Amédée Grab, O.S.B. (3 February 1930 – 19 May 2019) was a

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prelate of the

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who served as bishop of

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from 1998 to 2007. He was an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Lausanne from 1987 to 1995 and then bishop there until 1998.

Biography

Born Antoine-Marie Grab on 3 February 1930 in

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, he was raised first in

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and then in

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alongside his three brothers by his father Joseph, an accountant, and his mother Germaine, a stenographer. He entered the École Saint-Louis in Geneva at the age of eleven, having already decided to become a priest. In 1947, he moved to the Lycée of Einsiedeln where he completed his baccalaureate in German 1949. In 1950, he took his first vows as a Benedictine and took the name Amédée. He took his solemn vows in 1953. He was ordained a priest of the

Order of Saint Benedict The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

on 12 June 1954. He continued his studies in Perugia and then taught at the Collegio Papio in Ascona from 1958 to 1978. His many temporary assignments included working as a confessor for monasteries and religious communities as well as serving on diocesan commissions. He assisted with preparatory the national “Synod 72” and for Pope John Paul's visit to Switzerland in 1984. He also taught at the preparatory school in Einsiedeln in 1983/84. He became Secretary of the Swiss Bishops Conference in 1984. On 3 February 1987,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

appointed him

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

Cenae The diocese of Cene () is a suppressed and titular see of the Roman Catholic Church. Cenae, identifiable with the island of Kneiss in today's Tunisia, are an ancient bishopric of the Roman province of Mauretania Caesariensis. There are only two ...

and auxiliary bishop of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg The Diocese of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg () is a Latin Catholic diocese in Switzerland, which is (as all sees in the Alpine country) exempt (i.e. immediately subject to the Holy See, not part of any ecclesiastical province). The original dioce ...

. He received his episcopal consecration on 12 April from the bishop of Lausanne, Pierre Mamie. On 9 November 1995, Pope John Paul named him bishop there. He was installed on 26 November. Pope John Paul appointed him bishop of Chur on 12 June 1998. He was installed on 23 August. His appointment followed the troubled tenure of his predecessor; never before had a sitting bishop been moved from one Swiss diocese to another. The pope had also failed to consult the canons of the cathedral chapter of Chur in accordance with ancient practice. He was president of the Swiss Bishops Conference from 1998 to 2006 and led the Conference of Episcopal Conferences of Europe from 2001 to 2006.

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

accepted his resignation on 5 February 2007, two years after Grab had submitted it. He remained apostolic administrator of the diocese until the installation of his successor six months later. In retirement he lived at the seminary of Saint Lucius in Chur until 2017, when he moved to Roveredo. He died in Roveredo on 19 May 2019.

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Bishop Amédée (Antoine-Marie) Grab
on Catholic Hierarchy {{DEFAULTSORT:Grab, Amedee 1930 births 2019 deaths Swiss Roman Catholic bishops Bishops of Chur Benedictine bishops 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Switzerland 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Switzerland