Cappella Marciana of San Marco's Basilica in Venice, this appointment resulted in a deep friendship between Perosi and Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto, then Patriarch of Venice, but soon to be Pope Pius X. With Sarto being a profound music lover, disturbed by the fact that Gregorian chant was absent from the Church, in Sarto the composer found not only a friend but also a staunch sponsor. Ordained priest in 1895 by Sarto himself, Perosi was inspired by the latter to infuse priestly sanctity into the music. Offering Mass daily, he is known to have spent many hours in prayer. In 1898 the Cardinal used his influence with Pope Leo XIII to get Perosi the prestigious post of Maestro Perpetuo della Cappella Sistina and five years later, having been by then elected Pontiff, Sarto issued a Motu Proprio on Sacred Music of which Perosi was a co-writer, reinstating Sacred Music in all Catholic churches around the world. Perosi remained Maestro Perpetuo till his death over fifty years later in spite of interruptions in his directorship, serving under five Popes. Having suffered from psychological and neurological problems, being declared incurable in 1922, the composer spent some months in seclusion. However, by the next year, he fully resumed his activities. Considered the most prolific composer of sacred music of the twentieth century, it is estimated that he composed between 3,000 and 4,000 works. Giacomo Puccini is quoted to have said that "There's more music in Perosi's head than in mine and Mascagni's put together." Originally interred inside the Campo Verano Cemetery of Rome, in 1959, his remains, along with those of his brother Cardinal Carlo, who was also buried inside the named cemetery, were exhumed and transferred to the cathedral of Tortona.