Giovanni Antonio Grassi

The Very Reverend Giovanni Antonio Grassi SJ
27th Rector of the Pontificio Collegio Urbano de Propaganda Fide
In office 1840–1842
Preceded by	Liberio Figari
Succeeded by	Giovanni Batta Dessi
9th President of Georgetown College
In office 1812–1817
Preceded by	Francis Neale
Succeeded by	Benedict Joseph Fenwick
Personal details
Born	(1775-09-10)10 September 1775 Schilpario, Lombardy, Republic of Venice
Died	12 December 1849(1849-12-12) (aged 74) Rome, Papal States
Alma mater	Jesuit College in Polotsk

Giovanni Antonio Grassi SJ (anglicized as John Anthony Grassi; 10 September 1775 – 12 December 1849) was an Italian Catholic priest and Jesuit who led many academic and religious institutions in Europe and the United States, including Georgetown College in Washington, D.C., and the Pontificio Collegio Urbano de Propaganda Fide in Rome.

Born in the Republic of Venice, Grassi was a promising student of mathematics and the natural sciences, especially astronomy. He completed his studies at the Jesuit College in Polotsk, in the Russian Empire, in 1804 and was appointed rector of the Institute for Nobles. The following year, he was ordered to replace the last remaining Jesuit missionary in China; this began a five-year journey across Europe in which he was ultimately unable to secure passage to the distant country. He instead began teaching at Stonyhurst College in England.

Grassi was sent to the United States in 1810, where he became the superior of the Jesuits' Maryland Mission and the president of Georgetown College. For significantly improving its curriculum and public reputation, as well as obtaining its congressional charter, Grassi became known as Georgetown's "second founder". He returned to Rome in 1817 as Archbishop Leonard Neale's representative before the Congregation de Propaganda Fide. He later became the rector of the College of the Holy Martyrs in Turin and provincial superior of the Jesuits' Turin Province. Grassi became a close confidant of King Charles Felix of Sardinia and spent time in Naples as confessor to Charles Felix's widow, Queen Maria Cristina. He also intervened on behalf of Charles Albert to allow him to succeed Charles Felix on the throne. In 1835, Grassi moved to Rome as the rector of the Pontificio Collegio Urbano de Propaganda Fide, a school for missionaries, and was later named the Jesuit Superior General's assistant for Italy.