Rev. Philip A. Grasso

Cuba City, Wisconsin Rev. Philip A. Grasso, 92, of Cuba City, Wisconsin, died Monday, July 18, 2011, at Southwest Health Center Nursing Home in Cuba City. Services will be 11:00 a.m. Friday, July 22, 2011, at St. Rose of Lima Church in Cuba City with Most Rev. Robert Morlino, Bishop of Madison as celebrant. Burial will be in St. John the Baptist Cemetery in Wilton, Wisconsin. Friends may call from 9:00-10:45 a.m. at the church before the service. Casey Funeral Home & Cremation Services of Cuba City is in charge of arrangements. Philip was born on May 26, 1919, in Newport News, Virginia, the son of Philip and Sara (Damino) Grasso. He attended St. Andrew’s Grade and High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and made his college and philosophical studies at St. Paul’s College in Washington, D.C., and his theological studies at Holy Name College in Washington, D.C. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 29, 1943, by Bishop John M. McNamara at Trinity College Chapel, Washington, D.C. As a Trinitarian Father his first assignment was associate pastor at St. Edward Parish in Corona, California. After the 2nd World War, he applied to and was received into the Pueblo Diocese in Colorado, where he served as associate pastor at St. Patrick Parish, Pueblo and as pastor at Our Lady of the Annunciation Parish, Springfield, Colorado; St. Francis de Sales Parish and Sacred Heart Cathedral Parish in Pueblo, Colorado; and in parishes at Holly, Springfield, and Lamar. On March 2, 1953, he entered into the Madison Diocese where he served as associate pastor at St. Joseph Parish, Baraboo and St. James Parish, Madison. He served as pastor at St. Patrick Parish, Loreto; St. Joseph Parish, Argyle; St. Paul Parish, Mineral Point; St. Mary Parish, Palmyra; St. Joseph Parish, Sinsinawa (Rural Hazel Green); and Our Lady of Hope Parish, Seymour with a mission to St. Peter Parish, Elk Grove. He retired in 1992 and resided in Cuba City. He is the author of two books, The Purpose of Life, and Under Two Flags and was known by his friends and parishioners as the “walking priest.”