_Son of Gerolamo Ferretti and Caterina Solazzi, local nobles, the family’s ninth child. Frail, intelligent and pious boy who suffered from epilepsy when young. Educated at the Piarist College, Volterra, Italy from 1802 to 1809. Studied in Rome from 1809 to 1810 due to political disturbances in the city. He returned in 1814 and asked for admission to the Papal Noble Guard, but was turned down due to his epilepsy. Studied theology at the Roman Seminary from 1814 to 1818, during which his epilepsy disappeared. Ordained on 10 April 1819 in Rome. Spiritual director of the orphan asylum of Tata Giovanni, Rome. Auditor of the apostolic delegation to Chile from 1823 to 1825. Canon of San Maria in Via Lata, Rome. Director of San Michele hospital in Rome. Chosen archbishop of Spoleto, Italy on 21 May 1827. Named assistant at the Pontifical Throne on 1 June 1827. Archbishop of Imola, Italy on 17 December 1832. Created cardinal on 23 December 1839 by Pope Gregory XVI. Chosen 255th pope in the conclave of 1846.

Rita Amada de Jesus was born on 5 March 1848 in Ribafeita, Portugal. She was the daughter of Manuel Lopes and Josefa de Jesus Almeida and was baptized eight days after her birth.

Rita grew up in a very devout environment; her family prayed the Rosary and had spiritual reading every evening. From childhood, she showed a great devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament as well as devotion to the Blessed Mother, St. Joseph and for the Pope.

In the 1830s, Masonry expropriated all Church properties in Portugal and ordered the closing of all male and female religious houses. Religious Institutes were forbidden to admit new members, with the hope that in due time they would close. Bishops and priests were also attacked and impeded from fulfilling their priestly duties.

Born in Sartirana Lomellina, Province of Pavia, Italy, on October 5, 1881, Blessed Don Francesco Pianzola witnessed since childhood the austere difficulties agricultures faced for their living. Entering the Seminary of Vigevano, Pavia, where he was ordained to the Priesthood by Bishop Pietro Berruti on March 16, 1907, he kept in mind his humble roots, and successively spent his life working among the agricultures and factory workers, preaching and working beside them. Called affectionately, "don Niente", or "The Apostle of Lomellina", he founded the Padri Oblati Diocesani dell'Immacolata, and later the Istituto delle Suore Missionarie dell'Immacolata Regina della Pace, known as the Suore Pianzoline, on May 8, 1919, establishing the Mother House at Mortara. Pianzola passed away at Mortara on June 4, 1943, aged 61. His remains lie inside an urn at the Chapel of the Mother House of the Suore dell'Immacolata at Mortara. Declared Venerable by Pope Benedict XVI on June 26, 2006, Pianzola was beatified on October 4, 2008, by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins CMF., Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, in Milan, in a ceremony attended by over 6,000 people.