He will return with his immense heart, with his heart of fire, his poor man's soul
and his smile. He will return! And the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph!

THE VIRGIN MARY, MEDIATRIX OF PEACE THROUGH THE CONVERSION OF JEWS AND MUSLIMS

	The Virgin Mary crowned with the tiara. (Annecy, Basilica of the Visitation)

An apparently insignificant event is likely to go unnoticed: Jerusalem’s Ratisbonne’s Institute, the Catholic Centre of Jewish Studies created after the Vatican II Council, which was closed two years ago, will not be reopened in September, contrary to initial expectations. Cardinals Zenon Grochlewski and Walter Kasper, respectively Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education and President of the Commission for Jewish relations, announced its transfer to Rome.

The reason? The two cardinals mention not only « severe, difficult and growing financial problems », but also « serious academic concerns » (La Croix, 5 February 2003). The professors are flabbergasted: « We have never received the slightest warning about the orthodoxy of our teaching », wrote several of them in an open letter in April 2001. In the opinion of the former teaching staff, the Ratisbonne has been the victim of an intrigue: « Hostile remarks have been circulated against us, states Father Michel Remaud. Some people have said that we had become “too Jewish”. »

For his part, Father Remaud does not believe in the “transfer”. « It is a fiction, he says, to speak of a move, the Ratisbonne is closed for good ». But the cardinals will not hear of it. By transferring its activities to the Cardinal Bea Centre of Jewish Studies, dependent on the Gregorian University, they want « to continue the original intention of the Ratisbonne ».

If Rome is intent on establishing the “Jewish-Christian dialogue” on this foundation, then a great hope is welling up in the Church. For, in Rome, the synagogue is situated on the left bank of the Tiber, opposite the Basilica of Saint Peter’s. Is there a passage from one to the other? Ratisbonne’s conversion in the nineteenth century, wholly forgotten today, threw a “footbridge” across the Tiber, which was crossed one hundred years later by the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Eugenio Zolli, under the crosier of Pope Pius XII.

THE CONVERSION OF THE RATISBONNE BROTHERS

Born into a wealthy Israelite family, Alphonsus Ratisbonne, still very young, was greatly disturbed by the conversion of his brother Theodore and by his having received holy Orders: « This behaviour appalled me, and I took an immense dislike to his habit and his character. »

While Theodore, curate of the Abbé des Genettes at Our Lady of Victories, referred to himself as « the Queen’s chaplain » and prayed for the conversion of the Jews, his brother Alphonsus, after brilliant studies in Law at Paris, lead a busy social life of pleasure and parties. « I was Jewish in name only. I never opened a religious book, and in the house of my uncle not even the slightest prescription of Judaism was practiced, any more than in that of my brothers and sisters. »

Today, in Israel, Alphonsus would have become a member of the the Shinoui [“change”],  Tommy Lapid's new “secular” party,  whose primary objective is to fight the influence of the rabbis in the State, and whose electoral breakthrough indicates the disenchantment of Jews towards the ultra-orthodox parties.

Engaged to a sixteen year old niece, he took part in a pleasure trip in Italy at the end of 1841, before getting married. It is essential to read, in Sister Marie-Angelique of the Cross’ beautiful book on The Abbé des Genettes, Mary’s Servant and Apostle (in French only), all the adventures and encounters arranged by Good Providence to lead the young godless person to the knees of Mary.

He accepted, – not without resistance! – to wear the Miraculous Medal and to recite the Memorare, out of defiance rather than conviction: « The medal was placed around my neck and I exclaimed in a burst of laughter: “Ha! Ha! Now I am a Catholic, Apostolic and Roman!” It was the demon that was prophesying through my mouth », he was to say later on.

Alphonsus Ratisbonne

Days went by and Alphonsus thought about his return to France but, under a mysterious influence, he felt the need of extending his stay in Rome… However, in the middle of the night of 19 to 20 January 1842, he woke up with a start:

« I saw, immobile before me, a large black cross of an unusual shape and without Christ. I tried to drive away this image: but I could not evade it and I always found it before me, in whatever direction I turned. I am unable to say how long this struggle lasted. »

He then related, hour by hour, his different occupations and visits of the day of 20 January. Around noon…

« When leaving the café, I encountered the carriage of Mr. Theodore de Bussières. It stopped and I was invited to take place in it to go for a ride. The weather was magnificent and I accepted with pleasure. But Mr. de Bussières asked my permission to stop a few moments at Sant’Andrea delle Fratte church which was not far from where we were, for an errand that he had to do. He suggested that I wait in the carriage; I preferred to get out to see this church.

