The future of Jerusalem, hopes and chimeras in response to the Zionist Congresses — Lémann, 1901

Fr. Augustin Lémann, a converted Jew, surveys and affirms the theological opposition to Zionist political rule in Palestine, along with several other Jewish errors and illusions

“It is therefore their return to the Church, the spiritual Jerusalem, and not a return to the earthly Jerusalem of Palestine, that the Jewish people can and must hope for. The Gospel came to bring and promised only spiritual goods . . . This charter of the Messianic kingdom, promulgated by Jesus on the Mount, will apply to the Jews when they enter the Church, just as it has applied, in all centuries, to all Christian peoples. It is towards the heavenly Jerusalem that they will raise their eyes, according to the example given them by the Patriarchs, their fathers, by not seeking here below a permanent city.”

Fr. Augustin Lémann, on the right, with his twin brother, Fr. Joseph Lémann

Author’s Biography

Augustin Lémann (b. 1836) was a converted Jew who became a French Catholic priest, professor at the University of Lyon and later a prolific writer on theological and political matters. In 1908, Augustin was raised to the domestic prelature by Pope St. Pius X.¹ Other ecclesiastical recognitions included being made honorary canon of the Primatiale of Lyon in 1894, honorary canon of the cathedrals of Beauvais, Bourges, Langres and Reims. Additionally, in 1899, he was made an honorary canon of Montpellier. Born into an Ashkenazi family, Augustin and his twin brother, Joseph, were orphaned at a young age and were taken in by their wealthy and aristocratic uncles and aunts. They resided in Lyons, France throughout their early life and for their education. On April 29, 1854, at the age of eighteen, both brothers—importantly by their own volition—were baptized in the Catholic Church. The brothers chose new Christian names, Augustin and Joseph, abandoning their birth names Achille and Edward, respectively.

This conversion and baptism, which was done without the knowledge of their family, prompted enormous backlash on the part of their uncles and aunts, as well as the local Jewish community. Augustine and Joseph were immediately pressured to renounce the Catholic faith. What follows are excerpts from the circumstances the brothers found themselves in, which clearly evidence the rabbinical and Talmudic contempt, even hatred, for Christianity, but more importantly, testify to the inspiring resolve of the Lémann brothers—a resolve certainly secured by the Grace of God:

The rabbi then sought to shake their faith. He pitied them, the sons of Israel, for having dared to deny the religion of their Fathers to become the disciples of a seducer justly condemned to the torture of the Cross by the Sanhedrin . . . He treated the sacrament of the Eucharist as ridiculous and absurd. The two new Christians responded with a triple affirmation of their faith in Christ, in his Immaculate Mother, and in the Eucharist.²

After the arguments and intimidation by the rabbi, it was now the turn of their five uncles, looking to increase the already significant pressure on the young converts. The same source reports how the family went about things:

[T]he uncles tried in turn to convince their nephews. They represented that, if they did not renounce baptism, they would break with their race and dishonor their family always remained unshakably attached to the Synagogue. They recalled the heavy sacrifices that it had imposed on itself to ensure them a brilliant education and a careful training at the Imperial Lyceum. Their words were joined by the tears and heart-rending sobs of the aunts.

The two brothers were moved, but remained steadfast: “We are Christians! We will remain Christians!”

Undeterred, the faithful Lémann brothers clung to their baptismal vows. For the uncles, words had failed and so only violence remained. The account continues:

The uncle who had taken it upon himself to bring them back by force then seized Joseph, threw him to the ground and, seizing him by the throat, choked him, saying: “Give up! Give up!” Meanwhile, another uncle, armed with an iron bar, held Augustin firmly by the arm. A deathly silence, broken by the sobbing of the aunts, reigned in the living room. Joseph did not give up. He struggled under the painful grip. His tongue had almost completely fallen out of his mouth. He was panting miserably... Augustin, hearing his brother’s moaning, felt as if invaded by a superhuman force. He knocked down the uncle who was holding him tightly by the arm, freed himself from his grip, rushed to the large window overlooking the street, opened it and with all his might began to shout: “To the murderer!" To the assassin!”

Thankfully, the cries for help were overheard by the French police. They were alerted to the violence and rushed to the scene, saving the brothers. Afterwards, a joint-letter was prepared and published in a local newspaper to witness to their now-public conversion and the slanderous charges against the priest that baptized them, Fr. Reuil. It is reproduced, in English, below:

Published in Le Courrier de Lyon, a daily political and literary newspaper on Sunday, September 17, 1854.

After this trying incident, Augustine and Joseph would go on to become priests. They were ordained in 1860. They became good friends of Pope Pius IX and circulated a Postulatum at Vatican Council 1870, in which they called on the Jews to recognize their Savior Jesus Christ, and join the Catholic Church. Two decades later, in 1892, the now-prominent Lémann brothers founded the convent of sisters on the mountain of Elias so there would be Carmelite sisters living on Mount Carmel praying and sacrificing for the conversion of the Jews. Fr. Augustine Lémann would die in 1909 at the age of seventy-three.

Editors’ Introduction

At the end of the 19th century, the modern Zionist movement was gaining steam, only matched by its ferocity. Very quickly, it was becoming a force in European Jewish politics. Liberated by the godless French Revolution and similar liberal reforms throughout all of Europe, the Jews had begun dominating their former host countries, amassing wealth, power and control.

