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The Conversion of Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne
1842 · translated from the French · 130 pages
The Conversion of Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne
Alphonse Ratisbonne, told by Théodore de Bussières
The most famous single conversion of the nineteenth century, documented almost immediately. Alphonse Ratisbonne, from a wealthy Strasbourg Jewish banking family and openly contemptuous of Christianity, entered the church of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte in Rome in January 1842 and came out a few minutes later asking to be baptised. This volume collects Baron de Bussières's narrative, written at once, together with Ratisbonne's own letter describing what happened.
The convert behind the argument
Ratisbonne was a young man of fashion, engaged to be married, with a brother whose earlier conversion had scandalised the family and whom he regarded with contempt. He was in Rome by accident, having changed his travel plans, and had accepted a wager-like challenge from de Bussières to wear a medal and say a prayer. What he described afterwards happened in a side chapel while he waited a few minutes for his friend.
Summary
The book is deliberately documentary rather than literary. De Bussières prefaces it with a declaration, in compliance with the decree of Urban VIII, that he presents the events as resting on human testimony alone; the editor notes that constructing an independent narrative would have cost the accounts their freshness, so the original documents are given as they stand.
The narrative covers the days before — the chance meeting, the challenge to wear the Miraculous Medal and recite the Memorare, Ratisbonne's amused agreement — and then the morning of 20 January 1842, when de Bussières left him alone in Sant'Andrea delle Fratte for a few minutes and returned to find him prostrate and weeping. Ratisbonne's own letter to the curé of Notre-Dame des Victoires follows.
The case was investigated by the ecclesiastical authorities in Rome within months, which is why the documentation is unusually thick for a conversion of the period. Ratisbonne was baptised eleven days later, became a priest, and with his brother founded a congregation working in Jerusalem.
Who was Alphonse Ratisbonne?
Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne (1814–1884) was born in Strasbourg into a prominent Jewish banking family. He trained in law, worked in the family bank, and was engaged to his niece when he set out on the journey that took him to Rome. He was hostile to Christianity, and particularly so after his elder brother Théodore's conversion and ordination.
After his baptism in 1842 he entered the Jesuits, later left them to work with his brother, was ordained, and spent the last decades of his life in Jerusalem, where he founded a religious house at Ein Karem. Note that this book is not a first-person testimony throughout: the main narrative is Baron de Bussières's, with Ratisbonne's own letter appended, which is why it sits on this shelf rather than among our first-person conversion narratives.
Common questions
- What happened to Alphonse Ratisbonne in 1842?
- Ratisbonne, a Jewish banker's son hostile to Christianity, entered the church of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte in Rome on 20 January 1842 while waiting a few minutes for a friend. He came out asking for a priest and for baptism, describing a vision in a side chapel. He was baptised eleven days later.
- Is this book Ratisbonne's own account?
- Partly. The main narrative was written by Baron Théodore de Bussières, the friend who was with him, and Ratisbonne's own letter describing the experience is printed after it. Because the bulk is a third party's account, we keep it on the apologetics shelf rather than in our first-person Changed Lives library.
A note on the text. The Conversion of Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne is in the public domain. What you're buying is our edition: the careful typesetting and correction. The original text is also available free here.