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 to the bishop of Strasbourg on 5 August 1840 and consecrated on 14 February 1841, he succeeded him in 1842.
He devoted constant attention to the proper formation of the clergy; at the Vatican Council he showed himself a vigorous defender of infallibility, and as a writer he exercised an extraordinary influence on minds then 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 A. Butler’s work; 20 vols., 1823–26; 2nd ed., 23 vols., 1838–40), later abridged as Leben der Heiligen Gottes (4 vols., 1826–27); Bibliothek der katholischen Kanzelberedsamkeit (18 vols., 1829–36); he contributed to the dissemination of the missionary spirit through 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.