Marie-Théodore Ratisbonne, N.D.S. (28 December 1802 – 10 January 1884) was a French Jew born in Strasbourg, Alsace, into the most prominent Jewish banking family of Alsace. His father Auguste Ratisbonne was President of the Provincial Council of Alsace. Educated at the Royal College of Strasbourg, he was recognised at manhood as a leader among the Jewish community. Under the guidance of the philosopher Louis Bautain and the catechist Mademoiselle Humann, he underwent two years of intensive study of Scripture and Church history, and was secretly baptised on Holy Saturday, 14 April 1827, entering the seminary the same year. He was ordained priest in 1830 and celebrated his first Mass on the Feast of the Epiphany, 1831.
Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne, N.D.S. (1 May 1814 – 6 May 1884) was the eleventh of thirteen children of the same family. Though nominally a Jew, he described himself as a radical infidel and, after his brother Théodore’s conversion, a rabid enemy of everything Catholic. On 20 January 1842, at the church of Sant’Andrea delle Fratte in Rome, he was miraculously converted by an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a miracle formally ratified by Cardinal Patrizi, Vicar of Pope Gregory XVI. He entered the Society of Jesus and was ordained priest in 1848, then left the Jesuits by papal permission to co-found, with Théodore, the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion (Sisters, 1843; Fathers, 1852), whose explicit purpose was the conversion of the Jews to Jesus Christ.
Together the two brothers co-founded a congregation, wrote apologetical and catechetical works, and bore personal witness—each from the inside of the Jewish community—to the themes of the Adversus Judaeos tradition: the Deicide and its providential consequences for Israel; the supersessionism of the Church over the Synagogue; the theological enmity between Judaism and Christianity; the invalidity of Rabbinism and the Talmud as perversions of Mosaic religion; the follies of modern Jewish reform and emancipation; and the necessity of Israel’s final conversion to Christ.
The passages reproduced below are drawn exclusively from the verified primary texts listed in the Sources section. Fr. Théodore’s works in French are given in the original with an English rendering. Passages from Answers to a Jewish Enquirer and from the conversion narrative are given in their verified English translations. Only direct quotations are reproduced.
Part One — Fr. Marie-Théodore Ratisbonne
From La Question Juive (Paris: E. Dentu / C. Douniol, 1868)
I. The Jews’ “Lamentable History”: Dispersion as the Consequence of Rejection
La Question Juive, p. 2 (1868)
[Original French:]
« Les juifs, refoulés sur eux-mêmes et visiblement réprouvés, ne présentent dans leur lamentable histoire aucune vitalité, aucun changement, aucun point de contact avec les chrétiens. C’est une eau stagnante qui ne se mêle dans aucun des fleuves qui l’environnent. »
[English translation:]
“The Jews, thrown back upon themselves and visibly reprobated, present in their lamentable history no vitality, no change, no point of contact with Christians. They are a stagnant water that mingles with none of the rivers that flow around it.”
II. The Cause of Israel’s “Éclatante Déchéance” Written in Scripture
La Question Juive, p. 2 (1868)
[Original French:]
« Le but de cet écrit n’est pas de rappeler la cause de cette éclatante déchéance ; elle est écrite dans l’Ancien et le Nouveau Testament : c’est le mystère de la justice de Dieu, le plus mémorable et le plus significatif de tous les mystères de son adorable Providence. »
[English translation:]
“The aim of this writing is not to recall the cause of this glaring downfall; it is written in the Old and New Testaments: it is the mystery of the justice of God, the most memorable and the most significant of all the mysteries of His adorable Providence.”
III. Jewish Emancipation as France Descending to the Level of Jewish Unbelief
La Question Juive, p. 4 (1868)
[Original French:]
« Il fallait que la France fût descendue bien bas dans les ténèbres de l’incrédulité pour se rencontrer soudainement au niveau de l’infidélité des juifs. »
[English translation:]
“France had to have sunk very low into the shadows of unbelief to find itself suddenly on a level with the infidelity of the Jews.”