The translated work below, in large part, is a response to this burgeoning Jewish predominance, specifically its form in political Zionism. Theodor Herzl, the “Father of Zionism”, had convened the First Zionist Congress just four years prior, in 1897, and his vision of Jewish political sovereignty in Palestine was gaining momentum. As the reader will see in L’avenir de Jérusalem; Espérances et chimères (The Future of Jerusalem: Hopes and chimeras), Fr. Augustin Lémann convincingly distinguishes between what the legitimate spiritual hopes for Jerusalem (within a Catholic framework), along with the Jews more broadly, and the misguided or illusory projects, such as Jewish political restoration outside the Church. In short, it is a clear repudiation of Zionism, whether politically or theologically motivated, drawing heavily on data in Sacred Scripture, which is then supported by the witness of patristic, scholastic and modern theologians. However, Fr. Lémann did not confine himself to strictly theological arguments. While guarding against Jewish and Protestant errors, he also aimed to stir French Catholics toward renewed devotion to the Holy Land and vigilance against forces that were both spiritually and politically subversive. The text exemplifies how Catholic authors of his time harmonized theology, anti-modernist polemics and geopolitical concerns in their vision of Jerusalem’s fate at the dawn of the 20th century.

Finally, not only did Lémann see political Zionism as a largely secular movement to be opposed, but also as a messianic movement, no less dangerous. This false messianism was one of the “Chimeras”—diverting Jews from the true path of reconciliation with God through Christ and His Church. After all, the Catholic Church, and not the Jewish nation, is the true Israel. The carnality of the Jews, which continues to this day, causes their blindness and treachery, as they refuse to look to the spiritual sense of the scriptures, focusing instead on temporal and political domination.³ Throughout this translation Fr. Lémann will detail what Jesus Christ prophesied about the temple of Jerusalem, and the kingdom of Israel; that the Jews must probably receive and acclaim the Antichrist as Messiah; that Jerusalem will not become the capital of a Jewish state again; that the temple will not be rebuilt to serve the worship of the Jews; of the certainty of the conversion of the Jewish people, who will not become possessors of Palestine again.

Since the illegitimate and anti-Christian takeover of Palestine by the Jews in 1948, supported at every step by international high finance, along with Soviet communists, Zionism has been wreaking havoc on the Middle East. Not only that, but it has pulled the entire world into its (self-created) problems. It is one of the primary engines of mass and endless migration into White countries, replacing native European peoples, culture and customs. Bloodshed, terrorism and subterfuge are Zionism’s chief characteristics. Ignoring decades of history, the past two years, alone, would suffice to prove this.

Now, without further ado, we present the concluding chapter of Fr. Lémann’s reflections and responses to the Zionist congresses.

Text: L'avenir de Jérusalem; Espérances et chimères, (1901)

WHAT WILL BE THE JERUSALEM WHERE CONVERTED ISRAEL WILL BE BROUGHT BACK?

I. This Jerusalem is none other than the Church of Jesus Christ, which is entered through Holy Baptism. — II. How it came about that, during the first three centuries of the Christian era, several Fathers believed in the return of the Jews to Judea. — III. Their return to the Church through faith in accordance with the spiritual goods promised only in the New Testament. — IV. A symbolic medal struck by the Zionists intended to receive a fulfillment higher than their hopes.

I. This Jerusalem is none other than the Church of Jesus Christ, which is entered through Holy Baptism.

More than once it has been named in the course of this writing, the Jerusalem where converted Israel will be brought back. It is none other than the Church of Jesus Christ, the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church. It is she who is the true Promised Land in this world. The Jews, once introduced, will reign there with Jesus Christ over their passions but not over the peoples of the earth: My kingdom is not of this world.⁴ Finding themselves dispersed among the peoples as they have been for so many centuries, nothing will distinguish them any longer, since they have remained distinguished only by circumcision and by the Mosaic rites. Now, this double mark being abolished, everything will mingle and blend together through the unity of worship, through marriages, ceremonies and laws common in each nation.

It is this entry of Israel into the Church that Jeremiah announced in these consoling words: I will give them one heart and one way, so that they may fear me all the days, and that it may be well with them and with their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them, and I will not cease to do them good, and I will put fear in their heart, so that they will not depart from me. And I will rejoice over them, when I have done them good; and I will establish them in this land, in truth, with all my heart and with all my soul.⁵ What a promise! I will establish them in this land, in truth, not for a time and with an appearance of reconciliation, but with outpouring of heart and forever.

The remnants of Israel will therefore one day be recalled, brought back to their homeland, to their land, which is none other than the spiritual heritage of faith. The hand of the God of hosts will work this marvel; it will bring them to Jerusalem, that is to say, into the bosom of the Church. It will make them dwell there by an inviolable attachment to its doctrine, to its sacraments, to its hierarchy, to its visible and catholic society. They will become the people of God after having been stripped of this glorious title, and the Lord will be their God, not by giving them shadows and figures, but by sharing with them the truth and justice, the truth of a worship truly worthy of God, and the interior justice which truly sanctifies man.

Is it not known that all of us who belong to Jesus Christ have been transferred from the empire of the devil into the kingdom of Jesus Christ?⁶ And this was not done by the movement of our feet, but by the movement of the heart alone. It will be the same with the Jews: the land of the enemy in which they are, is the empire of the devil; they will leave it by faith. The land of Israel to which they will return, is the Church of Jesus Christ; they will enter it as we entered, by Holy Baptism.

II. How it came about that, during the first three centuries of the Christian era, several Fathers believed in the return of the Jews to Judea.

If the opinion of the return of the Jews to their ancient land, that is to say, to Judea, was supported during the first three centuries of Christianity, it was only by certain Fathers. Saint Justin, who had embraced it, expressly declares that feelings on this point were divided; and, after having said that many thought like him, he admits that many who were very orthodox, did not admit this opinion: “You have had my confidence,” he said, speaking to Trypho, “that I and many others have this feeling, so that we have something like evidence that it will be so; but I must make you know that, on the other hand, a great number, who are of this race of Christians, followers of the holy and pure doctrine, do not want to admit it.”⁷ This division of feelings persisted as long as the persecutions lasted. They left no time for a thorough study of the prophecies, in order to discern on which side lay the true interpretation concerning future events which at that time did not interest the majority of the faithful. But, peace having been restored to the Church, the prophecies were studied with greater care; and as they were studied with piety, light spread to those who applied themselves to this study. As early as the third century, this false opinion was advantageously refuted by Saint Dionysius of Alexandria; in the fourth, Saint Jerome, while preserving all the respect due to the holy martyrs who had allowed themselves to be led into it, fought it very vigorously; in the fifth, Saint Augustine completed his rejection of it. and since that time all the most enlightened Fathers and Doctors have recognized that this opinion was only a pure illusion, which dissipated as soon as one came to examine the proofs alleged on both sides.

