Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/305

 9 th S. II. OCT. 8, '98. ]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

297

Histories,' p. 335). Mazeras (Haute Vienne), Mazeiras (Creuse), and Mazieras (Dordogne) are from maceries, a word denoting walled enclosures for vines (' Names and their His- tories,' p. 336). Mamas (Drome), Marnoz (Eure), and Marloz (Haute Sadne) are from the French marne (Gaulish marga\ dialectic- ally marie and merle. Ecuras (Charente) is from the Low Latin scura, a " grange," also a " stable " ; and so on with many more which space forbids me to specify.

ISAAC TAYLOK.

The nomenclature in the Departement Ain is of Gaulois or Latin origin ; there is very little trace of German influence. Here, as elsewhere, in the west and south-west of France, and even in the north as well in fact all over Celtic France the termination -ac is frequently found in the names of villages, and this -ac, sometimes modified into -at or -as, is believed to signify " dwelling-place."

T. P. ARMSTRONG.

S. ANDREA DELLE FRATTE, ROME (9 th S. ii. 168). Under the heading ' Sion, Notre Dame de,' in the ' Dictionnaire Encyclopedique de la Theologie Catholique,' by Goschler, Paris, a full account of the conversion of Alphonse Ratisbonne will be found. In case B. W. IS. may not have access to this work, the fol- lowing notes may be of interest. Alphonse Ratisbonne was the son of a rich Jewish banker of Paris, born 1 May, 1814. He was engaged to be married to a cousin, Mile. Flora Ratisbonne, who was but sixteen years of age, and he, being in delicate health, deter- mined to travel to Naples, Malta, and the East previous to marriage. Starting in 1841, he reached Rome on 6 Jan., 1842. There he met Gustave de Bussiere, a school companion and a Protestant, and by him he was intro- duced to his father, wlio was a convert to Catholicity, a most pious and wealthy man, who induced him to wear a medal of Our Lady and to say the 'Memorare' twice a day. He visited in the spirit of unbelief, &c., the churches and holy places in Rome. Just before leaving Rome he visited the then poor church of S. Andrea delle Fratte ; there Our Lady- appeared to him, his doubts were dispelled, and his conversion completed. He was bap- tized 31 Jan. by Cardinal Patrizzi, who was assisted by R. P. de Villefort, S. J., who had instructed him, and the Baron Theodore de Bussiere was his sponsor, bestowing on him the name of Mary Alphonsus. The miracle of the apparition was confirmed by a special decree of Gregory XVI., 3 June, 1842. The whole account is interesting and minute. Alphonse Ratisbonne founded the congregation of

Notre Dame de Sion, a congregation of women for the instruction of converted Jews, and his brother became the Abbe Theodore Ratis- bonne. J. OGILVY FAIRLIE.

"Un juif appar tenant a une tres riche famille d'Alsace, qui se trouvait accidentellement a Rome, se promenant dans I'^glise de Saint Andrea delle Fratte pendant qu'on y faisait les pr6paratifs pour les obseques de votre bon pere [le Comte de La Fer- ronnays], s'y est convert! subitement, c"omme saint Paul sur le chemin de Damas, par un de ces coups miraculeux de la puissance et de la bonte divines. II se trouvait debout en face d'une chapelle de'diee & 1'Angegardien, a quelques pas, lorsque tout a coup il a eu une apparition lumineuse de la sainte Vierge, qui lui a fait signe d'aller vers cette chapelle. Une force irresistible 1'y a entrain^ ; il y est tomb^ a genoux, et il a et^ a Pinstant chre'tien. Sa premiere parole a celui qui 1'avait accompagn6 a 6t4, en relevant son visage inond6 de larmes : ' II faut que ce monsieur ait beaucoup pri6 pour moi.' "

Thus, on 22 Jan., 1842, wrote Abbe Gerbet to Mrs. Augustus Craven, in whose 'Recit d'une Sceur ' the letter may be read, vol. ii. pp. 312-14. The Jew was Alphonse Ratis- bonne, son of a rich banker of Strasburg. His age was twenty-eight; he was engaged to be married to a young Jewess ; " tous ses inte"rets temporels devaient empScher sa conversion, et ses ide'es juives, jointes & un certain indiffeVentisme pour les pratiques religieuses, s'y opposaient aussi."

M. Ratisbonne's friend Baron de Bussiere and Comte Theobald Walsh published further details of this miracle of grace. Hare says that it is annually commemorated in S. Andrea delle Fratte (' Walks in Rome,' i. 79).

ST. SWITHIN.

The occurrence referred to by Sir M. E. Grant Duff was a miraculous appearance of the Madonna to the Jew Alph. Ratisbonne in this church of S. Andrea in 1842. There is a picture in the third chapel on the left, representing the incident.

ST. CLAIR BADDELEY.

LONDON AND ESSEX CLERGY (9 th S. ii. 208). Newcourt's ' Repertorium ' gives Robert Hearse as the first of a list of ministers of Holy Trinity, Minories, 1578, and a successor in the same year. The surname of Pontifex does not occur either under the parishes named or elsewhere, but a James Gilbert went from St. Christopher le Stocks to East Ham Vicarage in 1511, both being in the patronage of the Bishop of London and the lists of incumbents apparently complete.

GEO. RICKWORD.

TINTERN ABBEY (9 th S. ii. 207). Not all the abbeys referred to in the ' Notitia ' or ' Mon- asticon ' had arms, nor are any arms assigned to Tintern in any author that 1 have seen ;