IV. Eighteen Centuries of Immobility; Future Regeneration Only Through the Gospel
La Question Juive, p. 9 (1868)
[Original French:]
« Le temps actuel est évidemment une transition entre l’état d’immobilité des dix-huit siècles passés et une régénération future qui ne sera opérée que par l’Évangile. L’émancipation civile et politique des juifs n’a été que le prélude d’une libération plus haute et plus complète. Sous les décombres de la synagogue se forment les matériaux d’un nouvel édifice qui déjà commence à grandir. »
[English translation:]
“The present time is evidently a transition between the state of immobility of the eighteen centuries past and a future regeneration that will be wrought only by the Gospel. The civil and political emancipation of the Jews has been only the prelude to a higher and more complete liberation. Under the ruins of the synagogue the materials of a new edifice are forming, one that is already beginning to rise.”
V. The Talmud: “Obscure Practices” Carried Off by a Vanished Generation
La Question Juive, p. 10 (1868)
[Original French:]
« La génération juive qui a disparu avec le dernier siècle emporta avec elle les traditions, les préjugés invétérés et les obscures pratiques du Talmud ; la génération qui est venue après elle, et qui a grandi sous la Restauration, n’a songé qu’à jouir de la vie terrestre, sans se soucier des conditions du bonheur futur. »
[English translation:]
“The Jewish generation that disappeared with the last century carried away with it the traditions, the inveterate prejudices, and the obscure practices of the Talmud; the generation that came after it, and that grew up under the Restoration, thought of nothing but enjoying earthly life, without concerning itself with the conditions of future happiness.”
VI. The “Talmudic Superstitions” from Which Jewish Converts Rightly Disown Themselves
La Question Juive, p. 13 (1868)
[Original French:]
« Les enfants d’Israël qui ont l’immense bonheur d’embrasser la foi chrétienne, désavouent, il est vrai, les superstitions talmudiques de ceux d’entre leurs pères qui sont tombés dans les ténèbres de l’infidélité ; mais grâce à Dieu, ils comptent d’autres ancêtres parmi les Israélites demeurés fidèles ; et par eux ils se rattachent à la foi des plus dignes et des plus illustres d’entre leurs pères. »
[English translation:]
“The children of Israel who have the immense happiness of embracing the Christian faith do indeed disown the talmudic superstitions of those among their fathers who fell into the shadows of unbelief; but, thanks be to God, they number other ancestors among the Israelites who remained faithful; and through them they are joined to the faith of the most worthy and most illustrious of their forebears.”
VII. The Rabbis: Mere Scribes and Talmudic Casuists, Not Priests — Their Modern Title a Political Fiction of Napoleon’s Deputies
La Question Juive, pp. 15–16 (1868)
[Original French:]
« Les rabbins, maîtres ou précepteurs, n’étaient que des scribes plus ou moins instruits dans la Loi, ou des casuistes versés dans le Talmud, qui enseignaient les commentaires sur la religion. Plus tard, ils reçurent un modique salaire de la synagogue pour rendre des décisions sur les cas douteux de la morale talmudique. Telles étaient leurs seules attributions, et jamais ils ne s’étaient posés comme des pasteurs ou des ministres de leur religion. »
[English translation:]
“The rabbis, as masters or preceptors, were nothing but scribes more or less versed in the Law, or casuists steeped in the Talmud, who taught commentaries on religion. Later they received a modest salary from the synagogue to render decisions on doubtful cases of talmudic morality. These were their sole attributions, and they had never set themselves up as pastors or ministers of their religion.”
[Original French, continuing:]
« L’institution actuelle des rabbins, comme ministres de leur culte, ne date que de l’année 1807 ; elle est due aux députés israélites, lesquels, honteux de proclamer en face de la France la nullité et l’inutilité des onctions rabbiniques, attribuèrent aux rabbins d’alors un caractère fictif et contradictoire avec la loi formelle de l’Ancien Testament. »
[English translation:]
“The present institution of rabbis as ministers of their religion dates only from the year 1807; it is owed to the Israelite deputies who, ashamed to proclaim before France the nullity and uselessness of rabbinical unctions, attributed to the rabbis of the day a fictitious character contradictory to the formal law of the Old Testament.”
