GRASSELLINI, GASPARE. - Cardinal, b. at Palermo on 19 Jan. 1796, d. at Frascati in 1875. He held various offices in the Curia, where he was, among other things, cleric of the Camera and pro-president of the Congregation of the Census (1840). He was also head of various delegations of the Papal State and governor of Rome in 1847, until he was appointed extraordinary pontifical commissioner for the four legations and pro-legate of Bologna. A staunch supporter of the rights and authority of the government, he always proved hostile to any innovative tendency. On 16 June 1856 he was raised to the purple by Pius IX with the deaconry of SS. Vito e Modesto, from which he later passed to that of S. Maria ad Martyres.
His surviving works are: Discorso accademico su l'egloga IV di Virgilio (Rome 1838); Discorso sulla storia de' sommi
pontefici (ibid. 1842); Discorso accademico sul giudizio avuto da Gesù Cristo innanzi a Caifasso e innanzi a Pilato (ibid. 1844) and Des rapports du pouvoir temporel avec la souveraineté spirituelle des pontifes romaines (Paris 1865).