Räss, Andreas

RÄSS, ANDREAS. - Bishop of Strasbourg, b. at Sigolsheim (Upper Alsace) on 6 April 1794, d. at Strasbourg on 17 November 1887.

Ordained a priest in 1816, he was for several years a professor at the minor seminary of Mainz; then in 1825 rector and professor of dogmatic theology at the major seminary of Strasbourg. Elected coadjutor of the bishop of Strasbourg on 5 August 1840, consecrated on 14 February 1841, he succeeded him in 1842.

He watched assiduously over the right formation of the clergy; at the Vatican Council he showed himself a strenuous defender of infallibility, and as a writer he exercised an extraordinary influence on minds that had then been led astray by the theories of the Enlightenment, especially through the founding, in 1821, together with his colleague Nic. Weis, of the periodical Katholik. Of his numerous works, the most worthy of remembrance are: Leben der Väter und Märtyrer (translation of the work of A. Butler; 20 vols., 1823-26; 2nd ed., 23 vols., 1838-40), later summarized in Leben der Heiligen Gottes (4 vols., 1826-27); Bibliothek der katholischen Kanzelberedsamkeit (18 vols., 1829-36); he cooperated in spreading the missionary spirit with the Annalen der Verheitung des Glaubens (translation of the Annales de la Propagation de la Foi); his principal work remains: Die Convertiten seit der Reformation (up to 1800; 10 vols., Freiburg im Breisgau 1866-80), with an index and three supplementary volumes.

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