VIII. The Reformers’ Grand Sanhedrin: A Theology Reduced to Two Bare Dogmas
La Question Juive, p. 7 (1868)
[Original French:]
« Et quelle sera la mission de ce nouveau grand sanhédrin ? Sa mission sera de proclamer à la face du monde l’unité de Dieu et l’immortalité de l’âme. Quiconque admettra ces deux dogmes, disent-ils, sera par le fait reconnu israélite. Voilà textuellement la somme de leur théologie. »
[English translation:]
“And what will be the mission of this new Grand Sanhedrin? Its mission will be to proclaim before the face of the world the unity of God and the immortality of the soul. Whoever shall admit these two dogmas, they say, shall by that fact be recognised as an Israelite. There you have, word for word, the sum total of their theology.”
IX. Against Reform Judaism: Vague, Vain, and Incapable of Satisfying Men of Good Faith
La Question Juive, p. 8 (1868)
[Original French:]
« Il se demande comment des hommes de bonne foi et de talent peuvent se contenter d’une théorie si vague et si vaine. »
[English translation:]
“He wonders how men of good faith and talent can be content with so vague and so vain a theory.”
X. Supersessionism: Christianity as the Fulfillment of the Promises Made to Israel
La Question Juive, p. 18 (1868)
[Original French:]
« Le christianisme n’est en réalité que l’accomplissement des promesses faites à Abraham et aux patriarches d’Israël. »
[English translation:]
“Christianity is in reality nothing other than the fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham and to the patriarchs of Israel.”
XI. The Church as Protector of the Jews in Their Dispersion — Not the Sword of Divine Vengeance
La Question Juive, pp. 17–18 (1868)
[Original French:]
« Est-ce dire que l’Église catholique a été le glaive de la divine justice ? Non, ce n’était pas là sa mission. Elle a au contraire modéré les fureurs spontanées des peuples ; elle a énergiquement condamné, par l’organe des pontifes, les auteurs de ces inimitiés cruelles, alors même qu’elles étaient des représailles. »
[English translation:]
“Does this mean that the Catholic Church was the sword of divine justice? No, that was not her mission. On the contrary, she moderated the spontaneous fury of peoples; she energetically condemned, through the voice of the pontiffs, the authors of these cruel enmities, even when they were acts of reprisal.”
[Original French, on the Ghettos as originally charitable institutions:]
« Les ghettos dont l’origine se rattache à une pensée hospitalière, trop oubliée, trop calomniée de nos jours. »
[English translation:]
“The ghettos, whose origin is connected to a charitable thought — today too forgotten, too calumniated.”
[Original French, concluding the section:]
« Les israélites commettent évidemment une injustice et une ingratitude quand ils s’insurgent aujourd’hui contre une institution qui les a sauvés autrefois. »
[English translation:]
“The Israelites are evidently committing an injustice and an ingratitude when they today rise up against an institution that formerly saved them.”
XII. The Blood-Stain of the Deicide: To Be Wiped from Israel’s Brow at the Last Conversion
La Question Juive, p. 30 (1868)
[Original French:]
« Alors le vieux peuple de Dieu, accourant du midi et de l’aquilon, tombera au pied de la croix ; et le Sauveur du monde effacera de son front la tache du sang. »
[English translation:]
“Then the old people of God, hastening from south and north, will fall at the foot of the Cross; and the Saviour of the world will wipe from its brow the stain of the blood.”
XIII. The Promise of Israel’s Final Conversion to Christ
La Question Juive, p. 29 (1868)
[Original French:]
« Oui, nous répéterons ici ce que nous avons dit ailleurs : le temps approche où Dieu, sortant de son impénétrable mystère, se ressouviendra de l’enfant prodigue… Alors les os humiliés d’Israël tressailliront d’une vie nouvelle. »
[English translation:]
“Yes, we shall repeat here what we have said elsewhere: the time draws near when God, emerging from His impenetrable mystery, will remember again the prodigal child… Then the humbled bones of Israel will thrill with new life.”
