Samuel Alatri

From 1840 to 1865, he made annual tours to foreign countries, coming thereby in contact with prominent Jews in France and England, who inspired him with new hopes and encouraged him to persevere in the struggle for justice.

Knowing, however, that, in order to lead to happiness, freedom must be supplemented by education, Alatri devoted his special attention to foreign scholastic institutions, accumulating experience which he used for the benefit of the Talmud Torah in Rome.

In appreciation of his intellectual and moral qualities he was elected a director of the Pope's Bank, later the Banca Romana; and it is an undisputed fact that the crisis which threatened that institution in 1853 was warded off by Alatri's foresight.

Alatri's efforts on behalf of his brethren were crowned with success in 1870, when King Victor Emmanuel entered Rome and put an end to the temporal power of the pope.

On Oct. 2 of that year a deputation, of which Alatri was a member, handed over to the king the result of the plebiscite by which the inhabitants of the Papal Territories declared in favor of annexation to the Kingdom of Italy.