The Congregation was founded "to witness
in the Church and in the world that God continues to be faithful
in love for the Jewish people and to hasten the fulfilment
of the promises concerning the Jews and the Gentiles."
(Const. 2)
Theodore
Ratisbonne  was
born in Strasbourg in 1802 into a Jewish family that was in
the process of being assimilated. He grew up in an atmosphere
of learning and affection, where religion did not, however,
playa significant part. "Religion was repugnant to me,
my own and all other religions." One day this prayer
arose out of his confusion: "Oh God, if you really exist,
let me know the truth, and I swear to consecrate my life to
it."
The teaching of a young philosophy professor,
Louis Bautain, who drew on th e
Scriptures in his studies, gradually set Theodore on the path
of discovery of the God of the Old and New Testaments. He
was baptized at the age of 24 on Holy Saturday, 14 April 1827
by Louise Humann. Throughout his life as a Christian, and
later as a priest, the Word of God inspired him and called
him to apostolic life, a call that was to be fulfilled only
15 years later.
On 20 January 1842, his younger brother
Alphonse also decided
to become a Christian after Mary appeared to him in a
vision in Rome. In the light of the Word of God, Theodore
was able to interpret this sign from Mary and, encouraged
by his brother, founded the congregation of Our Lady of Sion
in 1843. In 1852, he gathered together the first small group
of what was to become the men's Congregation of the Religious
of Our Lady of Sion.
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