From Answers to a Jewish Enquirer (London: Catholic Truth Society, 1920)
(Translation of Réponse aux Questions d’un Israélite de Notre Temps, Paris, 1878)
XIV. Christianity Is Judaism Come to Maturity — the Logical Development and Completion
Answers to a Jewish Enquirer, Introduction, pp. 4–5 (1920)
“‘Become good Israelites,’ he told them, ‘and truth will do the rest’; ‘Works must accompany ideas, if ideas are to become conviction.'”
XV. Baptism of Théodore Conducted Secretly “For Fear of the Jews”
Answers to a Jewish Enquirer, Introduction, p. 5 (1920)
“She it was who prepared him for his baptism, which took place secretly, ‘for fear of the Jews,’ on Holy Saturday, 1827.”
XVI. Supersessionism: The Edifice of Revelation Built Stage by Stage
Answers to a Jewish Enquirer, Part I, pp. 7–8 (1920)
“God began His revelation of true Religion as soon as the world was created, and He has successively developed it in that order of time which His infinite wisdom prearranged. An architect places first the foundations of the edifice which he is about to build; then he continues his work, and at the last he puts the finishing touches. So God, according to Holy Scripture, after having spoken with Adam and the Patriarchs, later confirmed and extended these first teachings by the written Law which He gave to Moses.”
“This Religion is based upon faith in the Messias, whom God promised to Abraham and through whom He willed to save the human race which had fallen beneath the yoke of Satan.”
XVII. The Blindness of Jewish Unbelief Prophesied by Moses and Isaias
Answers to a Jewish Enquirer, Part I, pp. 11–12 (1920)
“Moses pronounced blessings upon the faithful and terrible curses upon the unbelievers. To these last in particular, he said, ‘The Lord strike thee with madness and blindness and fury of mind. And mayst thou grope at midday, as the blind is wont to grope in the dark, and not make straight thy ways’ (Deut. xxviii. 28, 29).”
“This is how Isaias speaks of the blindness of the faithless Jews: ‘We looked for light, and behold darkness: brightness and we have walked in the dark. We have groped for the wall and like the blind we have groped as if we had no eyes. We have stumbled in noonday as in darkness: we are in dark places as dead men, because we have sinned and lied against the Lord: we have turned away so that we went not after our God but spoke calumny and transgression’ (Isa. lix. 9, 10, 13).”
XVIII. The Repudiation of the Faithless Synagogue Foretold by Isaias
Answers to a Jewish Enquirer, Part I, p. 12 (1920)
“Isaias further declares in chapter fifty the repudiation of the faithless synagogue. ‘Thus saith the Lord: What is this bill of the divorce of your mother with which I have put her away? Or who is My creditor, to whom I sold you? Behold you are sold for your iniquities, and for your wicked deeds have I put your mother away. Because I came and there was not a man: I called and there was none that would hear.'”
XIX. Daniel: The People Who Rejected the Messias Would Be God’s People No More
Answers to a Jewish Enquirer, Part I, p. 12 (1920)
“Daniel, after having fixed the time of the coming of the Messias, added that he would be put to death, and that the people (Dan. ix. 26) who rejected Him would be no more God’s people.”
XX. The Prophesied Dispersion: Israel without King, Altar, or Prophet
Answers to a Jewish Enquirer, Part I, p. 12 (1920)
“To sum up, the Prophets foretold the dispersion of the Jews all over the world, without King, sacrifices, altar, or prophets, always waiting for salvation and never finding it. But they also announce their return and their conversion towards the end of time. This is what Osee says, ‘For the children of Israel shall sit many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without altar, and without ephod, and without theraphim. And after this the children of Israel shall return and shall seek the Lord their God and David their king: and they shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the last days’ (Osee iii, 4, 5).”
XXI. No Salvation Possible Except Through Jesus Christ
Answers to a Jewish Enquirer, Part I, p. 13 (1920)
“There is no salvation possible except through Jesus Christ, because since original sin has deprived all mankind of grace, all need both the remedy and the physician. Besides, the repeated prophecy of the Messias in the Old Testament would have been vain and superfluous if the Saviour was not absolutely necessary for the salvation of mankind; consequently a man cannot have true religion nor real happiness in this world and in eternity if he does not believe in the Saviour, Jesus Christ.”
