A BOOK REVIEW BY ROMEO SABATINI
GEORGETOWN’S SECOND FOUNDER: FR. GIOVANNI GRASSI’S
News on the Present Condition of the Republic of the United States of North America
A portrait of Rev. Giovanni Antonio Grassi, president of Georgetown University from 1812-1817, artist and date unknown
Father Giovanni Antonio Grassi, Society of Jesus, (1775-1849) was the ninth President of Georgetown College, and pioneered its transition to a modern university, earning the title of Georgetown’s Second Founder. Grassi documented his experiences and impressions gathered during his seven years’ sojourn in the United States (1810-1817) in a book written when he went back to Italy on a delicate church mission, never to return because of unexpected health issues. Prompted by his fellow Italians he wrote a book about the nascent nation across the ocean entitled Notizie varie sullo stato presente della repubblica degli Stati Uniti dell’America Settentrionale scritte al Principio del 1818 (Various News on the Present Condition of the Republic of the United States of North America Written at the Beginning of 1818.) that brought Grassi to Georgetown. Grassi was born in Schilpario, Bergamo, then part of the Venetian Republic.
While still a novice in the Society of Jesus, he was sent in 1801 to Russia, where he completed his studies and was ordained a priest. In 1804 he was told by his superior to prepare to go to China as a missionary, sailing from London. Unable to find a passage on an English ship he embarked on a Portuguese ship that took him to Lisbon where he would wait two long years before receiving approval to continue his trip to China. Under the impending threat of a French invasion of Portugal, he was instructed to leave that country and sail to England. There, he taught Italian and Latin at Stonyhurst College, while awaiting permission to go to China. Finally in 1810 permission came, but it was immediately rescinded with instructions to go to America, where he arrived on October 26 of the same year.
The three sections of the Notizie examine, albeit succinctly, innumerable aspects of the young American Republic.
The three sections of the Notizie examine, albeit succinctly, innumerable aspects of the young American Republic. Section 1 very briefly describes its climate, agriculture, products, commerce, population, the War of 1812, the institution of slavery, public life, education, arts and sciences, technology, government structure and politics. Section 2 dwells on the various religious sects that existed in the United States. Section 3 describes the condition of the Catholic Church in the United States.Abundant notes by Professor Severino at the end of each section give additional information and clarification on peoples and events mentioned in Grassi’s book. The English translation, the first done in its entirety, is preceded by a detailed introduction that describes the fortuitous circumstances that brought Grassi to Georgetown. Grassi was born in Schilpario, Bergamo, then part of the Venetian Republic.
While still a novice in the Society of Jesus, he was sent in 1801 to Russia, where he completed his studies and was ordained a priest. In 1804 he was told by his superior to prepare to go to China as a missionary, sailing from London. Unable to find a passage on an English ship he embarked on a Portuguese ship that took him to Lisbon where he would wait two long years before receiving approval to continue his trip to China. Under the impending threat of a French invasion of Portugal, he was instructed to leave that country and sail to England. There, he taught Italian and Latin at Stonyhurst College, while awaiting permission to go to China. Finally in 1810 permission came, but it was immediately rescinded with instructions to go to America, where he arrived on October 26 of the same year.
In his introduction, and as support and necessary background to Notizie, Professor Severino gives a chronological summary of Grassi’s diary. separate and distinct from Grassi’s Notizie, distilling day-by-day the most salient events recorded: Grassi’s socializing with prominent citizens of Washington, the British invasion and burning of the White House and the Capitol in 1814, the successful petition to Congress to give Georgetown College authority and power to grant degrees, and his becoming an American citizen in 1815. The book ends with a complete copy of an 1823 review by Edward Brooks (1784-1859) of the second 1819 edition of Grassi’s Notizie that appeared in the prestigious North American Review. Intrigued by Grassi’s book, Brooks took it upon himself to have portions of Grassi’s work translated into English. As an American and a Protestant, Brooks, somewhat benevolently, comments on specific paragraphs of a more controversial nature. Professor Severino’s translation from the Italian is the first complete English translation of Grassi’s Notizie to appear after 200 years.
An important work, Notizie predates De Tocqueville’s work on American democracy and informed Europeans on America’s society and new forms of self government. We are very grateful to Professor Severino and the Georgetown University Press to make it at last available to the American public. “Georgetown’s Second Founder: Fr. Giovanni Grassi’s News on the Present Condition of the Republic of the United States of North America” — Third and last edition — Translated from the Italian and introduced by Roberto Severino, Professor Emeritus, Georgetown University. Georgetown University Press, 2021. ❚