SCJR 18, no. 1 (2023): 1-2   

 

 

Olivier Rota   
Apostolat catholique et travail social en milieu juif:  
Les Ancelles de Notre-Dame de Sion (1926-1964) 

 

(Paris: Les Editions du Cerf, 2019), 261 pp. 
 

 

LAWRENCE FRIZZELL 

lawrence.frizzell@shu.edu  

Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ 07079 

 

 

The Sisters of Our Lady of Sion (“Sisters of Sion”) are a Catholic congregation 

founded in 1847 by Father Theodore Ratisbonne, a convert from an assimilated 

Jewish family in Strasbourg, France. They are a teaching congregation, active on 

five continents, with a small contemplative branch. They and the much smaller 

“Fathers of Sion” were considered philosemites in the context of the First Vatican 

Council, praying daily for the conversion of the Jews but not proselytizing in an 

aggressive manner. Their history, moving from a desire for conversion of the Jew-

ish people to dialogue, especially in the decades from 1945-1965, has been 

examined thoroughly by Celia Deutsch in this journal in 2016 (“Journey to Dia-

logue: Sisters of Our Lady of Sion and the Writing of Nostra Aetate” 11:1 [3]). 

Olivier Rota presents another dimension to this history in this detailed account 

of a community of women with a special interest in the Jewish people. The title of 

this book describes their initiative: Catholic Apostolate and Social Action in the 

Jewish Environment. As explained by Paul Gauthier, a priest-worker in Israel in 

1964, this call is understood to be Christian charity in action, not intended primarily 

for individual conversions but to foster a coming together to prepare for the escha-

tological mass conversion described by Paul (17). A group of young French 

women, motivated by the command of Jesus to make disciples of all nations (Mt 

28:19-20), felt a call to become missionaries in Palestine and formed “the Ancelles 

(handmaids) of Our Lady of Palestine.” Several years later they encountered the 

Sisters of Sion and in 1937 became the apostolic branch of this congregation.  Rota 

chronicles their efforts to navigate between their wish to belong to a religious con-

gregation and their commitment to quiet social action in the Jewish communities 

in Europe and Israel (18). 

During World War II, the Ancelles, along with some teaching Sisters, were 

active in the French Resistance, trying to assist Jews. Rota has chronicled the his-

tory of this tiny group in great detail, using documentation from Sion archives. 

When the Ancelles joined the Sister of Sion as the apostolic branch in 1937 they 



               

              Frizzell: Rota’s Apostolat catholique et travail social en milieu juif                      2 
 

 

               

    

were a mere handful among the 2,085 Sisters (61). They wore secular clothes and 

lived in small groups close to their work. 

This research describes the moves of the Ancelles into cities in France, Spain, 

and Palestine and chronicles Sisters’ benign but blundering efforts to situate them 

in the rhythms of religious life: “The history of the Ancelles is one of an unfortunate 

graft of a group of religious women who were engaged in the vicissitudes of the 

world to a congregation, welcoming but unprepared, for such an addition. For al-

most thirty years the Ancelles navigated between their wish to be better integrated 

into Sion and their will to preserve their specificity within the Congregation” (18). 

Unknown to the Ancelles, in 1947 Pope Pius XII issued a document, “Provida 

Mater Ecclesia,” giving principles for founding secular institutes, pious organiza-

tions for lay people desiring to live a commitment to spiritual ideals but not linked 

to a religious congregation. In the context of the Second Vatican Council, and of 

Sion’s General Chapter in 1964, the Ancelles did become a secular institute named 

Pax Nostra (Our Peace, referring to Jesus from Ephesians 2:14 in the context of the 

Christian hymn celebrating the unifying power of Jesus’ death-and-resurrection). 

As in his other studies of mid-twentieth century Catholic-Jewish relations, 

Rota drew heavily from archival sources to paint a poignant picture of Catholic 

good will and of the Ancelles’ committed life of quiet witness. While his narrative 

stops in 1964, just before the issuance of Nostra aetate, this good will reflects the 

Church’s continuing efforts to cultivate and improve these relations. They kept in 

touch with the Sisters of Sion and took the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration 

Nostra Aetate into their spirituality. 

This study includes an appendix of original texts from the period immediately 

after World War II and an index of names.