XXII. The Rabbis Have No Priestly Consecration — Their Modern Title a Fiction Contradicting the Mosaic Law
Answers to a Jewish Enquirer, Part I, pp. 13–14 (1920)
“It is true that the Jews have built very magnificent synagogues in those countries in which they have been scattered; but these synagogues have nothing in common with the directions and the ceremonies of the law of Moses. They have a sham altar, but there are no sacrifices offered thereupon; they have Rabbis, but the Rabbis have no priestly consecration, and are, therefore, not priests.”
“According to the law of Moses the sons of Aaron alone were admitted to the priestly office, to the exclusion of all the other tribes of Israel: but in the choice of Rabbis no notice is taken of this sacred law. This is the text of the law of Moses: ‘Thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons over the service of priesthood: the stranger that approacheth to minister shall be put to death’ (Num. iii. 10).”
“You may conclude from this that the Rabbis have no sacred title, and that it would be wrong of them to pose as priests in the eyes of the Jews. As for those men who are called officiating ministers, they are only hired singers who are not to be distinguished from the rest of the faithful except by the quality of their voices. They have only more or less recently been called ministers, originally in order to procure for them some aid from the State.”
XXIII. The Dilemma: Either Christ Is the Son of God or He Was a Charlatan Who Deceived the Whole World
Answers to a Jewish Enquirer, Part I, p. 14 (1920)
“Since Jesus Christ declared positively that His birth was from eternity and His nature divine: since He was solemnly recognised, proclaimed and adored as God by His disciples; and lastly since Christianity, as it has been taught and practised for nineteen centuries, is founded upon the Divinity of Jesus Christ, one must believe either that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, or else that He was a charlatan who deceived the whole world.”
XXIV. How the Jews Read the Messianic Prophecies: They Do Not — and Their Rabbis Will Not
Answers to a Jewish Enquirer, Part I, p. 15 (1920)
“Jews in general do not read them; and if they read them, they do not understand them; or else they take them to their Rabbis, who will not understand them. But those who have read them and honestly studied them have not been able to misunderstand the clearness of their meaning, and have applied them to the Messias.”
XXV. The Theological Enmity: St. John Records How the Jews Sought to Kill Christ for Making Himself Equal to God
Answers to a Jewish Enquirer, Part I, p. 16 (1920)
“St. John declares that the Jews sought to put Him to death, not only because He had violated the Sabbath, but because He said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God (v., xviii.). They said to Pilate, ‘We have a law: and according to the law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God’ (xix. 7).”
XXVI. Supersessionism: The Better Part of the Nation Attached Themselves to Christ — the Larger Number Ceased to Be God’s People
Answers to a Jewish Enquirer, Part I, p. 11 (1920)
“It is not absolutely true to say that the Jews did not recognise Jesus Christ as the Messias; for the Apostles and the first thousands of disciples who composed the primitive Church in Jerusalem were all Jews. It is through the Jews that the faith of Jesus Christ has been spread throughout the whole world. But whilst the better part of the nation attached themselves to the Saviour a large number turned against Him, and ceased to be God’s chosen people. This also had been foretold by the prophets.”
XXVII. The Zohar — One of the Most Precious Books of Jewish Antiquity — Attests the Trinity
Answers to a Jewish Enquirer, Part II, p. 21 (1920)
“The Book called ‘Zohar,’ which is, after the Bible, one of the most precious books of Jewish antiquity, constantly calls the Unity of God ‘a great mystery’: and generally speaking, the doctors of the Synagogue who lived before the Advent of the Messias talk of the Trinity in the Divine Unity as a truth which had been known from the most remote times.”
“If you had the time to consult the sacred books, and the traditions recorded in the commentaries of the ancient Rabbis, you would become convinced that the theology of the Catholic Church in no point contradicts Hebrew theology.”
XXVIII. The Psalms of the Synagogue Foretell the Passion — But a Veil Is Over the Eyes of the Jews
Answers to a Jewish Enquirer, Part IV, p. 36 (1920)
“Open the Psalms of David. The saintly king shows beforehand the plots which the princes of the people would form against the Messias: ‘The princes met together, against the Lord and against His Christ’ (Ps. ii.). He foretold the treason of Judas: ‘For even the man of my peace, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, hath greatly supplanted me’ (Ps. xl. 9).”
