Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne

Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne, NDS (1 May 1814, Strasbourg, Alsace, France – 6 May 1884, Ein Karem, Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, Ottoman Empire) was a French Jew who converted to Christianity and became a Jesuit priest and missionary.

[3] His mother died when he was 4 years old, but his natural charm drew his wider family to take charge of his upbringing.

The family was assimilated into the secular society of France, but had a strong sense of social justice, with which value he was raised.

On 20 January, he entered the Church of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, where he experienced a vision of the Virgin Mary.

This proposed ministry, also the inspiration of Alphonse, was blessed by Pope Gregory XVI in the course of a visit by Théodore Ratisbonne to Rome in 1842.

[2] With the authorization of the Jesuit Superior General, Jan Philipp Roothaan, and the blessing of Pope Pius IX,[6] Alphonse left the Society of Jesus to join his brother.

[3] In 1860, he built the Convent of St John on a hilltop in Ein Karem, then a village on the outskirts of Jerusalem.