III. Their return to the Church through faith in accordance with the spiritual goods promised only in the New Testament.

It is therefore their return to the Church, the spiritual Jerusalem, and not a return to the earthly Jerusalem of Palestine, that the Jewish people can and must hope for. The Gospel came to bring and promised only spiritual goods. It was not only for the Christians of the first centuries, but also for the converted Jews of the last ages that Saint Paul wrote these lines: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing for heavenly things in Christ.⁸

Every spiritual blessing for heavenly things! This is expressed in a few precise words the difference that exists between the two Testaments, between the Law and the Gospel.

In the Old Testament, God promised temporal goods, he granted earthly things, a Palestine flowing with milk and honey. Read Leviticus, chapter 26; Deuteronomy, chapters 7, 13; 24, 28. One will find there, as promised to the Jews, only earthly goods.

In the New Testament, on the contrary, it is only spiritual goods that God announces. Read the whole Gospel, all the epistles of the Apostles: nowhere will one find the promise of a land to possess or the promise of earthly goods to receive. Everywhere it is the promise of heaven in the future, the promise of spiritual goods in the present:

Blessed are the willingly poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.
Blessed are those who suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.⁹

This charter of the Messianic kingdom, promulgated by Jesus on the Mount, will apply to the Jews when they enter the Church, just as it has applied, in all centuries, to all Christian peoples. It is towards the heavenly Jerusalem that they will raise their eyes, according to the example given them by the Patriarchs, their fathers, by not seeking here below a permanent city.

IV. A symbolic medal struck by the Zionists intended to receive a fulfillment higher than their hopes.

On the occasion of the Zionist congresses held in Basel, a medal was struck as a symbol of Jewish hopes. On the obverse, it bears the image of a young woman standing with her hand extended toward the sun rising on the horizon. At her feet, the pilgrims of Israel, staff in hand, ask her to serve as their guide. On the reverse, the medal bears the following inscription from Ezekiel: I will take the children of Judah from among the nations and restore them to their land.

One day, perhaps not far off, this symbolic medal will be realized, but in a higher sense than that conceived and hoped for by the Zionists.

The Sun of righteousness, who has risen on the horizon, Jesus Christ, will, in his mercy, have illuminated with his divine rays the long-obscured eyes of Israel.

The young woman whom these wandering pilgrims, staff in hand, ask to be their guide, without however mentioning her name, they will know her and with love, they will say to her, remembering the oracle of Isaiah: You are the Virgin Mother, you are the Virgin Mary!¹⁰

It is She who, with her maternal hand, will have taken the children of Judah from among the Nations,

And it is to their land that She will have returned them, by returning them to the Church!

WHAT WILL BE THE FATE OF EARTHLY JERUSALEM UNTIL THE END OF THE CENTURIES?

I. Two opinions: one affirming that when the times of the nations are fulfilled, Jerusalem will be freed from the yoke of Islamism and will become a Christian capital again; the other pronouncing that Jerusalem will remain trampled underfoot until the end of the world because of its deicide. — II. Reasons which militate more in favor of this second opinion. — III. Two cities, here below, with regard to which human combinations remain powerless: Rome, which will never cease to be the seat of the Vicar of Jesus Christ; Jerusalem, which will no longer resume its place among the capitals, even when the Jews are converted.

I. Two opinions: one affirming that when the times of the nations are fulfilled, Jerusalem will be freed from the yoke of Islamism and will become a Christian capital again; the other pronouncing that Jerusalem will remain trampled underfoot until the end of the world because of its deicide.

Since the earthly Jerusalem of Palestine is not destined to become the possession of the Jews again, even after their conversion, what will be its fate in the future, and until the end of time?

We have indicated this previously in a summary manner, recalling this word of Jesus Christ: Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the nations are fulfilled.¹¹

Two opinions, both perfectly tenable, have been formed, taking their authority from this statement.

According to a first opinion, the least widespread, Jerusalem would see its chains fall and would cease to be trampled underfoot, when the Gospel having been preached throughout the world and the predestined number of believers in the different nations having been reached, Israel would have been converted. Then, without becoming again the City of the Jews as before, Jerusalem would see prosperous days, its political situation improving by the disappearance of the yoke of Islamism to make way for a Christian State. What would this State be? “To what people does God reserve the sublime mission of breaking the chains of the great captive of Christianity? It seemed that France had provided enough apostles, enough crusaders, shed enough blood, to deserve this glory. Nowadays these hopes are weakening. The Crescent is in decline, but if God does not intervene, other races than ours will benefit from its decline.”¹² This opinion of the recovery of Jerusalem taking its place among the nations can be supported by a word of Jehovah in the last song of Moses.¹³ This canticle, one of the most sublime poems of the Old Testament, is also animated by a prophetic breath even more remarkable than its lyrical flight. Moses, in anticipation, contemplates the Hebrews settled in the Promised Land; he discovers and exposes their black ingratitude, and at the same time the punishments that it will bring upon them; their entire past and future history is summarized in this canticle. It ends with an announcement of mercy, when all support will have disappeared for Israel (verses 36-2); but the final feature of this conclusion relates to Palestine: The Lord, it is said, will be propitious to the land of his people.¹⁴ The Lord does not say that Palestine will become the possession of the Jews again, he only says that he will be propitious to this country, to the country of his people. Compared with the words of Jesus that Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, the ending of the canticle of Moses could, it seems, authorize the hope of a recovery of Jerusalem.