“The same Prophet, whose psalms form the liturgy of all synagogues, tells, in a most surprising manner, the principal circumstances of the Passion of Jesus: ‘I am a worm and no man; the reproach of men and the outcast of the people. All they that saw me have laughed me to scorn: they have spoken with the lips and wagged the head. He hoped in the Lord, let Him deliver him: let Him save him, seeing He delighted in him. They have pierced My hands and feet, they have numbered all my bones. They parted my garments amongst them: and upon my vesture they cast lots’ (Ps. xxi.). ‘And they gave me gall for my food: and to my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink’ (Ps. lxviii.).”
“They read it to-day in their synagogues — but there is a veil over their eyes, they will not understand.”
“It is most astonishing that the Jews do not see that the Messias was bound to suffer and die.”
XXIX. The Fall of Jerusalem: The Obstinate Party Cast Forth Like the Sons of Cain
Answers to a Jewish Enquirer, Part V, p. 42 (1920)
“After the Ascension of Jesus Christ, the Israelites were divided into two parties. One party, shocked at the humiliation of the Messias and blinded by their proud obstinacy, fell under the just judgements of God. They were banished from Jerusalem, and cast forth like the sons of Cain all over the surface of the globe; and in fact, for eighteen hundred years they have had neither king nor country, nor priesthood, nor sacrifices; and they no longer know what to think about the Messias. But all Jews have not suffered this awful punishment. The best among them gathered around the Apostles in Jerusalem and became the first of the faithful.”
XXX. In Becoming Christians, the Jews Did Not Change Their Religion — It Is the Gentiles Who Changed Theirs
Answers to a Jewish Enquirer, Part V, p. 44 (1920)
“These Jews in becoming Christians did not change their religion, for they only acknowledged the Messias whom they were expecting; it was the Greeks, the Romans, and the Egyptians, and all the heathen who, in embracing the faith, renounced the worship of idols.”
“Through Christ all nations are incorporated into the people of God, until then composed only of the children of Israel; and they form with them one fold only, in which they are neither Jews nor heathen, but Christians; these are the only souls redeemed by Jesus Christ.”
XXXI. Modern Jews Have Lost Their Greatest Title to Nobility — the Incarnation in Israel
Answers to a Jewish Enquirer, Part III, p. 28 (1920)
“Modern Jews have lost this idea; they fail to recognise their greatest title to nobility, for God became incarnate in the children of Israel. The mission of the Jews was to prefigure and to prophesy this mystery, to propagate the idea before it was accomplished, to announce it to the world after its accomplishment and to unite to the race of Abraham all nations, so as to form with Israel one single people of God.”
“But the Jews do not admit the mystery of the Incarnation, do not know what to think about the Messias, and resist blindly all prophetic, dogmatic, and historical testimony.”
Part Two — Fr. Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne
From The Conversion of M. Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne: Original Narrative of Baron Théodore de Bussières; followed by a Letter from M. Ratisbonne to M. Dufriche-Desgenettes (London: Burns and Oates; New York: Catholic Publication Society Co., 2nd ed.)
XXXII. Alphonse’s Pre-Conversion Purpose: The “Regeneration of His Co-Religionists” on Jewish Terms
Conversion Narrative, Narrative of Baron de Bussières, p. 2
“Alphonse Ratisbonne was a Jew; he was destined, to all appearance, to a brilliant position in the world, and had resolved to devote himself to the great work of the regeneration of his co-religionists. His thoughts and aspirations all revolved around this one high purpose, and his wrath kindled at every thing that reminded him of the curse that rests upon the descendants of Jacob.”
XXXIII. The Jewish Family as the Font of Enmity Toward the Converted Théodore
Conversion Narrative, Narrative of Baron de Bussières, p. 2
“Fifteen years before the time of which I am speaking, and while he was yet a child, his heart had been wounded in one of its most sensitive affections — Theodore Ratisbonne, his brother, became a Catholic, and received holy orders. Time had been powerless to close this wound; his hatred deepened year by year, and he studiously fomented the deadly resentment of his family.”
