English: Fr. Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne.
Français: Cdv du Père Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne en 1865.
Date: 1865.
Source: Cdv ancienne.
Author: Unknown.
(Wikimedia Commons)
This Article is taken from, and can be read in full at, CATHOLICISM PURE AND SIMPLE
On 20 January 1842, the last day of his stay in Rome, Italy, a young and prominent French Jew and Atheist, Alphonse Ratisbonne, encouraged by one of his friends from Strasbourg, France, entered the Church of Sant’Andrea delle Fratte. There, The Virgin Mary appeared to him, her hands open and extended, motioning him to kneel. This apparition was officially recognised on 3 June 1842.
Ratisbonne himself tells us what happened in those few minutes: “I had only been in the Church a short while, when, all of a sudden, I felt totally uneasy for no apparent reason. I raised my eyes and saw that the whole building had disappeared. Only one Side Chapel had, if you will, gathered all the light. In the midst of this splendour, The Virgin Mary appeared standing on the Altar. She was grandiose, brilliant, full of majesty and sweetness, just as she is on The Miraculous Medal. An irresistible force attracted me to her. The Virgin motioned to me to kneel down and nodded as if saying "Very Good !". And, although she did not say anything, I understood everything.”
English: Chapel of The Madonna of The Miracle, in The Church of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, Rome. It was in this Chapel that The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Fr. Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne.
Italiano: Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, Cappella della Madonna del Miracolo (Roma).
Photo: 6 March 2007.
Source: Own work.
Author: SteO153
(Wikimedia Commons)
Ratisbonne never could explain how, being in one of the lateral Naves before the apparition, he was found in the other, since the Central Nave was obstructed. However, in face of the magnitude of the Miracle of his Conversion, this was but a detail.
The news of such an unexpected Conversion, so fulminating and complete, immediately spread and caused a great commotion throughout Europe.
Pope Gregory XVI wished to meet the young Convert and received him paternally. He ordered a detailed investigation with all the rigour required by Canon Law. The conclusion was that it was truly an authentic Miracle.
Having taken the name Maria Alphonse at Baptism, Ratisbonne chose to become a Jesuit and was Ordained in 1847. After a while, and at the suggestion of Blessed Pope Pius IX, he left The Jesuits and joined his brother, Theodore, in founding The Congregation of Our Lady of Sion, Dedicated to The Conversion of The Jews.
Father Theodore spread his Congregation throughout France and England, while Father Maria Alphonse went to The Holy Land. In Jerusalem, he bought a plot of land where The Praetorium of Pontius Pilate had formerly stood. Here he established a House of The Congregation. The two brothers died in 1884, both with the fame of exceptional virtues.
Source: Marie de Nazareth.
The Web-Site of The Congregation of Our Lady of Sion is at NOTRE DAME DE SION
The following Text is taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.
Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne, N.D.S., (1 May 1814, Strasbourg, Alsace, France - 6 May 1884, Ein Karem, Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, Ottoman Empire) was a French Jew who Converted to Catholicism and became a Jesuit Catholic Priest and Missionary. He, later, was a Co-Founder of The Congregation of Our Lady of Sion, a Religious Congregation Dedicated to The Conversion of Jews to The Catholic Faith.
He was born 1 May 1814 in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, the eleventh of the thirteen children born to Auguste Ratisbonne and his wife, Adelaide Cerfbeer, members of the famed family of Jewish bankers. His father was the president of the Provincial Council of Alsace. His mother died when he was four years old, but his natural charm drew his wider family to take charge of his upbringing. The family was assimilated into the secular society of France, but had a strong sense of social justice, with which value he was raised.
An older brother, Théodor, converted to Catholicism in 1827 and went on to become a Catholic Priest in 1830.
After studying Law, in Paris, Alphonse joined the family bank and announced his engagement to his sixteen-year-old niece. In January 1842, with the postponement of the marriage due to the bride's age, he travelled to Rome for a pleasure trip. On 20 January 1842, he entered the Church of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, Rome, Italy, where he experienced a vision of The Virgin Mary. Due to this experience, he was led to be Converted to Catholicism. At his Baptism, he added Marie (Mary) to his name to reflect the role he felt she had played in his life.
Alphonse returned to Paris to proclaim his new-found Faith to his fiancée, and invited her to share it with him. His niece tearfully rejected this. In June of that same year (1842), he entered The Society of Jesus and was Ordained a Priest in 1848.
After his own Conversion, Théodor Ratisbonne had been drawn to work for the Conversion of his fellow Jews to The Christian Faith. This proposed ministry, also the inspiration of Alphonse, was Blessed by Pope Gregory XVI in the course of a visit by Théodor Ratisbonne to Rome in 1842. Théodor then took up the suggestion made to him by Alphonse to establish a school for Jewish children in a Christian setting. At this time, two Jewish sisters came to him for Spiritual advice, and eventually also Converted to Christianity. They became the nucleus for The Congregation of Our Lady of Sion, founded in 1847.
In 1850, Alphonse became engaged in mission work among convicts in the prisons of Brest, but, two years later, he felt called to join his brother in the mission to their own people, writing that he
recognised that The Will of God in my Conversion and in my Vocation to The Priesthood obviously destined me to work for The Salvation of Israel.
With the authorisation of The Jesuit Superior General, Jan Philipp Roothaan, and the Blessing of Blessed Pope Pius IX, Alphonse left The Society of Jesus to join his brother. The two brothers, with several other Priests drawn to their mission, formed the male Branch of The Congregation of Our Lady of Sion, in 1852. Alphonse moved to Palestine in 1855 to open a Convent for The Sisters of The Congregation. He would spend the rest of his life there.
In 1858, Ratisbonne established the Convent of Ecce Homo in The Old City of Jerusalem, for The Sisters of Sion. In 1860, he built The Convent of Saint John, on a hilltop in Ein Karem, then a village on the outskirts of Jerusalem. In 1874, he founded The Ratisbonne Monastery for the Priests of The Congregation. (It is now a Salesian Study Centre in Jerusalem's Rehavia neighbourhood.)
Ratisbonne died in Ein Karem, Israel, on 6 May 1884, and is buried in The Cemetery of The Convent.
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