Henry Joseph Grimmelsmann

Henry Joseph Grimmelsman (December 22, 1890 – June 26, 1972) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the first Bishop of Evansville (1944–1965).

Biography[]

Henry Grimmelsman was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to G.H. and Frances Grimmelsman.^[1] Raised in the Price Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati, he was one of ten children; three of his sisters became nuns and another brother also became a priest.^[1] As a child he attended Holy Family School, where one of his classmates was Urban John Vehr.^[1] He studied at St. Gregory Preparatory Seminary in Cincinnati (1904-1907) and at St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana (1907-1909).^[2] He then entered the University of Innsbruck in Austria, but was forced to return to Cincinnati following the outbreak of World War I.^[1] He was ordained to the priesthood on August 15, 1915.^[3]

After his ordination, he studied at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and later returned to the University of Innsbruck, from where he earned a doctorate in Sacred Scripture.^[1] He returned to Cincinnati and then served as a curate at St. Lawrence Church.^[1] From 1920 to 1932, he became vice-rector and professor of Sacred Scripture and Hebrew at Mount St. Mary's Seminary.^[2] Pope Pius XI named him rector of Pontifical College Josephinum at Worthington in 1932.^[2]

On November 11, 1944, Grimmelsmann was appointed the first Bishop of the newly erected Diocese of Evansville, Indiana, by Pope Pius XII.^[3] He received his episcopal consecration on the following December 21 from Archbishop Amleto Giovanni Cicognani, with Bishops Urban Vehr and George John Rehring serving as co-consecrators.^[3] Between 1962 and 1965, he attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council in Rome. He resigned as bishop on October 18, 1965; he was named Titular Bishop of Tabla by Pope Paul VI on the same date.^[3] He later died at age 81, and was buried at St. Joseph Cemetery in Evansville.^[1]

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