Maria Theodor Ratisbonne (December 28, 1802 - January 10, 1884) was a Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

 and missionary who founded the Order of Our Lady of Sion

Congregation of Notre-Dame de Sion

The Congregation of Notre-Dame de Sion is a Roman Catholic religious order of women founded in France in 1843 by Theodor Ratisbonne, encouraged by his brother Alphonse Ratisbonne, with the purpose of promoting the conversion of Jews to Christianity. The congregation established several educational...

. He was the brother of Maria Alphonse Ratisbonne.

Biography

Maria Theodor Ratisbonne was born in Strasbourg

Strasbourg

Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...

, Alsace-Lorraine

Alsace-Lorraine

The Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine was a territory created by the German Empire in 1871 after it annexed most of Alsace and the Moselle region of Lorraine following its victory in the Franco-Prussian War. The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River and east...

 to Jewish parents, Auguste and Adelaide (Cerfbeer) Ratisbonne. His father was a banker and president of the Consistoire of Alsace. After the conversion of his friends Emile Dreyfus, Alfred Mayer, and Samson Liebermann to Christianity, Theodor spent two years studying Catholicism and the history of the church. In 1827, he converted to Roman Catholicism, and was ordained as a priest in 1830.

Conversion

In the 1820s, Ratisbonne joined a wave of apostasy in the French Jewish community triggered by a sense that the Jews could not achieve full integration in French society as long as they remained Jews. Ratisbonne reached the conclusion that there was a fundamental incompatibility between Judaism and French citizenship. Until his conversion, he was active in the Societe d'Encouragement au Travail en Faveur des Israelites du Bas-Rhin. According to Ratisbonne, this involvement in Jewish communal affairs was undertaken as a preparatory step prior to baptism.

Missionary work

He became director of the Arch-confraternity of Christian Mothers. Pope Gregory XVI

Pope Gregory XVI

Pope Gregory XVI , born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari, named Mauro as a member of the religious order of the Camaldolese, was Pope of the Catholic Church from 1831 to 1846...

 decorated him a Knight of the Order of St. Sylvester

Order of St. Sylvester

The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Sylvester Pope and Martyr , sometimes referred to as the Sylvestrine Order, or the Pontifical Order of Pope St Sylvester, is one of five Orders of Knighthood awarded directly by the Pope as Supreme Pontiff and head of the Catholic Church and as the Head of...

 and praised his biography of St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Bernard of Clairvaux

Bernard of Clairvaux, O.Cist was a French abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian order.After the death of his mother, Bernard sought admission into the Cistercian order. Three years later, he was sent to found a new abbey at an isolated clearing in a glen known as the Val...

), Life of St. Bernard. He obtained permission to work as a missionary in Jerusalem, where he established the Order of Our Lady of Sion

Congregation of Notre-Dame de Sion

The Congregation of Notre-Dame de Sion is a Roman Catholic religious order of women founded in France in 1843 by Theodor Ratisbonne, encouraged by his brother Alphonse Ratisbonne, with the purpose of promoting the conversion of Jews to Christianity. The congregation established several educational...

. The sisters devoted their lives to hastening the "fulfilment of the promises concerning the Jews and the Gentiles" while avoiding all proselytism. Ratisbonne's directive was: "Remain firm in your own faith without attempting to impose it on others."

Published work

Ratisbonne was the author of Essay on Moral Education (1828), a Life of Saint Bernard (1841), Meditations of Saint Bernard on the Present and Future (1853), a Manual for Christian Mothers (1860), Jewish Questions (1868), and other works.

Death

On his deathbed, Ratisbonne received the last Sacraments from the Archbishop of Paris

Archbishop of Paris

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paris is one of twenty-three archdioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The original diocese is traditionally thought to have been created in the 3rd century by St. Denis and corresponded with the Civitas Parisiorum; it was elevated to an archdiocese on...

, Joseph Hippolyte Guibert, and the final blessing from Pope Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...

. He died in Paris.