Francis Xavier Samson Libermann, Jewish convert to Catholicism

Samson Libermann (1790 - 1860), the older brother of the future Venerable Francis Libermann, founder of the Congregation of the Holy Heart of Mary, went through the same doubts and questions that would plague his younger brother after him. Their strict rabbinical upbringing, deliberately closed to the outside world at a time when Jewish communities were emancipating themselves (from 1808), led the two brothers to adopt a deistic and free-thinking mind. But Christ revealed himself to them: for Samson, it was through reading the Gospel. He shared his impressions with his wife, who was on the same journey as he: the spouses helped each other in their search for the truth, which they found in the person of Jesus Christ. On the day of his baptism, 15 March 1824, Samson took the name Francis Xavier. His conversion gave a bright witness, because he was married and had a family, while many of his former co-religionist converts, both men and women, were entering the priesthood or the religious life. He was a doctor, and his new faith enhanced his medical work with the beautiful flavor of authentic Christian charity.

CC0 Unsplash, Soul devOcean.

Les raisons d'y croire :

Lazarus Libermann, Samson's father, was a leading figure in the Jewish community of Alsace at the time. As his sons converted to Catholicism, the family was deeply upset. Lazarus cursed his sons and regarded them as dead to him. For Samson, choosing Christ involved a terrible sacrifice. His decision was therefore difficult and not taken lightly.

Samson Libermann believed that the Catholic religion is the culmination of the religion of the Hebrews, revealed by God to Abraham, Moses and all the prophets of the Old Covenant. For him, therefore, there was no opposition between these two 'religions' (which would imply that one was true and the other false), but continuity: the religion of the Hebrews prepared the religion of Jesus Christ.

In fact, Samson Libermann knew the Scriptures very well, having studied not only the Hebrew Bible but also the Greek translation of the Septuagint. He had read the commentaries on Sacred Scripture written by the Fathers of the Church. Rigorous study of all these texts led him to the conclusion that Christ had to be the Messiah promised by God to his people.

Paul-Louis-Bernard Drach, a friend of Samson's, in his First Letter from a Converted Rabbi to his Israelite brothers on the reasons for his conversion, wrote: "In a word... all the ceremonies of the one are found in the other, with the difference that the Church possesses the reality of what the Synagogue offers only in figures " (ibid., p. 12). Jesus, the announced Messiah, said it himself: "I have come to fulfil the law, not to destroy it" (Mt 5:17).

Philippe-Éphraïm Landau, in an article entitled "Conversions among Strasbourg's Jewish elite under the Restoration", considers three main reasons for the phenomenon of conversion: an intellectual quest that becomes a spiritual quest; an attraction to the dominant religion; or self-hatred. He wrote: "Several reasons contributed... to turning them away from Judaism, in particular the desire to leave a community that they considered too austere; indifference or even mistrust towards Judaic dogmas; the attraction of a society where Christianity was regaining its importance after the revolutionary years and - this seems essential to us - the convincing friendship of Drach". But one essential point is missing from this list, or rather one person: Jesus Christ.
That is why it was not to Catholicism that Samson and his brothers, that Theodore and Alphonse Ratisbonne, that Jules Lewel and others Jewish converts first turned to when they left Judaism, but to a kind of rationalism or deism. "God gave us the faculty of thought, not to let it rest, but so that we might make use of it [...]. I have based my religion on my own reason, and I do not believe I am committing a crime, even if I am mistaken in some of my maxims, as long as I do not cause harm to my neighbour." (Letter from Francis to Samson written in 1826, in Notes et Documents relatifs à la vie et à l'œuvre du vénérable Libermann, p. 52). They could have left it at that: why take the extra step of becoming Catholics?

Samson Libermann and his wife's entry into the Church was not simply the result of an intellectual evolution. It was an encounter with a living, though invisible, person, who revealed himself to them in a way that went beyond the ordinary nature of things and beings, and that alone explains why: "I was filled with faith in Christ, whose splendours I had barely glimpsed" Francis Xavier admitted in a letter from 1853 (ibid., p. 39).

Like Paul-Louis-Bernard Drach, the example of Francis Xavier Samson Libermann and his wife was a force of evangelization and led many former co-religionists to convert.

Synthèse :

Samson Libermann was born in 1790. He was the eldest of seven children born to Eliezer, son of Samson, son of David, the rabbi of Saverne in Alsace since 1802. Following the imperial decree of 1808, which required Israelites to adopt a permanent surname, Eliezer reluctantly chose Lazard and Libermann as his surname, an old Polish name that had been borne by the family for several generations. His wife took the name Lea Haller. Their children Samson, David, Enoch and Esther kept their first names; Falik became Felix; Jekel became Jacob (the future Francis Libermann, founder of the Society of the Holy Heart of Mary); and Samuel Sannel became Nathanaël. Appointed rabbi of Saverne in 1809, Lazard Libermann would be remembered as a man who was inflexible in religious matters and, in order to defend himself and his family against - in his opinion - the impiety of non-Jews, closed to the surrounding culture. In this, he was faithful to the teachings of his Lublin teacher, Chief Rabbi Azriel Hurwitz, nicknamed "Iron Head" because of the intransigence of his principles. The teaching at Lubin's yeshiva, which was exclusively oral and in Yiddish, focused solely on the Talmud and the Kabbalah. In order not to "profane" the minds that were destined for the study of the Torah, no secular study was permitted: mathematics, history, geography, natural sciences, as well as the study of Christian languages (Polish, Russian, German, French, etc.), could in no way be considered subjects of knowledge (N. D., p. 35-36).

