PECCI, GIUSEPPE. - Cardinal, b. at Carpineto Romano (diocese of Anagni) on 15 Dec. 1807, d. at Rome on 8 Feb. 1890. Brother of Gioacchino, who later became Leo XIII, he pursued his early studies with him at the Collegio dei Nobili in Viterbo, directed by the Jesuits.
He entered the Society in 1824 and remained in it until 1848, when, forced by the revolutionary upheavals to disperse, he managed to remain hidden in Rome; nor, once calm had returned, did he feel able to rejoin his confreres, and he left the Order, moving to Carpineto. Later he was summoned by his brother, then Archbishop of Perugia, to teach philosophy in that Seminary. In 1861 he became professor of higher philosophy at the University of Rome, but in 1870 he lost the chair for refusing to take the oath of loyalty to the Italian government.
Leo XIII appointed him vice-librarian of the Holy Roman Church, then created him cardinal deacon of S. Agata alla Suburra, in the Consistory of 12 May 1879. He was furthermore prefect of the Vatican Archives and president of the Roman Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas.
In 1889 he asked to re-enter the Society of Jesus, urged on also by the Pontiff, his brother, who made the request to Fr. General A. M. Anderledy; and in July he renewed his solemn vows in his private chapel, which were received by Card. C. Mazzella, in the name of the general (cf. P. Galletti, Mem. storiche intorno al p. Ugo Molza, Rome 1912, pp. 435-41).
Endowed with a strong intellect, he distinguished himself as a cultivator of philosophical studies, and was among the most ardent supporters of Thomistic philosophy, to the point of contributing effectively to the preparation of the encyclical Aeterni Patris, of 4 Aug. 1879, and to the subsequent application of the norms issued in it, so that the doctrine of the Aquinate might be taught in all Catholic schools.
Among his principal writings are remembered: Parafrasi e dichiarazioni dell'opuscolo di s. Tommaso «De Ente et Essentia» (Rome 1882); S. Tommaso circa l'influsso divino e la scientia media (ibid. 1882); Osservazioni sopra alcuni errori di Kant (ibid. s. d.); Studi sulla psicologia (ibid. s. d.).
Bibliography4 works
Mario de Camillo-Celestino Testore