But there is a second interpretation, adopted by more numerous exegetes, according to which Jerusalem would be trampled underfoot until there are no more nations, that is to say until the end of the world. This is the meaning that Saint Chrysostom, Euthymius the Great, Benedict Pereira S.J., Manuel de Sá S.J., Lucas of Bruges and others attach to the words of Jesus: until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

An ungrateful city that refused to acknowledge the Lord on the day of his visit, Jerusalem would remain until the end of time in its state of desolation and oppression, to serve as an example. What example? Of the misfortunes to be feared when one separates oneself from God. “Jerusalem,” says Bossuet, “the blessed city that the Lord had chosen, as long as it remained in the covenant and in the faith of the promises, was the figure of the Church and the figure of heaven where God makes himself seen by his children. This is why we often see the prophets joining, in the continuation of the same discourse, what concerns Jerusalem to what concerns the Church and to what concerns celestial glory. But Jerusalem, reprobate and ungrateful towards its Savior, was to be the image of hell. Its perfidious citizens were to represent the damned; and the terrible judgment that God was to exercise on them was the figure of that which he will exercise on the whole universe, when he comes at the end of the centuries in his majesty to judge the living and the dead.”¹⁵ Image of the ungrateful soul, this is what the Jerusalem of Palestine would remain until the last evening of the world, by its state of captivity and desolation. It would not see its chains fall until the approach of the last judgment, remaining until that time the great captive trampled underfoot.

A son of Saint Francis of Assisi, a recent traveler in the land of Israel, Father Ludovic de Besse, expressed this opinion in terms that he will allow us to quote: “Jerusalem not only refused to do penance, but it had taken the habit of massacring the prophets and stoning the envoys of God. So many sacrilegious murders crowned by the crucifixion of the God made man certainly deserved the punishments with which Jesus Christ threatened the Jewish people. It was even fitting that these punishments should be inflicted on the guilty before the eyes of the whole world and should last until the end of time, so that, everywhere and always, thinking minds, seeing the fate of the deicidal land and its inhabitants, should be obliged to cry out in a feeling of terror: Let the justice of God pass! ... ”

“Yes, God is there. He is there in a supernatural way. He is there before and after the punishment whose duration he perpetuates. Before the punishment, Palestine was the Promised Land. It flowed there, says the Scripture, streams of milk and honey ... ”

“Several times over the past eighteen centuries attempts have been made to repopulate Palestine and restore its lost prosperity ... If the sentiments which inspired the Crusades must have gladdened the heart of Our Lord since they aimed only at His glory, the enterprise itself did not receive the blessing of Heaven. It had only a fleeting success. The Kingdom of Jerusalem founded by the Crusaders lasted only ninety years. Certainly, if the Kingdom of Jerusalem had lasted, the Christians would not have taken long to transform Palestine. They would have restored to it the abundance and wealth it had under the reign of Solomon. But its material prosperity would have erased all traces of the curses contained in the Holy Gospel. In the long run, the Son of God would have looked like a false prophet ... ”

“The definitive triumph of the Turks had the effect of keeping Palestine under the curses pronounced by Our Lord. They transformed this once rich country into a sterile desert. Jesus Christ had said: Ecce relinquetur domus vestra deserta. We have traveled this desert, from Caiffa to the Sea of ​​Galilee, from the top of Galilee to Jerusalem, through Samaria. Few or no roads. We have to follow paths which sometimes become impassable on the mountains... This has been going on for eighteen centuries. There is nothing to indicate that it will end. Modern civilization with all its progress will be as powerless as the Crusaders to change this state of affairs... Palestine will therefore remain what it is, and our great-nephews will be able, like us, to go there to contemplate the effects of the divine curse.”¹⁶

II. Reasons which militate more in favor of this second opinion.

This opinion on the perpetual punishment of Jerusalem seems to have for it the considerable authority of a famous prophecy of Daniel. “Christ,” it is said there, “will be put to death, and the people who deny him will no longer be his. A people, with a leader who must come,¹⁷ will destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof will be destruction, and after the end of the war will come the decreed desolation... And the desolation will last until the consummation and until the end.”¹⁸ It seems that one could not predict in a clearer and more vigorous way the perpetuity of ruin and desolation. Also the learned Cornelius Lapide does not hesitate to make this comment: “It is the perpetuity of the desolation either of the Temple or of the city, which is predicted by Daniel. Jerusalem will be enslaved by the Gentiles, as we see it now and as it will be until the end of the world.”¹⁹

Whatever future dominations may subjugate Jerusalem, whatever the goodwill and efforts of civilization towards it, Jerusalem will always retain the stamp of sadness, the signs of mourning and subjection that Good Friday has imprinted upon it.

It will never enjoy that complete and tranquil splendor which adorns most of the great cities of the world. Pilgrimages may “bring thousands of pilgrims there; a host of religious communities may build magnificent convents there to the point that the city will no longer be recognizable,”²⁰ it will always present signs of the decreed desolation. If it happens that, in the future, the Antichrist succeeds in suddenly imprinting on it an anti-Christian splendor, this anti-Christian splendor will be only artificial and fleeting. To believe the contrary would be to delude oneself. “Is it not said, printed a pious sheet recently, that Jerusalem will be a great city during the reign of the Antichrist and then during the conversion of the Jews?”²¹ This is the illusion. We have established, with proof in hand, that Jerusalem will never become again this great city of the Jews; and, after a few months of domination, three years at most, the same will be said of the Jerusalem of the Antichrist, if indeed it becomes his capital. May this man of sin, son of perdition,²² attempts to restore it to its former splendor to falsify the prophecies, he will immediately find himself under a curse similar to that pronounced by Joshua against anyone who would attempt to rebuild the walls of Jericho: Cursed be he before the Lord, cried the successor of Moses after a divine miracle had caused the city walls to collapse, cursed be the man who raises and rebuilds the city of Jericho! May his firstborn die when he lays its foundations, and may he lose the last of his children when he sets up its gates!²³ Six centuries later, under the reign of Ahab, this curse received a terrible fulfillment, when Hiel, who was from Bethel, undertook to rebuild the walls of Jericho. The sacrilegious violator suffered to the letter the punishment predicted by Joshua: He lost Abiram, his eldest son, when he laid its foundations, and Segub, the youngest of his sons, when he set up its gates, according to the Lord had predicted by Joshua, son of Nun.²⁴ This is how it will be with the attempt of the Antichrist, if it succeeds in happening. To stop and make disappear a splendor that Jerusalem must never know again, a miracle of divine vengeance will suddenly strike the Antichrist and stop his arm.²⁵

