section_path: Early life and education (1810–1836)
section_name: Early life and education (1810–1836)
paragraph_text: Early life and education (1810–1836)
  
  Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci was born in Carpineto Romano, near Rome, the sixth of the seven children of Count Domenico Ludovico Pecci (2 June 1767 – 8 March 1833), Patrician of Siena, Colonel of the French Army under Napoleon, and his wife Anna Francesca Prosperi-Buzzi (1773 – 9 August 1824). His uncle Giuseppe Pecci was a protonotary apostolic and referendary of the Signature of Justice and died in 1806. His brothers included Giuseppe and Giovanni Battista or Giambattista Pecci (26 October 1802 – 28 March 1882), 1st Count Pecci, who married on 8 August 1851 Angela Salina (7 February 1830 – 9 October 1899) and had issue, and sister Anna Maria Pecci, wife of Michelangelo Pecci. Until 1818, he lived at home with his family "in which religion counted as the highest grace on earth, as through her, salvation can be earned for all eternity". Together with Giuseppe, he studied in the Jesuit College in Viterbo until 1824. He enjoyed Latin and was known to have written his own Latin poems at the age of eleven. Leo was a descendant of the Italian leader Cola di Rienzo on his mother's side.
  
  His siblings were:
  
  In 1824, he and Giuseppe were called to Rome, where their mother was dying. Count Pecci wanted his children near him after the loss of his wife and so they stayed with him in Rome and attended the Jesuit Collegium Romanum.
  
  In 1828, the 18-year-old Vincenzo decided in favour of secular clergy, and Giuseppe entered the Jesuit order. Vincenzo studied at the Academia dei Nobili, mainly diplomacy and law. In 1834, he gave a student presentation, attended by several cardinals, on papal judgments. For his presentation, he received awards for academic excellence and gained the attention of Vatican officials. Cardinal Secretary of State Luigi Lambruschini introduced him to Vatican congregations. During a cholera epidemic in Rome, he assisted Cardinal Giuseppe Antonio Sala in his duties as overseer of all the city hospitals. In 1836, he received his doctorate in theology and doctorates of civil and Canon Law in Rome.
  
  Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci was born in Carpineto Romano, near Rome, the sixth of the seven children of Count Domenico Ludovico Pecci (2 June 1767 – 8 March 1833), Patrician of Siena, Colonel of the French Army under Napoleon, and his wife Anna Francesca Prosperi-Buzzi (1773 – 9 August 1824). His uncle Giuseppe Pecci was a protonotary apostolic and referendary of the Signature of Justice and died in 1806. His brothers included Giuseppe and Giovanni Battista or Giambattista Pecci (26 October 1802 – 28 March 1882), 1st Count Pecci, who married on 8 August 1851 Angela Salina (7 February 1830 – 9 October 1899) and had issue, and sister Anna Maria Pecci, wife of Michelangelo Pecci. Until 1818, he lived at home with his family "in which religion counted as the highest grace on earth, as through her, salvation can be earned for all eternity". Together with Giuseppe, he studied in the Jesuit College in Viterbo until 1824. He enjoyed Latin and was known to have written his own Latin poems at the age of eleven. Leo was a descendant of the Italian leader Cola di Rienzo on his mother's side.
  
  His siblings were:
  
  In 1824, he and Giuseppe were called to Rome, where their mother was dying. Count Pecci wanted his children near him after the loss of his wife and so they stayed with him in Rome and attended the Jesuit Collegium Romanum.
  
  In 1828, the 18-year-old Vincenzo decided in favour of secular clergy, and Giuseppe entered the Jesuit order. Vincenzo studied at the Academia dei Nobili, mainly diplomacy and law. In 1834, he gave a student presentation, attended by several cardinals, on papal judgments. For his presentation, he received awards for academic excellence and gained the attention of Vatican officials. Cardinal Secretary of State Luigi Lambruschini introduced him to Vatican congregations. During a cholera epidemic in Rome, he assisted Cardinal Giuseppe Antonio Sala in his duties as overseer of all the city hospitals. In 1836, he received his doctorate in theology and doctorates of civil and Canon Law in Rome.