RATISBONNE (BROTHERS). — I. — THEODORE-MARIE, born in Strasbourg on 28 January 1802, died in Paris on 10 January 1884.
The son of a Jewish banker, he was a jurist, baptized in 1827, and ordained a priest in 1831. He spent several years at the Seminary of Strasbourg and from 1840 lived in Paris. There, in 1843, he founded with his brother Alphonse the Congregation of the Daughters and Missionaries of Our Lady of Sion.
Among his many works, the best are: Histoire de st Bernard et de son siècle (2 vols., Paris 1840; 11th ed. ibid. 1903); Manuel de la mère chrétienne (ibid. 1859; 11th ed. ibid. 1864); Nouveau manuel des mères chrétiennes (ibid. 1870; 22nd ed. ibid. 1926); Méditations de st Bernard sur la vie présente et future (ibid. 1864); Le Pape (ibid. 1870); La question juive (ibid. 1868).
II. — ALPHONSE-MARIE, brother of the preceding, born in Strasbourg on 1 May 1812, died at Ain Karim (near Jerusalem) on 6 May 1884.
A lawyer, banker, and freethinker, he grew more hostile to Catholicism following his brother’s conversion. But on 20 January 1842, in Rome, in the church of S. Andrea delle Fratte, he had the celebrated vision of Mary Most Holy of the Miracle, which was followed by his conversion. Ordained a priest in 1847, he belonged for some time to the Society of Jesus, which he left with the permission of Pius IX in order to join the Congregation founded by his brother. In 1855 he departed for Jerusalem, where in 1856 he founded for the daughters of Our Lady of Sion the convent of the Litostratos, or of the “Ecce Homo.” He remained in Jerusalem until the end of his life, apart from a brief interval in Rome, out of devotion to Our Lady of the Miracle, to whom he owed his conversion.
Principal works: Conversion de M. M.-A. R., vacantee par lui-même (Le Mana 1842); Lettre de M. M.-A. R. sur sa conversion (Lyons 1842); Inauguration du sanctuaire de l’«Ecce Homo» à Jérusalem (Paris 1842). — Vedi tav. XXII.