There are two cities here below against which human combinations will remain powerless: Rome and Jerusalem. Rome, the seat of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, will never cease to be so. Leo XIII has just proclaimed this once again in his Encyclical on the Jubilee of 1900: “The divine mark, which has been imprinted on this city, cannot be altered either by human combinations or by any violence. Jesus Christ, Savior of the world, chose, alone among all, the city of Rome for a mission higher and more exalted than human affairs, and He consecrated it to Himself. He established there, not without a long and mysterious preparation, the seat of His empire. He decided that the throne of His Vicar would stand there for all time.”

But if Rome must remain until the end of time the indestructible seat of the kingdom of Christ and of the papacy, Jerusalem, on the other hand, will never again become the capital or the seat of a new kingdom of Israel. A divine mark has also been imprinted on it, that of punishment. Neither human combinations nor any violence can make it disappear. All that once made its glory: tribes of Israel, palace of David, Temple of Solomon, Ark of the Covenant, priesthood and sacrifices, all this has vanished, vanished forever. What remains of the tribes of Israel, scattered throughout the world, will return to the Church; but Jerusalem will no longer resume its place among the capitals.

WHEN WILL ISRAEL ENTER THE CHURCH, THE SPIRITUAL JERUSALEM?

I. Most likely in the last age of the Church, towards the end of time. The affirmations of Tradition: Fathers and theologians. — II. The affirmations of Holy Scripture: Old and New Testaments. — III. A final word to the Zionists. — IV. The two sons of Joseph at the feet of the patriarch Jacob, and the one fold under the one Shepherd.

I. Most likely in the last age of the Church, towards the end of time. The affirmations of Tradition: Fathers and theologians.

God alone knows the precise date of Israel's return to the Church, and he has reserved it for himself. But what can be conjectured from the data of Tradition and Scripture is that this return will only be accomplished in the last age of the Church, towards the end of time.

First of all, Tradition assures this.

Saint Augustine twice recorded this tradition in his immortal work, The City of God : “At the end of time,” he says, “before the judgment, the Jews will believe in the true Christ, our Christ; this is a famous belief in tradition and in the hearts of the faithful.”²⁶ And in another place: “This is what we have learned must happen in this last judgment or towards this last judgment: the coming of Elijah the Tishbite, the conversion of the Jews, the persecution of the Antichrist, the judgment of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, the separation of the good and the wicked, the burning of the world and its renewal. All these things will happen, we must believe, but in what manner and in what order will they happen? This is what the experience of these things will then make known much better than the intelligence of men can, which cannot now have a perfect knowledge of them. However, I believe that they will happen in the order that I have just indicated.”²⁷

This famous belief in Tradition that the Jews will be converted at the end of time, we could follow century by century, citing the texts of the Fathers of the Church, and thus prove the perfect accuracy of the affirmation of Saint Augustine. But this would be to prolong the conclusion of this writing too much. Let it suffice therefore to name, by referring to the place of their works, the principal Fathers who affirm, like Saint Augustine, that the Jews will not be converted until towards the end of time:

3rd CENTURY
TERTULLIAN, bk. V, Against Marcion, chap. IX.
ORIGIN, Homily VI on the Book of Numbers, towards the end.

4th CENTURY
St. Hilary, Commentary on Ps. LVIII.
St. Ambrose, Book on the Patriarch Joseph, last chap.

5th Century
ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, Commentary on Chapter XI of the Epistle to the Romans.
ST. JEROME, Commentary on Chapter II of Micah; on Malachi, Chapter III; on Ps. XX ; on St. Matthew, Chapter II.
ST. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA, Commentary on Genesis, Book V, on Jacob; on Hosea, Chapter I; on Joel , I, 20; on Micah, V, 3; on St. John, V, 4, 5.
ST. PROSPER OF AQUILAINE, On the Calling of the Gentiles, Book I, Chapter XXI.
ARNOBIUS THE YOUNGER, Commentary on Ps . LXXX.

6th CENTURY
CASSIODORUS, Commentary on Ps. CII.
PRIMASIUS, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, chap. XI.

7th CENTURY
ST. GREGORY THE GREAT, Book of Morals: Book II, chap. I on chapter XXIII of Job; Book XXVII, chap. XXXVI on chapter VII of Job; — Book XXXV, chap. XLII on chapter IX of Job. — Exposition on chapter III of the Song of Songs . — Homily VI on Ezekiel . — Homily XXII on St. John.
ST. ISIDORE OF SEVILLE, Book on the Vocation of the Gentiles, chap. V.

8th CENTURY
THE VENERABLE BEDE, Commentary on Ps. LVIII . — Commentary on chap. VIII of St. Luke.

9th CENTURY
HAIMON, Bishop of Halberstad, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans , chap. II.
DRUTHMAR, monk of Corbie, Expository on St. Matthew, chap. XXI.
BÉRENGAUD, monk of Ferrières, Commentary on the Apocalypse, chap. XI.

11th Century
ST. ANSELM, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, chap. XI.
THE BLESSED PETER DAMIAN, Sermon 66.

12th CENTURY
ST. BERNARD OF CLAIRVOIX, Letter 363.

