GRUENTHANER, MICHAEL

Scripture scholar; b. Buffalo, N.Y., Oct. 1, 1887; d. St. Marys, Kans., Sept. 14, 1962. Born of German emigrant parents, Gruenthaner completed his elementary and secondary schooling in Buffalo; he entered the Society of Jesus on Aug. 31, 1905, and was ordained on June 27, 1920. He pursued graduate studies in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, where he earned the doctorate in Sacred Scripture (1928), becoming one of the first Americans to hold this degree.

Gruenthaner's Biblical career coincided with the exciting years of great advancement of Catholic Biblical studies, and his pioneering work contributed much to this movement in the United States. He taught Sacred Scripture and allied subjects at St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kans. (1931–61), The Catholic University of America (1941–51), and St. Mary's College, South Bend, Ind. (1943–56), where he served also as chancellor of the Graduate School of Sacred Theology for Laywomen. He was one of the founders of the Catholic Biblical Association of America; he served as the second editor (1941–51) of The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, to which he contributed many scholarly articles, especially on the Book of Daniel. His diligence, skill, and faith in the competence of his colleagues not only assured this journal's survival, but also raised it to its present recognized status. Gruenthaner died 17 days before his 75th birthday, which was marked by the appearance of a testimonial volume in his honor: The Bible in Current Catholic Thought.

Bibliography: f. a. petru, The Bible in Current Catholic Thought, ed. j. l. mckenzie (New York 1962) 1–6. r. north, "A Frontier Jerome: Gruenthaner," American Ecclesiastical Review 148 (1963) 289–302; 398–411; 149 (1963) 41–50. f. s. rossiter, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 24 (1962) 432–434.

[f. a. petru]