Gary Krupp doesn’t mince words when it comes to defending Pope Pius XII and admonishing today’s Jews who attack him, especially the community in Rome. You will be amazed at what this honest and brave man has to say in the short clip I provide in the link below from Catholic Culture website.
Krupp says he doesn’t want to convert to Catholicism. Well, neither did Alphonse Ratisbonne and God knows how many other Jewish converts before they responded to grace. And, on January 20, in 1842, what a tremendous grace was given to the young liberal Alphonse — whose brother Theodore had already become a Catholic and a priest — in the church of San Andrea delle Fratte! Difficult, too, for both of these brothers was the fact that they were of an aristocratic Jewish family in Strasbourg, sons of a rich banker, in fact. With his conversion, Theodore had much to suffer from the opprobrium of his parents, from the Jewish community in Strasbourg, and also from the anger of his younger brother, Alphonse, who vowed never to speak to Theodore, such was his antipathy to the Catholic Faith.
God had other plans for the young anti-Catholic Ratisbonne, sending His Jewish Mother to speak to him, not in words, but through her hands in a blinding vision as he waited for a Catholic friend, alone, in a Roman church. This Catholic friend, himself a convert from Protestantism, Baron Theodore de Bussières, was a real apostle, unrelenting, and, to the tolerance-level of Alphonse, rather obnoxious. Just to please him, however, the polite Jew agreed to wear a Miraculous Medal around his neck and recite the Memorare prayer every day for a period of time. In fact, as the story is related, the liberal Alphonse was beginning to feel more repelled by the baron’s importunity than drawn to the Faith, although he was polite enough not to show it. De Bussières’ little daughter then put the medal around Ratisbonne’s neck.
The baron, however, did not rely on his own prayers, but, being a friend of Father Theodore, Alphonse’s brother, he had a whole troop of devout French Catholics and ex liberals living in Rome offering prayers and Memorares for this particular aristocratic free thinker. Upon receiving the vision of Our Lady, Alphonse was struck senseless and, in Mary’s light, was made known to him his state of soul. When the baron returned, he found his Jewish friend on his knees in tears, shaking, and uttering words unintelligibly. Finally, Alphonse made himself understood and told the baron to take him to a priest, for he wants to confess and be baptized at once. The baron took him to the Gesu, a Jesuit church in Rome. However, at that time, all he could manage to say to the priest as he clutched the Miraculous Medal and held it up, was “I saw her, I saw her.”
Alphonse Ratisbonne added Marie to his name when he was baptized in 1842. In 1847, he was ordained a Jesuit priest. In 1855, with Blessed Pius IX’s permission, he became a missionary to the Jews in Palestine. In 1884, he died near Jerusalem, in Ain Karim, where the Mary’s visitation of Elizabeth took place. He had established two convents in or near Jerusalem with orphanages for girls and one orphanage for boys in Jaffa. This son of an aristocrat-banker worked most of his priestly life in Palestine, laboring, with a few companions, who were called the Priests of Zion, for the conversion of the Jews and Mohammedans.
Would it not be good to pray for this special intention: that Our Lady will give Gary Krupp the grace to embrace the passion of Jesus Christ so that he may rise with Christ as a member of His Mystical Body. If ever there was a man’s man waiting for a challenge, direct and unapologetic, it is Gary Krupp. I say this even though all I know about him is what little I have read a couple of times on Catholic websites.
Catholic Culture: One of the most prominent Jewish defenders of Pope Pius XII’s actions during World War II said in a recent interview that “we’re definitely winning” the battle to restore the Pontiff’s reputation. Read quotes here with a link to Zenit article.