As we see, it is the most famous among the Holy Fathers who have transmitted to themselves the tradition relating to the conversion of the Jews for the end of time. The remarks with which they accompany this tradition would all be worthy of reporting. But we must be brief. Saint Jerome, for example, reports it, taking as his authority a remarkable contrast between two circumstances of the childhood of Jesus. “When Saint Joseph,” he says, “took the child and his mother to lead them into Egypt, it was night with its darkness, an image of that night of ignorance in which those unbelieving Jews were then enveloped, from which they were withdrawing. But when he returns to Judea, there is no longer either night or darkness mentioned by the Gospel: because, at the end of the world, the Jews receiving the faith, as if Christ were returning to them from Egypt, they will find themselves flooded with light.”²⁸

Elsewhere, in his commentary on the prophet Micah, the same doctor places in the mouth of Jesus Christ the following words: “Because I came in the baseness of the flesh and you did not believe in me, I will come at the end of the world in all my majesty with the Angels and all the heavenly armies; and then I will gather you all together, O Jacob! Then I will gather the remnant of Israel, and I will form only one flock with the people of the Gentiles in my fold.”²⁹

Saint Cyril of Alexandria also makes this beautiful reflection: “Towards the end of time, Jesus Christ Our Lord will reconcile with his ancient persecutor Israel. No one who knows Scripture is unaware that, in the course of centuries, this people will be restored to the love of Christ by the submission of their faith... Yes, one day, after the conversion of the Gentiles, Israel will be converted, and it will remain astonished at the treasures it will find in Christ.”³⁰

How gracious and true is the comparison used by Pope Saint Gregory the Great: “We believe that what is said of Job, whom the Lord blesses even more at the end than at the beginning, has happened according to the truth of history; but we do not doubt that this too will one day be fulfilled according to the mystical sense. Indeed, the holy man Job receives even more blessings at the end than at the beginning; in the same way, at the return of the Jews to the Church, the Lord will console, at the end of time, the grief of this chaste Spouse by the joy she will have at seeing return to her bosom such a great multitude of souls whom she mourned as lost. For she will then be enriched with all the more abundance as the duration of the time of the present life will be manifestly nearer the end.”³¹

The same affirmation from Blessed Peter Damian, although with less unction: “This perfidious people, who now refuse to believe, will return to the faith and will occupy the most inferior part of the mystical body of Jesus Christ; that is to say, this will happen in the last times of the holy Church, at the end of the world.”³²

“In the evening,” says Saint Bernard, “after the multitude of nations has entered the Church.”³³

But if the Fathers are the mouthpieces of Tradition in the Church, the theologians who follow them and who have synthesized their teachings also deserve to be consulted in every important question. We would therefore be incomplete if to these patristic testimonies we did not add those of the princes of theology. By appealing to Saint Thomas and Suarez, we summarize the great theological current from the 13th to the 17th century. Now what did Saint Thomas think of the time when Israel will be converted? Here is his answer:

"Yes, in the course of centuries, there will be among the Jews the partial conversions of those who will turn to the faith of the Gentiles; then, in the end, Israel en masse will be saved³⁴ ... At that moment it will no longer be individuals, it will be the entire nation that will be converted.”³⁵

Suarez is even more formal: “The conversion of the Jews will take place,” he says, “at the time close to the judgment and at the height of the persecution that the Antichrist will inflict on the Church.”³⁶

We asked Tradition about the time of the conversion of the Jews, and it answered: “Towards the end of time.”

The same answer will be given by Holy Scripture, that is to say, either by the Old or the New Testament.

II. The affirmations of Holy Scripture: Old and New Testaments.

In the Old Testament there is mainly the famous text of the prophet Hosea, which is not only formal in this regard, but throws its light on all the other texts relating to this question of time.

For many days, says Hosea, the children of Israel will remain without king, without prince, without sacrifice and without altar. And after that the children of Israel will return, and they will seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and they will approach with fear the Lord and his goods, in the last days:³⁷ in the last days, that is to say, towards the end of time. We can compare this oracle of Hosea with that of the prophet Azarias, stated in almost the same terms, but with this remarkable particularity that it indicates in the midst of what circumstances the return of the Jews will be accomplished: Many days will pass in Israel without the God of truth, and without a teaching priest and without law. And when in their anguish they will have returned to the Lord God of Israel and will seek him, they will find him. In that time one will not be able to go or come safely, because the inhabitants of the earth will be agitated by great troubles. Nation will fight against nation and city against city, because the Lord will trouble them with all kinds of distress.³⁸

It is also for the last times that Moses, in his farewell to Israel, announces the final conversion of this people already so often revolted under his leadership: The Lord will scatter you among all peoples, and you will remain only a small number among the nations where the Lord will have led you... After you have found yourselves overwhelmed by all these evils which have been predicted for you, at the end of the days you will return to the Lord your God, and you will listen to his voice.³⁹

Isaiah speaks of the same:

In that day the remnant of Israel, and those who escape from the house of Jacob, will no longer lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, according to truth. The remnant will return; the remnant, I say, of Jacob will return to the Mighty God. For though your people, O Israel, be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will return. Destruction is determined; it will overflow with justice; and the Lord, the God of hosts, will make the whole earth consume in a short time.⁴⁰ “The prophet,” Cardinal of La Luzerne rightly remarks, “here evidently brings together these two eras: the return of the Jews to the Lord, which will be a conversion, and the universal consummation.”⁴¹

The prophet Malachi announces the connection of these two events as clearly as possible, on the last page of his book which closes the prophecies of the Old Testament: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with anathema.⁴² The prophet Elijah will therefore return to earth to bring the Jews back to the Savior. Our Lord himself clearly affirmed this (Matt. XVII, 3, 11; cf. Apoc. XI, 3). He will bring back the hearts of the fathers and the hearts of the sons. The fathers are the patriarchs and all the pious ancestors of the Israelite people, the sons represent the degenerate race of the time of Jesus Christ and of the following centuries. But it is only some time before the second coming of Jesus Christ, before the coming of the dread day of divine judgment, that the Lord will send the prophet Elijah to the Jews to convert them and save them from punishment.