Jacob (the future Francis), orphaned of his mother at the age of eleven, suffered from the harshness his father had himself inherited from his own upbringing, and from two teachers at the Israelite school, to whom Lazare entrusted Francis forty-five years later, were cut from the same cloth: " [Brucken] received me with a haughtiness and arrogance that wounded me deeply and made me give up seeing him from the very first days.... [The second, Worms] took an interest in me at first, but it didn't last. I wanted to learn, so I began to study French and even Latin. It didn't take much to make me lose the good graces of my protector. The old rabbis had, out of a spirit of fanaticism, such a horror of any language other than Hebrew and feared its influence so much that my father, in particular, could write neither in German nor in French. My new teacher was from the same school, so he was very angry when he realised that I wasn't following in his footsteps. However, he did not at first reproach me openly (no doubt so as not to be accused of despising the decisions of the Consistory!), but he became full of harshness and prejudice towards me; he bullied me incessantly, and never had anything to say to me but biting words."(ibid., p. 51). Francis thus tells us about a situation that all his brothers had to go through, and which inspired in them a deep aversion to theTalmud.

At the age of eighteen, once he had finished preparatory school under his father's guardianship, Samson left for Mainz to begin advanced Talmudic studies. It should be pointed out that alongside traditional Talmudic teaching, a new way of seeing things had emerged, one that accommodated the prescriptions demanded by Napoleon and was intended to be liberal, i.e. open to the modern world. Samson embraced it, as did Jacob (Francis), following his example. In Mainz, Samson abandoned the Talmud to study French, Latin, Ancient Greek and English (ibid., p. 36). Long before my conversion," he reports, "the subtleties and absurdities of the Talmud had inspired such disgust in me that I felt deeply humiliated to be occupied with such insipid things." (N. D., p. 38). At the time, he was also reading the works of Voltaire and Rousseau: bad readings, as he would say himself later, which forged in him a kind of sentimental religion "that imposed very few obligations and was very unobtrusive" (ibid.). When typhus ravaged the city in 1813 during the rout of the great army, Samson devoted himself to the sick as a health officer. It was then that he realised the task to which he should dedicate his life. After passing his baccalaureate on his own - a complex and difficult examination at the time - he became an intern at the hospital in Strasbourg. At the age of thirty, in 1820, having defended his dissertation, he opened his own practice in this city, within the Jewish community. For some time, in agreement with Israelite intellectuals, he thought he would work to free the religion of Moses from rabbinical precepts and restore it to its original purity: the spirit of adoration, gratitude, love and trust that animates it. For him, rabbinism confuses content and form, and proclaims that the latter takes the place of the former. "Rabbinic worship," he writes, "is so vicious that it degrades the heart and mind of man by presenting the divinity as a capricious being who delights only in the playacting of his servants." (ibid., p. 44). Later, he would understand that Jesus Christ had accomplished this task, and that it was still he who could carry it out in the hearts of the Jews in the middle of the twentieth century (ibid., p. 45) by removing "the blindfold from their eyes" (ibid., p. 43).

After six years of engagement, because his future wife's family demanded that he first obtain his diploma and secure a sufficient clientele, Samson married Antoinette Meylert , who shared her husband's religious views, in 1821. In 1826, Jacob (the future Francis) visited his brother, who was a doctor and mayor of Illkirch at the time. Samson gave him a letter of recommendation for David Drach, one of his childhood friends, who was well versed in biblical languages and who, having started out as a rabbi, had converted to Catholicism and been baptised in 1823. Drach's scientific knowledge had a major influence on Jacob. One day in November, Jacob, who was still Jewish - at least nominally - fell to his knees under the influence of grace, asking God for light, and got up a Christian (ibid., pp. 34, 65-66 and 100-102). Paul Louis Bernard Drach was also the instrument God chose to admit three other Libermann brothers into his Church: David, baptised Christopher; Felkel, baptised Felix; and Samuel, baptised Alphonse (ibid., p. 23-30). All six brothers converted to Catholicism, with the possible exception of Enoch, about whom almost nothing is known. During this visit, Jacob presented Samson with several objections to the faith. In particular, he rejected the miracles reported in the Pentateuch. "Why don't we see any today?" he argued. "Because they are no longer necessary since the advent of Jesus Christ," replied his elder brother. "The purpose of miracles was to prepare people's hearts for the coming of the Messiah." (ibid., p. 62).

