Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and the conversion of Alphonse Ratisbonne

Summary:

Alphonse Ratisbonne had a comfortable childhood. Born on 1 May 1814 into a well-known, respected and wealthy Jewish family in Alsace, he was a much-loved child who received a well-rounded education. His father, a banker, deputy mayor of Strasbourg and president of the Jewish Consistory of the Bas-Rhin, had a profound influence on him. In accordance with his wishes, the young boy received a traditional religious education, which he radically abandoned in adolescence. "I was Jewish in name, but I didn't even believe in God" he recalled a few years later. His schooling was good, with no difficulties. He received a solid literary and scientific education at the Collège Royal in Strasbourg.

In 1825, a shocking event occurred in the Ratisbonne family. His brother, Theodore, was baptized into the Catholic faith. Unlike Alphonse, this was not a lightning conversion brought about by a mystical experience. Nevertheless, he made the Catholic faith the focus of his life from then on and entered the seminary. He was ordained a priest five years later, much to the dismay of his parents and friends, as well as his own brother, who reproached him not only for having abandoned the faith of his fathers, but also for having given in to the siren calls of his Catholic friends. "When I was very young, my brother's behaviour revolted me, and I hated his habit and his character [...]. My brother's conversion, which I regarded as an inexplicable folly, made me believe in the fanaticism of Catholics, and I loathed it ", he later explained. Alphonse became anti-Christian, even breaking off relations with his older brother, whom he refused to see again.

In 1840, Fr. Theodore was appointed curate at Notre-Dame-des-Victoires parish in Paris, where he met the holy parish priest, Father Desgenettes, dubbed "the other Cure of Ars", founder of the Archconfraternity of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary for the conversion of sinners, and... a visionary of the Virgin. The two men prayed constantly for the conversion of the Ratisbonne family, and for Alphonse in particular.

Alphonse studied law in Paris and became a lawyer. When his parents died, he inherited a considerable fortune, which enabled him to lead a dilettante lifestyle. In 1841, he became engaged to sixteen-year-old Flore. While waiting for the wedding, Alphonse set off on a trip across Europe. His journey, which was to take him to the Orient, was to last many months.

He arrived in Rome on 6 January 1842. As well as seeing the historic monuments of the Eternal City, he visited the Jewish ghetto, a visit that only reinforced his anti-Christian feelings: "I must say, without fear of exaggerating, that never in my life had I been more bitter against Christianity than since the sight of the Ghetto. I was full of mockery and blasphemy. A little later, during one of his visits to the city, he met a school friend, Gustave de Bussiere, a fervent Catholic like his brother, the traveller and writer Baron Theodore de Bussiere. Alphonse took the opportunity to tell him about his travel plans. Gustave invited Alphonse to meet his brother and ask for his advice. Alphonse accepted, unaware that this meeting would prove providential.

On 15 January, before leaving for Naples, he went to see Theodore de Bussiere. The conversation was courteous, but took a different turn when Alphonse began to talk about the Jewish ghetto. Theodore expressed his total faith in Jesus Christ, while the young lawyer attacked the Catholic Church, the clergy and popular piety. Bussiere interrupted the discussion and challenged his interlocutor: "Since you detest superstition and profess such liberal doctrines; since you are such a strong and enlightened mind, would you have the courage to submit to an innocent test? " Intrigued, Ratisbonne asked him what the test could be. " It would be to wear an object that I'm going to give you... Here! It's a medal of the Blessed Virgin. It seems ridiculous to you, doesn't it? But as for me, I attach great value to this medal." Unsure of what to say, and mockingly, Ratisbonne looked at the medal, then turned to Bussiere, saying that he accepted his challenge, which he described as childish. He was of course completely unaware that it was a copy of the miraculous medal from the Rue du Bac in Paris.

Then the Baron warned him that there was also a second part to the test: reciting the Memorare ("Remember O Most Gracious Virgin Mary" prayer) to Mary, inspired by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, morning and night. Ratisbonne was annoyed now. He suggested that Bussiere drop all this "silliness", and made for the door. However, Bussiere insisted, explaining that his refusal to recite the prayer would invalidate the test and that by persisting in this way, Ratisbonne would be proving the legendary obstinacy of the Jewish people. "I didn't want to attach too much importance to the matter, and I said: "Fine! I promise you I'll recite this prayer; if it doesn't do me any good, at least it won't do me any harm!" the sceptical lawyer said.

