Pope Leo XIII was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death. He was the oldest pope, had the third-longest confirmed pontificate, behind those of Pius IX and John Paul II, he is well known for his intellectualism and his attempts to define the position of the Catholic Church with regard to modern thinking. In his famous 1891 encyclical Rerum novarum, Pope Leo outlined the rights of workers to a fair wage, safe working conditions, the formation of trade unions, while affirming the rights of property and free enterprise, opposing both socialism and laissez-faire capitalism, he promoted both the rosary and the scapular. Leo XIII issued a record of eleven papal encyclicals on the rosary earning him the title as the "Rosary Pope". In addition, he approved two new Marian scapulars and was the first pope to embrace the concept of Mary as Mediatrix, he was the first pope to have never held any control over the Papal States, after they had been dissolved by 1870. He was buried in the grottos of Saint Peter's Basilica before his remains were transferred to the Basilica of Saint John Lateran.

Born in Carpineto Romano, near Rome, he was the sixth of the seven sons of Count Ludovico Pecci and his wife Anna Prosperi Buzzi. His brothers included Giovanni Battista 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 his brother Giuseppe, he studied in the Jesuit College in Viterbo, where he stayed until 1824, he was known to write his own Latin poems at the age of eleven. In 1824 he and his older brother Giuseppe were called to Rome. Count Pecci wanted his children near him after the loss of his wife, so they stayed with him in Rome, attending the Jesuit Collegium Romanum. In 1828, 18-year-old Vincenzo decided in favour of secular clergy, while his brother Giuseppe entered the Jesuit order, he studied at the Academia dei Nobili diplomacy and law. In 1834, he gave a student presentation, attended by several cardinals, on papal judgements. For his presentation he received awards for academic excellence, 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 Sala in his duties as overseer of all the city hospitals. In 1836 he received his doctorate in theology and doctorates of Canon Law in Rome. On 14 February 1837, Pope Gregory XVI appointed the 27 year old Pecci as personal prelate before he was ordained priest on 31 December 1837, by the Vicar of Rome, Cardinal Carlo Odescalchi, he celebrated his first mass together with his priest brother Giuseppe. Shortly thereafter, Gregory XVI appointed Pecci as legate to Benevento, the smallest of papal provinces, including about 20,000 people; the main problems facing Pecci were a decaying local economy, insecurity because of widespread bandits, pervasive Mafia or Camorra structures, which were allied with aristocratic families. Pecci arrested the most powerful aristocrat in Benevento, his troops captured others, who were either killed or imprisoned by him. With the public order restored, he turned to the economy and a reform of the tax system to stimulate trade with neighboring provinces.

Pecci was first destined for Spoleto, a province of 100,000. On 17 July 1841, he was sent to Perugia with 200,000 inhabitants, his immediate concern was to prepare the province for a papal visitation in the same year. Pope Gregory XVI visited hospitals and educational institutions for several days, asking for advice and listing questions; the fight against corruption continued in Perugia. When it was claimed that a bakery was selling bread below the prescribed pound weight, he went there, had all bread weighed, confiscated it if below legal weight; the confiscated bread was distributed to the poor. In 1843, only thirty-three years old, was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Belgium, a position which guaranteed the Cardinal's hat after completion of the tour. On 27 April 1843, Pope Gregory XVI appointed Pecci Archbishop and asked his Cardinal Secretary of State Lambruschini to consecrate him. Pecci developed excellent relations with the royal family and used the location to visit neighbouring Germany, where he was interested in the resumed construction of the Cologne Cathedral.

In 1844, upon his initiative, a Belgian College in Rome was opened, where 102 years in 1946, the future Pope John Paul II would begin his Roman studies. He spent several weeks in England with Bishop Nicholas Wiseman reviewing the condition of the Catholic Church in that country. In Belgium, the school question was debated between the Catholic majority and the Liberal minority. Pecci encouraged the struggle for Catholic schools, yet he was able to win the good will of the Court, not only of the pious Queen Louise, but of King Leopold I Liberal in his views; the new nuncio succeeded in uniting the Catholics. At the end of his mission, the King granted him the Grand Cordon in the Order of Leopold. In 1843, Pecci had been named papal assistant. From 1846 to 1877 he was considered a successful Archbishop-Bishop of Perugia. In 1847, after Pope Pius IX granted unlimited freedom for the press in the Papal States, popular in the first years of his episcopate, became the object of attacks in the media and at his residen

Constance McLaughlin Winsor Green was an American historian. She who won the 1963 Pulitzer Prize for History for Washington and Capital, 1800–1878. Green was born at Michigan, her father was historian Andrew C. McLaughlin, she completed a bachelor's degree at Smith College in 1919 and a Master's degree at Mount Holyoke College in history in 1925. After graduation, Green served as a part-time instructor at Mount Holyoke from 1925 to 1932. Going on to complete a PhD at Yale University in 1937, her dissertation, a case history of Holyoke, represented one of the earliest academic works of urban history, would subsequently be published by Yale University Press upon receiving the university's Eggleston Award in History. In 1938 she became instructor in the history department of Smith College and head of the Smith College Council of Industrial Relations in 1939. After leaving Smith, Green accepted the position of historian at Springfield Armory during the Second World War, she became a consulting historian for the American Red Cross in 1946, chief historian of the Army Ordnance Department in 1948, historian at the research and development board, Office of the Secretary of Defense.

In 1954, under a six-year grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, Green became director of the Washington History Project, administrated by American University. She married Donald Ross Green. Green died on December 1975 in Annapolis, Maryland at her daughter's home. Green wrote a number of books on the urbanization of the United States, her works on this subject include American Cities in the Growth of the Nation, The Rise of Urban America, The Secret City: A History of Race Relations in the Nation's Capital. Her other works include History of Naugatuck, The Ordnance Department: Planning Munitions for War, Eli Whitney and the Birth of American Technology, Vanguard - A History co-authored with Milton Lomask for NASA, The Church on Lafayette Square: A History of St. Johns Church, Washington D. C. 1815–1970 and Washington: A History of the Capital, 1800–1950. In 1963 she won the Pulitzer Prize for History for Washington and Capital, 1800–1878, she won the Eggleston Prize in History for Holyoke, Massachusetts: A Case History of the Industrial Revolution in America.

She received honorary degrees from Pace College. Constance McLaughlin Green papers, Library of Congress Guide to the Constance M. Green Papers, Special Collections Research Center and Melvin Gelman Library, The George Washington University Constance McLaughlin Green papers, 1954-1959, Smith College

Lisa den Braber is a Dutch Paralympic swimmer. She represented the Netherlands at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom and at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, Brazil. At the 2009 IPC Swimming European Championships she won the gold medal in the women's 100 metre breaststroke SB7 event. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics she won the bronze medal in the women's 100 metre breaststroke SB7 event and at the 2016 Summer Paralympics she won the bronze medal in that event. At the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships she won the silver medal in the women's 100 metre breaststroke SB7 event. At the 2014 IPC Swimming European Championships she won the bronze medal in the women's 100 metre breaststroke SB7 event and in the women's 400 metre freestyle S8 event. At the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships she won the silver medal in the women's 100 metre breaststroke SB7 event. Lisa den Braber at the International Paralympic Committee