These very precise announcements of the Old Testament are found like an echo in the New Testament.

Saint Paul, who devoted such a solemn page to the conversion of the Jews, as we have seen previously. warns, however, that this conversion will only be accomplished at the end: They always fill up the measure of their sins: for the wrath of God has fallen upon them until the end.⁴³ The blindness which fell upon Israel from the time of the apostles will therefore remain upon them until the end of the ages, that is, until the fullness of the nations having entered into the Church, all Israel is saved, being then restored to its own stem.⁴⁴

Saint John, in his Apocalypse, on this very joyful page where he describes the completion of the spiritual Jerusalem which is the Church, also indicates by a comparison of the truest and most gracious that the return of the Jews will only take place at the end: One of the seven Angels, he says, carried me away in spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It had the brightness of God, and its light was like a precious stone, like a jasper stone, like crystal. It had a great and high wall having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve Angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.⁴⁵ Thus it is on the doors of the completed Church that the names of the twelve tribes of Israel appear. Now, at what point in the construction of a building is it customary to place the doors there? Is it not when the construction is completed, when everything is about to be finished, after the floors have been arranged, the halls and rooms determined? It is therefore only after the Church has acquired all its developments, when the fullness of the nations, its living stones, has taken its place in the construction and completion of the building, that Israel, represented by the twelve doors presenting the names of its twelve tribes, will come to place itself there in its turn. Therefore, only at the completion of the Church, on the evening of the world. But the apostle Saint John adds another detail no less worthy of note: And the wall of the city, he continues, had twelve foundations, and on these foundations, the twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.⁴⁶ Who are these twelve Apostles of the Lamb? Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, James son of Zebedee and John his brother, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector, James son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus, Simon the Canaanite⁴⁷ and Matthias,⁴⁸ all of Israelite race. From which it follows that after having found itself at the base of the Church with its twelve apostles, Israel will find itself there again with its twelve tribes at the consummation. At the consummation! This is what the blessed Peter Damian has already taught us in a saying that we are pleased to quote again: “This perfidious people, who now refuse to believe, will return to the faith and will occupy the lowest part of the mystical body of Jesus Christ; that is to say, this will happen in the last times of the holy Church, at the end of the world.”⁴⁹ In his comparison of the twelve foundations and the twelve gates, the style of Saint John prevails in good grace over the quotation of the Cardinal of Ostia; it is because Saint John, for having rested his head on the breast and heart of Jesus, remained the inimitable apostle of delicacy and charity.

III. A final word to the Zionists.

It is therefore in relation to the Church, spiritual Jerusalem, that Israel has hopes of return, and only for the end of time. It must mourn the earthly Jerusalem; it will no longer return there as a constituted people. The project of the Zionists, however generous it may be, cannot consequently succeed. Like all chimeras here below, it will dissipate of its own accord, having divine decrees against its success.

When, as a result, insurmountable obstacles and unexpected events have shown this to be true, it will likely happen that disillusioned Zionists will have the thought of turning their attention to the Church. For, as Thomas Aquinas remarked, “in the course of centuries there will be partial conversions among the Jews, while waiting for Israel en masse to be saved.⁵⁰ May these Zionists of good faith and generous hearts then give to their brothers, to those whom they wanted to displace and draw towards the land of Palestine, may they give them the salutary example of a serious and unbiased study of biblical prophecies, accompanied by prayer. May this prayer be, for example, this: “Lord, grant us the grace to know you, to love you and to serve you, as you desire to be known, loved and served.” The grace of God will do the rest, while waiting for it to accomplish the mass conversion of all Israel...

IV. The two sons of Joseph at the feet of the patriarch Jacob, and the one fold under the one Shepherd.

Jacob was about to die. When Joseph heard this, he came with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. They said to the old man, “Here is your son, Joseph.” Immediately, regaining his strength, he sat up on his bed and said to Joseph, I have had the consolation of seeing you again against all hope, and God has been pleased to give me the same consolation of seeing your children. Therefore, your two sons whom you had before I came to Egypt will be mine: Ephraim and Manasseh will be numbered among my own children. Joseph, having removed them from between his father’s knees, bowed down to the ground, then he placed Manasseh on Jacob’s right hand, because he was the eldest, and Ephraim on his left. But the old man, crossing his arms on purpose and giving, as the Scripture says, understanding to his hands, put the right hand on Ephraim’s head and the left on Manasseh’s; and he blessed, saying, May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who nourished me from my youth, the Angel who delivered me from all evil, bless these children, that they may bear my name, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and that they may multiply exceedingly on the earth. Now when Joseph saw that his father had laid his right hand upon Ephraim, he was grieved. So he took Jacob’s hand to take it from Ephraim’s head and put it upon Manasseh’s head, and he said, Your hands are not right, my father; for this is the firstborn, lay your right hand upon his head. But Jacob refused to do it, and he said, I know it well, my son, I know it well.⁵¹

The ancients, following Saint Paul, saw in this mysterious scene a figure of Jesus Christ and the dispensation of his graces. It is by faith, says Saint Paul, that Jacob blessed each of Joseph’s children.⁵²

What then was this faith? And in what way did the Patriarch represent the Redeemer, represent the dispensation of graces?

Ah! It is by the crossing of his hands that Jacob represented Christ, and this is why Scripture attributes to them a prophetic intelligence. In blessing, Jacob contemplated and greeted the cross from afar. Placed in a cross, his hands announced the cross, the source of all blessings.⁵³

But now, in this crossing of hands, it is on the head of Ephraim, the younger, that the right hand of the Patriarch was placed. So it was with the Gentile people, represented by Ephraim: it was on him, although the youngest, that all the blessings of Christ descended first. To him the right hand; he became the eldest in the Christian faith.⁵⁴

But the left hand, by the fact of the crossing of the arms, also came to rest on the head of Manasseh. The Jewish people, which he represents and which was once the eldest, will therefore be blessed in its turn. One day, when the fullness of the nations has entered the Church, it will be contemplated beside the Gentile people, its brother, with bowed foreheads, and worshippers of Jesus Christ.