On 20 January 1842, Ratisbonne went to a café in Rome to read the newspapers. On his way out, he met Bussiere, who invited him to go to the church of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, where he had an appointment with the parish priest to prepare for the funeral of a friend, Mr. de La Ferronnays, who had died suddenly three days earlier. On arriving at the church, Bussiere suggested that Ratisbonne wait for him in the car, but the latter opted to visit the church, which he had not seen yet. The two men entered together. Ten minutes passed. Bussiere looked for Ratisbonne to let him know that the meeting with the priest was over. But when he found the young Jewish lawyer, he was struck with surprise: Ratisbonne was in tears, prostrate before the altar of Saint Michael. He pulled on his medal, kissed it and shouted: "I saw her! I saw her!" Bussiere was dumbfounded and had no idea what had just happened.

The explanation came from Ratisbonne himself a few moments later: "I had been in the church for a just a moment, when all of a sudden I was seized by an inexpressible disturbance. I looked up; the whole building had disappeared before my eyes; a single chapel was, so to speak, concentrating all the light and, in the midst of this brightness, there appeared standing on the altar, tall, brilliant, full of majesty and gentleness, the Virgin Mary, just as she is on my medal. An irresistible force pushed me towards her, the Virgin beckoned me with her hand to kneel down; she seemed to say to me: "That's good!She didn't speak to me, but I understood everything".

This was definitely a divine intervention. Ratisbonne converted, and his mind enlightened in a split second about all the mysteries of Christ's life, the weight of his sins, and the infinite love of God. With the zeal of a new convert, he immediately asked to be baptised, expressing his desire to become a monk at La Trappe Abbey (the origin of the Trappist Order), to die a martyr's death and to convert his brothers. Six months passed. Informed of the event, the Roman clergy, after an investigation, recognised the authenticity of Ratisbonne's conversion, which they deemed of supernatural origin.

Ratisbonne now prayed for those who had been the object of his scorn: Catholics in general, his brother Theodore, the de Bussiere brothers and Mr. de La Ferronnays, whom he had never met but whom he knew (through a relative) had prayed hard for his conversion before he died. On 12 April 1842, Ratisbonne wrote a long letter to Father Desgenettes in thanksgiving. What the Virgin had promised Saint Catherine Labouré twelve years earlier had come true: those who wore the miraculous medal and prayed to Mary would receive tremendous graces.

On 31 January 1842, just eleven days after the apparition, Ratisbonne received baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist, Theodore de Bussiere acting as his godfather. On 20 June, he took the religious habit of the Jesuit Order. He was ordained a priest in 1848, and eventually left the Society of Jesus to join his brother in the Notre-Dame de Sion congregation, which his brother Fr. Theodore Ratisbonne had founded five years earlier, in memory of his Jewish roots. Alphonse settled in Palestine, where he founded monasteries, schools and orphanages. He devoted all his energies to the catechumenate of converts of Jewish and Muslim origin.

Alphonse-Marie Ratisbonne gave up his soul to God on 6 May 1884 at the Saint-Pierre de Sion monastery (known as the Ratisbonne monastery, now a Salesian study centre) in a suburb of Jerusalem. Not for a second did he forget the vision of the Woman he had met forty-two years earlier.

Beyond reasons to believe:

"If someone had said to me on the morning of this day, 'You got up a Jew, you'll go to bed a Christian', I would have regarded him as the maddest of men"." Alphonse of Regensburg, who converted very suddenly and became a Catholic priest without any warning or preparation, testified about his conversion on numerous occasions.

Going further:

The Conversion of Alphonse Ratisbonne by Baron Théodore de Bussieres, Loreto Publications (March 1, 2010)

More information:

• The Conversion of Monsieur Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne by Norman Russell, Grosvenor House Publishing Limited (August 30, 2013)