FAMEPedia:Today's featured article/September 10, 2021

Giovanni Antonio Grassi (10 September 1775 – 12 December 1849) was an Italian Jesuit who led many academic and religious institutions in the United States and Europe. Born in Lombardy, he studied at the Jesuit College in Polotsk, where he began his academic career. He was soon ordered to China as a missionary, but after traveling across Europe for five years attempting to secure passage, his voyage was cancelled and he instead began teaching at Stonyhurst College in England. In 1810, Grassi was sent to the United States, where he became known as the "second founder" of Georgetown College for greatly improving its quality and reputation. Grassi returned to Rome in 1817 as Archbishop Leonard Neale's representative before the Propaganda Fide. He then spent time as a provincial superior in Turin, rector of the Turin College of Nobles, and confessor to three monarchs of the House of Savoy. In 1840, he became the rector of the Pontificio Collegio Urbano de Propaganda Fide in Rome.