XXXIV. Alphonse Declares: “I Was Born a Jew, and a Jew He Would Die”
Conversion Narrative, Narrative of Baron de Bussières, p. 4
“He only smiled at my efforts, said that he felt a sincere pity for my superstition, and that he was born a Jew, and a Jew he would die.”
XXXV. The Ghetto Seen Through Jewish Eyes as Proof of Catholic Oppression
Conversion Narrative, Narrative of Baron de Bussières, p. 4
“‘Besides,’ he continued, ‘as I came down from the Capitol a melancholy spectacle rekindled all my hatred of Catholicism: I passed through the Ghetto; and as I beheld the misery and the degradation of the Jews, I said to myself that, after all, it was a loftier thing to be on the side of the oppressed than on that of the oppressors.'”
XXXVI. An Eyewitness Describes the Jewish Hatred for Catholicism as Racial and Implacable
Conversion Narrative, Extract from a Letter of an Eye-Witness (Paris, 2 February 1842), pp. 38–39
“He is a Jew, and he views Catholicism with all the prejudices and hatred of his race — with a hatred at once keen, implacable, and sombre; he even avoids Rome altogether. Still he has come thither, in his own despite almost; but he has scarcely arrived when he numbers the days for his departure. He has witnessed the moral degradation of his co-religionists, who are restrained to the filthiest quarter of the city — he charges it on the Catholics; and his hatred finds expression in bitter sarcasms, in horrible blasphemies.”
XXXVII. After the Vision: Alphonse Confesses the Full Weight of the Deicide and the Sacrifice His Conversion Entails
Conversion Narrative, Narrative of Baron de Bussières, p. 14–15
“‘O my God!’ cried he, ‘I, who but half an hour before was blaspheming still! I who felt a hatred so deadly of the Catholic religion! . . . But all who know me know well enough that, humanly speaking, I have the strongest reasons for remaining a Jew. My family is Jewish, my bride is a Jewess, my uncle is a Jew. . . . In becoming a Catholic, I sacrifice all the interests and all the hopes I have on earth; and yet I am not mad — every one knows that I am not mad, that I have never been mad! Surely they must receive my testimony.'”
XXXVIII. Alphonse on His Own Former Fury at Théodore’s Wish to Baptise a Dying Jewish Child
Conversion Narrative, Narrative of Baron de Bussières, p. 17
“‘One of my nephews died eighteen months ago. My brother, the abbé, wished to baptise him; when I knew it, I was in a frenzy of rage. . . . I trust that God may send me the severest of tests, that His own glory may be advanced, and that the world may know that I am sincere.'”
XXXIX. The Baptismal Rite: Alphonse Is Commanded to Detest the Perfidy of the Jews
Conversion Narrative, Narrative of Baron de Bussières, p. 22
“When commanded to ‘detest the perfidy of the Jews, to put away with contempt the superstition of the Hebrews,’ he knew not a moment’s hesitation, and the meek firmness of his replies showed that he was not unworthy of the boon the Church accorded him, in abridging for him the tests appointed for catechumens.”
XL. The Sermon of Abbé Dupanloup at the Baptism: The Faith Sent to Pierce the Darkness of Paganism, Heresy, and Judaism
Conversion Narrative, Extracts from the Discourse of M. Dupanloup, p. 30
“It is at the very centre of Catholic unity, at the footstool of the highest apostolical chair, whence flash forth the keenest purest rays of the faith to pierce the darkness of paganism, heresy, and judaism, that the Church has poured on your brow the saving stream of regeneration.”
XLI. Alphonse’s Own Account: The Dogma of Original Sin “Denied or Utterly Forgotten by the Modern Jews”
Conversion Narrative, Letter of M. Ratisbonne to M. Dufriche-Desgenettes
“I am asked how I attained a knowledge of these truths, since it is well known that I never opened a religious book, had never read a page of the Bible, and that the dogma of original sin, which is either denied or utterly forgotten by the modern Jews, had never for a single moment occupied my thoughts — indeed, I doubt whether I had ever heard the words which express it. How, then, did I arrive at a knowledge of it? I know not. All that I know is that when I entered that church I was profoundly ignorant of everything, and that when I came out I saw everything clearly and distinctly.”
