DIESSEL, GERHARD. - Redemptorist preacher, b. at Freren (Hanover) on 21 Jan. 1845, d. at Dornbirn (Austria) on 6 Aug. 1907. He studied at Louvain and Münster. Ordained a priest in 1868, he was parish priest at Eutin, missionary in Copenhagen and the Faroe Islands, then parish priest in Hamburg. In 1878 he became a Redemptorist and was novice master at Eggenburg, later superior of the houses of Grulich, Filippdorf, Wartha, and Katzelsdorf; a celebrated preacher, he was also a sought-after spiritual director.
His writings were chiefly intended for practical purposes. Among them may be mentioned the various volumes of Fastenpredigten (Regensburg 1890-1914); Maria, der Christen Hort (2 vols., ibid. 1900); Die Arbeit betrachtet im Lichte des Glaubens (3rd ed., ibid. 1904); Das grösste Denkmal der göttl. Liebe (2nd ed., 2 vols., ibid. 1909), which contains a brief biography of the author in its introduction; Predigten und Konferenzen (3 vols., ibid. 1912-14); Die betrachtende Ordensfrau (2 vols., ibid. 1921-26).