« Saint Andrew’s church was small, poor and empty; I believe that I was more or less alone. No object of art attracted my attention; I unconsciously looked around myself without dwelling on any particular thought; I only remember that a black dog jumped and leaped in front of me… Soon this dog disappeared, the entire church disappeared; I no longer saw anything, or rather, oh my God, I saw but one thing!!! How is it possible to speak of it? Oh! no, human words must not attempt to express what is beyond words; any description, however sublime it may be, would only be a profanation of the ineffable truth. 

« I was there, bowed down, bathed in my tears, my heart pounding, when Mr. de Bussières called me back to life. I was unable to reply to his hurried questions; but finally I seized the medal that I had left on my chest; I covered with kisses the image of the Virgin radiant with graces… Oh! It was truly Her! »

That very day, Alphonsus Ratisbonne was taken to Father de Villefort, at the Gesù, to explain his emotion; he pulled out his medal and, kissing it, he exclaimed: « I saw Her, I saw Her! » Then, when he had regained his calm: « I was in the church for a moment, when suddenly I felt myself seized by an indescribable turmoil I raised my eyes, the entire building was as though veiled to my eyes; a single chapel had, so to say, concentrated all the light and, in the midst of this brilliant light, appeared, standing radiant on the altar, full of majesty and sweetness, the Virgin Mary, just as She is on my medal; an irresistible force drove me towards Her. With a gesture of Her hand, the Virgin beckoned me to kneel. She seemed to say to me: Good! She did not speak but I understood everything.

« I did not know where I was; I did not know whether I was Alphonsus or someone else; I experienced such a total change, that I felt as though I was a new man. I attempted to recover my old self but I was unable. The most ardent joy burst into the depth of my soul.

« My first words were word of gratitude towards Mr. de Laferronnays and for the Archconfraternity of Our Lady of Victories. I knew, with certainty that Mr. de Laferronnays had prayed for me.

« I was asked how I had learned these truths, since it was known that I had never opened a religious book, never read a single page of the Bible, and that the dogma of original sin, completely forgotten or denied by the Jews of our times, had never occupied my thought for an instant; I doubt that I even knew the term. How then did I arrive at this knowledge? I am unable to explain how. All that I know is that on entering the church I was ignorant of everything, and on leaving, I understood.

« All that I can say is that at the moment of the gesture, the blindfold fell from my eyes; not a single blindfold, but all the multitude of blindfolds that had enveloped me, disappeared successively and rapidly like snow and mud and ice due to the effect of a burning sun.

« I came out of a tomb, out of an abyss of darkness, and I was alive, truly alive… But I wept! I saw in the bottom of the abyss, the extreme misery from which I had been drawn by an infinite mercy. »

But tears of pity immediately mingled themselves with his tears of gratitude, at the thought of his friends, of his people, of his fiancée, of his family. « I thought of you, oh you whom I love! I gave my first prayers to you… »

These great and wonderful texts allow us to catch sight of what the return to the fold of the entire Jewish people will be like, according to the assurance given by Saint Paul to the Romans:

« And this is how all Israel will be saved. As scripture says: “From Zion will come the Redeemer, he will remove godlessness from Jacob”. » (Rm 11.26)

One hundred years later, in 1944, the Chief Rabbi of Rome Eugenio Zolli would renew this testimony, indicating the path of salvation to the Jews of the whole world, as the “Master of Justice”, head and founder of the Essenians, had done twenty centuries earlier, even before Saint John the Baptist, in opposition to the corrupt Sadducees and the heretical Pharisees. And it is precisely in our times of apostasy that Divine Providence has permitted the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls. Their contents reveal and explain to us the passage of the better part of the Jewish people to Christianity after Pentecost. The divine plan recalled by Saint Paul has not changed. The conversion of the Jewish people is not far off.

There is no other solution to the conflict which cruelly bathes the Holy Land in blood. It goes without saying that we must implore the same intervention of the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the conversion of the Muslims. And not only in Palestine: in the Ivory Coast also, because She is Queen, and Christ wants to reign through Her, over all the peoples of the earth.

brother Bruno of Jesus