XLII. Alphonse to His Betrothed: The Sacrifice of All Jewish Ties to a Higher Calling
Conversion Narrative, Narrative of Baron de Bussières, p. 40
“‘A week since, if any unforeseen calamity had compelled me to give you up, I could not have had the courage to do so; I should have died in the effort. . . . Now, to-day, if my new faith is to divide us, I shall offer this sacrifice to God without shedding one tear; and all my life long I shall pray that He may bless and enlighten you, and grant that we may meet in heaven.'”
XLIII. The Whole Reason for the Congregation of Sion: Alphonse Recognises the Will of God “to Work for the Salvation of Israel”
Wikipedia, “Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne,” citing Alphonse’s own statement on leaving the Jesuits (1852)
“He recognized 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.”
Sources
All passages above are drawn from the following primary and reference sources, verified against the digitized or published editions indicated. Passages in French (La Question Juive) are rendered into English by literal translation from the Gallica OCR text. Passages from Answers to a Jewish Enquirer are given in the Catholic Truth Society’s 1920 English translation as transcribed from the Internet Archive digitized text. Passages from the conversion narrative are given in the Burns & Oates English translation as transcribed from the Liberius digitized PDF.
Primary Works of Fr. Marie-Théodore Ratisbonne
- La Question Juive. Paris: E. Dentu / C. Douniol, 1868. 31 pp. Digitized by the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Available at Gallica: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k55265b
OCR text (plain): https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k55265b/texteBrut - Réponse aux Questions d’un Israélite de Notre Temps (Paris, 1878), translated as Answers to a Jewish Enquirer. London: Catholic Truth Society, 1920. Internet Archive identifier:
answerstoanenqui00ratiuoft.
Full text (OCR): https://archive.org/stream/answerstoanenqui00ratiuoft/answerstoanenqui00ratiuoft_djvu.txt
Paginated flipbook: https://fliphtml5.com/ggzgy/vaxt/Answers_To_A_Jewish_Enquirer_-_by_Fr._Ratisbonne/
Primary Works of Fr. Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne
- The Conversion of M. Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne: Original Narrative of Baron Théodore de Bussières; followed by a Letter from M. Ratisbonne to M. Dufriche-Desgenettes, Curé of N.D. des Victoires at Paris. Ed. Rev. W. Lockhart. London: Burns and Oates; New York: Catholic Publication Society Co. (new edition). Contains both the Baron’s account and Alphonse’s own letter (Récit de ma conversion).
Digitized PDF (Liberius): http://www.liberius.net/livres/The_conversion_of_M._Marie-Alphonse_Ratisbonne_000001060.pdf
Internet Archive (alternate scan): https://archive.org/details/theconversionofm00bussuoft
Full text (OCR, Internet Archive): https://archive.org/stream/theconversionofm00bussuoft/theconversionofm00bussuoft_djvu.txt
Reference and Secondary Works
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1911), art. “Maria Theodor Ratisbonne,” by Martin A. Hehir: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12659b.htm
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1911), art. “Maria Alphonse Ratisbonne,” by Michael Ott: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12659a.htm
- Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), art. “Ratisbonne, Marie Théodore”: https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12592-ratisbonne-marie-theodore
- Charles Reich, “Théodore Ratisbonne,” A.S.I.J.A. (Association pour la Sauvegarde et la Promotion du Patrimoine Israélite d’Alsace et de Lorraine): https://www.judaisme-alsalor.fr/histoire/document/convert/ratisbon.htm
- Wikipedia, “Marie-Théodore Ratisbonne”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-Th%C3%A9odor_Ratisbonne
- Wikipedia, “Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-Alphonse_Ratisbonne
- Christtheking.info, “Selections of Marie-Théodore Ratisbonne’s Writings on the Jews” (prior compilation, same primary sources): https://christtheking.info/catholic-resources-on-the-jewish-question/selections-of-fr-marie-theodore-ratisbonnes-writings-on-the-jews/