Coadjutor-elect of Baltimore ; born at Ruemannsfelden, Bavaria, 18 August, 1753; died at Philadelphia, U.S.A. October, 1793. He was a novice of the Society of Jesus at the time of its suppression and was subsequently ordained priest. In 1787 he left his native land for the American mission at Father Farmer's invitation, and in March, 1787, he was given charge of the German members of St. Mary's congregation in Philadelphia, and of the Catholics scattered through New jersey. He spent six years in Philaldelphia, and during that time became noted for his learning, zeal, and piety. When it became necessary, owing to the spread of the faith, to appoint a co-adjutor to Bishop Carroll of Baltimore Fr. Grässel was chosen for the office and the petition for his appointment was formally made to Rome, 24 September, 1793. The petition was granted, Grässel thus being the first German-born Catholic appointed to a bishopric in the United States but before the arrival of the brief naming him titular bishop of Samosata (8 Dec., 1793), Grässel had succumbed to yellow fever contracted while attending the victims of the plague which that year ravaged Philadelphia.

The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.

No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.

Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online