Description

Antique book including the travel memoirs of Count Theobald Walsh's fortnight stay in Rome in January 1842. He met Count de la Ferronnays right before the latter's death, as well as Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne, a Jew who converted to Christianity and became a Jesuit priest and missionary. P ublished by Poussielgue-Rusand in Paris during the year MDCCCXLIII (1843). Binding: leather. Text: french (a brief text regarding the apparition of Virgin Mary to Ratisbonne is included at the book's end and presented in french & latin). 224 pages, 18x10.5x2cm. Acceptable condition in general - see photos (inner binding issues, book does not open properly, binding not so tight, front board not firmly attached to binding but not detached either, foxing, yellow/brown stains, water-/ink- stains on few leaves too, few leaves more-foxed-than-the-average, creases on some leaves' inner margin, few leaves not firmly attached to binding but not loose either, some smell, worn cover where stains, cracks/scratches, rubbed/discolored/splotchy parts, pieces missing from boards' corners/edges, tears/creases, fragile parts, bent/cracked boards' corners/edges, cracks near spine, some holes, piece of leather unmounted from spine's upper part, piece of leather missing from spine's upper part, etc) Shipping (registered letter) worldwide: $16. Pierre Louis Auguste Ferron, Count de La Ferronnays (1777–1842) was French Minister of Foreign Affairs from 4 January 1828 to 24 April 1829. Born in Saint-Malo, he participated in the campaign of the army of Émigrés in 1792, then emigrated to England where he joined the Duke du Berry. At the Bourbon Restoration, he was appointed brigadier, and peer of France in 1815. He was Ambassador in Denmark (1817-1819) and Russia (1820-1827), before becoming foreign minister in the Martignac ministry in 1828, for a short tome. During these years he maintained a friendly correspondence with Chateaubriand, that he briefly mentions in his memoirs. He had children: Charles, General Counsel of the Oise, the then deputy mayor of Gers and Boury-en-Vexin for 12 years, who married the Countess of Lagrange; Pauline (1808–1891), by her marriage Mrs. Augustus Craven, novelist; Eugenie, by marriage Countess Adrien de Mun, mother of the speaker Albert de Mun. He bought the castle Boury-en-Vexin, in 1835. Died in Rome during January 1842. 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. He later was a co-founder of the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion, a religious congregation dedicated to the conversion of Jews to the Christian faith. After studying law in Paris, Alphonse joined the family bank and announced his engagement to his 16-year-old niece. In January 1842, with the postponement of the marriage due to the bride's age,[4] he traveled to Rome for a pleasure trip. On 20 January, he entered the Church of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, where he experienced a vision of the Virgin Mary. Due to this experience, he was led to be baptised in the Catholic Church. At his baptism, he added Marie (Mary) to his name to reflect the role he felt she had played in his life. Alphonse returned to Paris to proclaim his new-found faith to his fiancée, and invited her to share it with him. His niece, however, tearfully rejected this. In June of that same year he entered the Society of Jesus and was ordained as a priest in 1848. After his own conversion, Théodore Ratisbonne had been drawn to work for the conversion of his fellow Jews to the Christian faith. 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. Théodore then took up the suggestion made to him by Alphonse to establish a school for Jewish children in a Christian setting. At this time, two Jewish sisters came to him for spiritual advice, and eventually also converted to Christianity. They became the nucleus for the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion, founded in 1847. In 1850, Alphonse became engaged in mission work among convicts in the prisons of Brest, but two years later he felt called to join his brother in this mission to their own people, writing that he "recognized that the will of God in my Conversion and in my vocation to the priesthood obviously destined me to work for the salvation of Israel. With the authorization of the Jesuit Superior General, Jan Philipp Roothaan, and the blessing of Pope Pius IX, Alphonse left the Society of Jesus to join his brother. The two brothers, with several other priests drawn to their mission, formed the male branch of the Congregation in 1852. Alphonse moved to Palestine in 1855 to open a convent for the Sisters of the congregation. He would spend the rest of his life there. In 1858, Ratisbonne established the Convent of Ecce Homo in the Old City of Jerusalem for the Sisters of Sion. In 1860, he built the Convent of St John on a hilltop in Ein Karem, then a village on the outskirts of Jerusalem. In 1874, he founded the Ratisbonne Monastery for the priests of the congregation. It is now a Salesian study center in Jerusalem's Rehavia neighborhood. Ratisbonne died in Ein Karem on 6 May 1884 and is buried in the cemetery of the convent.