The Congregation of Our Lady of Sion (, abbreviated NDS) is composed of two

religious congregations A religious congregation is a type of religious institute in the Catholic Church. They are legally distinguished from religious orders – the other major type of religious institute – in that members take simple vows, whereas members of religio ...

in the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

founded in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France. One is composed of

priests A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, ...

and religious brothers, founded in 1852, and the other is composed of

religious sister A religious sister (abbreviated: Sr.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to prayer and ...

s, founded in 1843, both by Marie-Théodore Ratisbonne, along with his brother

Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne Father Ratisbonne in 1865 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 a ...

, "to witness in the Church and in the world that God continues to be faithful in his love for the Jewish people and to hasten the fulfillment of the promises concerning the Jews and the Gentiles". (Constitution, article 2).

Foundation

Religious brothers

The Ratisbonne brothers, who were Jews, were drawn to accept Christianity. For Théodore, this came about through the conversion of several close friends and the slow results of study and reading. He was

baptized Baptism (from ) is a Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersing in water either partially or completely, traditionally three ...

in 1826 and

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

in 1830. Alphonse, however, was more reluctant to believe in Christ. This changed dramatically on 20 January 1842 in the course of a trip to Rome, made just prior to his planned wedding. While on a visit to the Church of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

appeared to him. Both brothers believed that this was a sign from God, not only for Alphonse's personal conversion, but of their common call to bring their fellow Jews to accept the Christian faith. To this end, Alphonse was

and soon entered the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

, where he spent several years. In 1843 Théodore founded a small community of women who wished to collaborate with him in the education of Jewish children, starting with two Jewish sisters who had come to him for guidance and later converted to Christianity. In 1850, with the permission of the pope and of the Jesuit

Superior General A superior general or general superior is the leader or head of an 'order' of religious persons (nuns, priests, friars, etc) or, in other words, of a 'religious institute' in the Catholic Church, and in some other Christian denominations. The super ...

, Alphonse left the Society to join his brother and his work. Together the Ratisbonne brothers established the Congregation of the Fathers of Our Lady of Sion in 1852. In 1855 Alphonse moved to the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

, where, in 1858, he established the Convent of the ''Ecce homo'' on the site of a ruined church of that name on the famed

Via Dolorosa The (Latin for 'Sorrowful Way', often translated 'Way of Suffering'; ; ) is a processional route in the Old City of Jerusalem. It represents the path that Jesus took, forced by the Roman soldiers, on the way to his crucifixion. The winding rou ...

for the Sisters of the congregation. On the grounds of the convent, Ratisbonne built an orphanage and vocational school which the Sisters ran. These institutions were open to all the children of the city, regardless of creed. A

motherhouse A motherhouse or mother house is the principal house or community for a Catholic religious community.YourDictionaryMotherhouse/ref> One example is the Missionaries of Charity's motherhouse in Kolkata, which functions as the congregation's headquart ...

was established in Paris for the Fathers. In 1874, Alphonse began the construction of the

Ratisbonne Monastery Ratisbonne Monastery (, ) is a monastery in the Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem, established by Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne, a France, French Religious conversion, convert from Judaism. Work on the building, designed by the French architect M. D ...

, on a site then on the outskirts of Jerusalem, which was a school for boys. It now houses a branch of the

Salesian Pontifical University The Salesian Pontifical University (; ) is a pontifical university in Italy run by the Salesians of Don Bosco. It has three campuses, one in Rome, one in Turin, and one in Jerusalem. The Salesian Pontifical University is an ordinary member of ...

. After the re-direction of the official teachings regarding

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

, the Fathers changed from an emphasis on the conversion of Jews to working to foster understanding and the development of deeper ties between Christians and Jews. Today they have communities in France, Israel and Brazil.

Religious sisters

For many years most of the sisters were teachers in Sion schools in France and the Holy Land. They later expanded overseas to the British Isles and Australia. The Sisters of Sion define themselves as "woman who help to heal a fractured world". The sisters were invited to England by Cardinal Manning to help with the expansion of Catholic education in the country. They arrived in 1860 and have had a presence in England ever since. They then established a presence in Australia with the first Sisters arriving in 1890. Since the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

the work of the sisters has expanded and developed. Now there is a wide variety of ministries. The congregation now has sisters in 22 countries worldwide, with their

located in Rome. Like the Fathers, the sisters no longer emphasise conversion, but instead describe themselves as working to improve Catholic-Jewish relations and to witness to God's faithful love for the Jewish people. One of its best-known members of the Congregation was Emmanuelle Cinquin (1908–2008) who worked in Istanbul and Cairo.

Schools

* Our Lady of Sion College,

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia *Catholic College, Sale,

Victoria, Australia Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of ; the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales), with a population of over 7 million; ...

*Ecole bilingue Notre-Dame de Sion,

Montreal, Canada Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest in Canada, and the ninth-largest in North America. It was founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", and is now named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

* St. Maurice School, Winnipeg, Canada * Notre Dame de Sion School, Kansas City,

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, USA *Colegio Nuestra Señora de Sion, Moravia, Costa Rica *Colegio Notre Dame de Sion, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil * Colégio Nossa Senhora de Sion, Curitiba, Brasil * Colégio Nossa Senhora de Sion, Petropolis, Brasil *

Our Lady of Sion School Our Lady of Sion School is an interdenominational, inter-denominational, independent school for male and female students, founded in 1862 and located in Worthing, West Sussex, on the south coast of England. Based on the teachings of Marie Theodo ...

Worthing Worthing ( ) is a seaside town and borough in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 113,094 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Br ...

, England * Lycée Notre Dame de Sion Istanbul,

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Turkey *Notre Dame de Sion School, Alexandria, Egypt

References

External links