After reading a Gospel lent to them by their Lutheran neighbours, Samson and his wife became enthusiastic about the doctrine of Christ, which they often discussed among themselves. Together, without waiting for their own conversion, they decided to have their daughter Elizabeth baptised. Disappointed by the President of the Augsburg Confession, who told him that baptism was not that important (ibid., p. 38-39), Samson visited Canon Leopold Liebermann, Vicar General of Strasbourg, who recommended that he read the works of French bishop and theologian Jacques-Benigne Bossuet, which he in turn recommended to his brother Jacob (ibid., p. 52). The Libermann couple were baptised on 15 March 1824 (ibid., p. 95). Samson chose the name Francis Xavier. Four daughters, Pauline, Caroline, Marie and Theodora, followed, and became nuns at the Convent of the Sacred Hearts in Louvencourt, Amiens, with the exception of Marie, who died at the age of thirty. They also had three sons: Francis-Xavier, who became a Spiritan; Henri, who became a military doctor; and Leo, a flag officer. Throughout their lives, Francis Xavier's children showed the same charity as their father, who had set an example: he oversaw their religious instruction with care, quizzing them on the catechism and choosing their reading material. When they reached the age of two, he taught them the Our Father and the Angelic Salutation (ibid., p. 23). The rosary was recited as a family on Saturdays, in honour of the Blessed Virgin.

Francis Xavier Libermann was remembered as a doctor who was learned in German and French literature, diligent in staying at the top of his profession to benefit his patients, and conscientious. His children testified to his spirit of mortification. He was known for his profound charity. In Strasbourg, he became president of the Society of Saint-Vincent de Paul and cared for the clergy of the city's various communities. He also nursed his brother Francis through his final illness.

Francis Xavier died on 14 January 1860 and was buried in the cemetery of the Saint-Esprit community in Langonnet by the religious order and his own sons.

Fr. Vincent-Marie Thomas, Ph. D. in philosophy.

Au-delà des raisons d'y croire :

On the conversion of his brother Francis, Samson wrote: "The Lord having done me the grace, in spite of my unworthiness, to call me the first of my family to his Church, the ascendancy which I had always exercised over him was, I have no doubt, one of the principal means which the Lord used to call him back to Himself" (ibid., p. 51). We know that this judgement was ratified by Francis himself in a letter of 1826: "My dear brother... it seems that you had doubted my friendship since your change of religion. Even if I were the greatest zealot in the synagogue, I would never cease to have for my brothers that sincere attachment which, nurtured in me from my earliest childhood, has always been my delight and happiness " (ibid., p. 52).

In view of the height of holiness to which grace raised the venerable Francis (a holiness which is only the culmination of union with God already prefigured in the precepts of Moses lived interiorly on a daily basis) we can presume the natural and supernatural virtues of his elder brother.

Aller plus loin :

Notes et documents relatifs à la vie et à l'œuvre du vénérable Libermann, t. 1 (of 13) covering the years 1802-1826, Paris, 1927, 713 pages. There are many letters from Francis Xavier (Samson) Libermann about his brother Francis, in which the author also describes his own feelings before and at the time of his personal conversion. A written portrait of Francis Xavier, by Mother Marie-Thérèse of Jesus, sister of Francis Xavier and Francis, a nun of the Sacred Hearts of Louvencourt, can be found on pp. 22-23. Available online.

En savoir plus :

David Paul Louis Bernard Drach:
- Lettre d'un rabbin converti aux israélites ses frères, Paris, Beaucé-Rusand/Belin-Mandar, 1825. Available online.
- Second letter from a converted rabbi to his Israelite brothers on the reasons for his conversion. Les prophéties expliquées par les traditions de la Synagogue, Paris, 1827. Available online.
- Third letter from a converted rabbi to his Israelite brothers on the reasons for his conversion. Prophétie d'Isaïe VII, 14 expliquée par les traditions de la Synagogue,Rome/Paris, 1833. Available online.
- De l'harmonie entre l'Église et la Synagogue, ou perpétuité et catholicité de la religion chrétienne, Paris, Paul Mellier, 1844, 2 vols. 576 and 496 p. respectively.
Mgr Jean Gay, Libermann, juif selon l'Évangile (1802-1852), Paris, Beauchesne, 1977. This work is a biography of Blessed François Libermann, but pages 11 to 61 deal with his family background, the knight Drach and his brother Samson.
Philippe-Efraïm Landau:
- "Se convertir à Paris au XIXe siècle", in Archives juives. Revue d'histoire des Juifs de France, Paris, Les Belles Lettres,^no 35/1, 2002, p. 27-43. Available online.
- "Les conversions dans l'élite juive strasbourgeoise sous la Restauration", ibid, no. 40/1, 2007, pp. 131-139. Available online.
- "Les Libermann de Saverne", in theKKL Almanach, Strasbourg, 2003,^no. 5763. Available online.
Jean Letourneur, "Le Rabbin Lazard Libermann", in Bulletin trimestriel de la Société d'histoire et d'archéologie de Saverne et des environs, cahiers 49-50, 1965, p. 9-15. Available online.
A. Limbour, Le R. P. François-Xavier Libermann. This was the first son of François-Xavier (Samson) Libermann, who became a Spiritan. Available on line.