She didn’t speak to me, but I understood everything

“She didn’t speak to me, but I understood everything," the young Alphonse Ratisbonne said about the supernatural experience he had in Rome, in the church of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, on January 20, 1842. Today is the anniversary of his meeting with the Virgin Mary that profoundly changed his life.

This is what he said about the encounter: "I was scarcely in the church when a total confusion came over me. When I looked up, it seemed to me that the entire church had been swallowed up in shadow, except one chapel. It was as though all the light was concentrated in that single place. I looked over towards this chapel whence so much light shone, and above the altar was a living figure, tall, majestic, beautiful and full of mercy. It was the most holy Virgin Mary, resembling her figure on the Miraculous Medal. She made a sign for me to kneel down, and I felt pushed towards her by a force I couldn’t resist. She seemed to say to me: ‘Very good!’ She didn’t speak to me, but I understood everything."

On January 31^st, Ratisbonne was baptized in the church of the Gesu, and he, who before hated the Church, became a priest, like his elder brother Theodore. With Theodore, he founded the Congregation of Our Lady of Zion. His resting place is not far from Jerusalem, at Ain Karim.

fr.zenit.org