And then it will be the union of the two sons of Joseph, the fraternal union of the two peoples of Christ. It will be the awaited and joyful realization of this prophetic announcement fallen from the heart and lips of Jesus Christ: Unum ovile et unus Pastor, One single fold under the one Shepherd.⁵⁵

END.⁵⁶

CONSIDER SUPPORTING THE JOURNAL OF AMERICAN REFORM!

As I intend to devote more and more time to this political project, I want to continue to provide free, educational material, whether visual (edits) or written (essays, translations and a forthcoming book) content. If you have benefited from my work in any way, kindly consider supporting the journal financially. On a personal note, I am married and duty-bound to provide for my family, so any help, big or small, is appreciated. Subscribe or make a one-time donation.

Regardless, the production of free material will continue, hopefully with ever-increasing quality, and I will keep all my subscribers notified of my plans.

In addition to Substack, the home of the journal, my work, graphics and commentary can be found on the following platforms:

X: @AmericanReform_

Telegram: @American_Reform

1. The beginning of the full and official biography of the brothers, entitled Les Frères Lémann, par P. Théotime de Saint Just (Paris, 1937) is available online in French.

2. Fraternité Saint Dominique, Joseph et Augustin Lémann (1836-1915 et 1836-1909)

3. Meurin SJ. “If he [the Jew] only wanted to elevate himself from the material meaning of his holy books to the spiritual meaning, he would be saved… But he does not want to. His avenging is voluntary. It is a psychological phenomenon that one encounters among great intelligences and among great criminals, to persist in evil and in lies. Pride is the explanation. Satan himself can no longer be saved: he does not want to and never will. The pride of a great intelligence prefers a thousand times to suffer than to lower itself and recognize its error.”

4. Jn. XVIII, 36.

5. Jer. XXXII, 39-41.

6. Col. I, 13.

7. St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, chap. LXXX.

8. Eph. I, 3.

9. Matt. V, 3-10.

10. Isa. VII, 14.

11. Lk., XXI, 24.

12. Le journal la Croix, March 24, 1898.

13. Deut. XXXII, 1.

14. Ibid. XXXII, 43.

15. Bossuet, Disc. sur l'Hist. universelle, part. II, chap. XXII.

16. P. Ludovic de Besse, Études franciscaines, March 1899.

17. Le peuple romain avec Titus.

18. Dan. IX, 26, 27.

19. Cornelius A. Lapide., Comment. on Dan., IX, 27.

20. Bulletin de l'œuvre du Denier de S. Pierre, April 1900.

21. Ibid.

22. II Thess. II, 3.

23. Josh. VI, 26.

24. I Kgs. XVI, 34.

25. Isa. XI, 4; II Thess. II, 8.

26. St. Augustine, The City of God, bk. XX, chap. XXIX.

27. Ibid., bk. XX, chap. XXX.

28. St. Jerome, Commentary on St. Matthew, chap. II.

29. Ibid., Commentary on Micah, chap. II.

30. St. Cyril of Alexandria, Glaphyria on Genesis, bk. V, on Jacob

31. St. Gregory the Great, Morals, bk. XXXV, chap. XIV.

32. St. Peter Damian, Sermon LXVI.

33. St. Bernard, Epistle CCCLXIII.

34. St. Thomas, on Romans, chap. XI, lect. 2.

35. Ibid., ibid., lect. 4.

36. Suarez, in part. IIIa , Sum. Theol. D. Thom., Disputat. LVI, sect. I.

37. Hos. III, 4, 5.

38. II Chron. XV, 3-6. Three opinions have been formed around this oracle of Azarias, depending on whether one applies it to the past (the time of the Judges, certain unfortunate periods of the Kings), to the present or to the future of the Hebrews. The Vulgate rightly favors the third opinion, which also has the whole context on its side. (Fillion, la Sainte Bible commentée.)

39. Deut. IV, 37, 30.

40. Isa. X, 20-23.

41. La Luzerne, Dissertation sur les propriétés, art. VII, § 17.

42. Mal. IV, 5-6.

43. 1 Thess. II, 16.

44. Rom. XI, 23-26

45. Apoc. XXI, 9-12.

46. Ibid.

47. Matt. X, 2-4.

48. Act. II, 23-26.

49. St. Peter Damian, Sermon LXVI.

50. St. Thomas, on Romans, chap. XI, lect. 2.

51. Gen. XLVIII.

52. Heb. XI, 21.

53. Tertullian, on Baptism, chap. VIII. — St. Cyprian, Against the Jews, chap. XXI. — St. Ambrose, On the Blessings of the Patriarchs, chap. I. — St. Augustine, Question 166, in Gen.

54. St. Hilary, in Ps. LIX, no. 9. — St. Ambrose, On the Blessings of the Patriarchs, chap. I, no. 3; in Ps. cx; Sermon XIV, no. 32. — S. Hieronym., in Jerem. cap. XXXI, V. 9. — St. Augustine, The City of God, 1. 16, chap. XLII. Qq. in heptaleuch., I. 1, IX, 164.- Paulin Nolan., Ep. XXIII, n° 41. - S. Isidor. Hispal., Quæst. in Genes., cap. XXXI, n° 1 et seq. ; Alleg. vet, et novi Testam., no 47, 48.

55. Jn. X, 16.

56. The translation for this document was done with digital translation software and then (carefully) manually reviewed to ensure readability and coherence. The skeptical reader is encouraged to review the original French, in addition to the sense and style of the text, linked above, should he maintain doubts.