Dr. Joiachim Heinrich Biesenthal – or, to give him his birth-name, Raphael Hirsch – was born at Lobsens, in the Grand Duchy of Posen, on December 24th, 1804, of pious and strict Jewish parents. His early education was chiefly confined to the study of the national law and tradition; and through much self-denial and sacrifice on the part of his parents, who intended him for the rabbinate, he was able to have lessons from the best teachers and most learned Talmudist scholars of the day. He was what is called a Bachur (lit. « young man »), a student of the Beth Hamidrash, who is intended for the study of the law. The Talmudical principle, « Know well what to answer an infidel, » particularly moved his father to insist that he should join with the study of Talmud that of the Holy Scriptures and Jewish poetry. He soon found, however, that as regards his study of the Bible he was left to his own diligence and perseverance, for his teachers knew nothing at all about it; and being imbued with the Talmudical warning – « Keep your children from the study of Holy Scripture, » they were of opinion that it was not only a useless study and waste of time, but also a danger to one’s piety.

In 1819, when Raphael was fifteen years of age, the town of Lobsens was destroyed by fire, by which his parents were ruined. His education, however, had to be completed, so he entered the famous Jewish school of Rawitsch, where he received instruction from rabbis, and principally from Rabbi Herzfeld, of European renown. Deprived of every assistance from home, young Raphael had to struggle hard during his four year’s residence there. On leaving Rawitsch he went to Mains, where he received most kind care and support from the Rabbi of D

Born at Amsterdam, 1795, of a Portuguese family, died there December 16th, 1874. Here is his autobiography, which he sent to his friend, Ridley Herschell, in London:
« I will no longer delay, dear friends, to comply with your request that I would communicate in writing the mode in which it pleased God to bring me to the knowledge of Himself, and to lead me out of darkness into His marvelous light  Bio
« Being deeply sensible that it was not of myself I sought after God, but that my compassionate Lord came to seek me when I was lost, it would be false modesty if I were now to withhold an account which, when verbally communicated, interested and edified many dear friends, who therein traced the great love of the Saviour towards a poor sinner like me, and thus were led to ascribe all the glory to Him whose name is blessed for evermore. May this glory be the only object I shall keep in view in this account!Such is the sincere desire of my heart; and I ask of God to guide my pen in truth and sincerity; that I may be kept from all self-seeking, into which the necessity of speaking of myself might betray me.

Throughout the centuries, there have been remarkable individual conversions from Judaism to Catholicism.  The story of  Francis Libermann is unique, for no other Hebrew convert was to exercise such a significant influence on the spiritual welfare of the African Continent, as this nineteenth-century descendant of Abraham.  He was born on April 12, 1804, at Saverne in Alsace and was given the name of Jacob by his father Lazarus, a zealous and pious rabbi who raised his children faithfully in the precepts of Judaism. Jacob grew to love his religion, studying diligently both Bible and Talmud. He grew up with a pronounced aversion based on fear of Christians, particularly clergy, and as a child fled at the sight of them, convinced – not always without reason – that they wished him ill.  Jacob was a delicate, nervous child and when his mother died, the ensuing grief aggravated his already precarious physical condition. Although pious as a child, during the adolescent years following his mother’s death he slipped into religious indifference, which finally ended in his total rejection of the Jewish faith. About this time his eldest brother embraced Catholicism, an event which plunged him into even greater religious confusion. One of his companions then loaned him a book, a translation of the four Gospels into Hebrew. He read it avidly, and was much impressed with the sincerity of its message, but found himself unable to accept the miracles of Christ. Further light was on the way, however, this time from a most unexpected source. Of all the books ever written, perhaps Emile of Jean Jacques Rousseau would be the least calculated to bring an inquirer to a knowledge of Catholicism. Astounding as it may seem, it was this condemned work which was to set our young on the right road in his religious quest. In one section of Emile Rousseau lists the arguments for and against the divinity of Christ, and Libermann found himself totally convinced by the arguments for His divinity. This was only intellectual conviction however. As yet, he was still a long way from theological faith. Then the conversions of two of his brothers to Catholicism shook his soul to its depths. Blanketed in darkness and distraught by anxiety, he set out for Paris to consult Monsieur Drach, another convert from Judaism to the Church. Drach decided that what Libermann needed most was some quiet spot he could think. Accordingly he arranged that Jacob should remain at the College Stanislaus for some time. Shutting himself up in his room the young man gave himself over to incessant prayer and reflection, restricting his reading to religious works. Piteously he pleaded with divine Providence for guidance. His prayers were answered. Light came and he believed absolutely.  He describes this experience thus:

“I believed all without difficulty. From that moment my great desire was to see myself plunged in the sacred font, and my happiness was not long delayed. I was at once prepared for the admirable sacrament and received it on Christmas Eve. Next morning I was allowed to approach the Holy Table.”

This was in 1826. At Baptism he took the name of Francis Mary Paul, the latter out of devotion for the great Apostle of the Gentiles. There was a prophetic touch to the choice, for in many ways he was to emulate the missionary exploits of his zealous prototype.

Rev. (Joseph Samuel) Christian Friedrich Frey, born at Stockheim, near Wurzburg, in 1771. His father was an assistant rabbi, in good circumstances, and a distinguished opponent of Christianity, owing to his wife’s brother having become a Christian. The children were early prejudiced against Christianity by their home teacher, who read to them the story about Jesus as given in the « Toldoth Yeshu. » At the age of eighteen Frey became a teacher and a precentor in small congregations. In the course of his wanderings he met a Christian merchant, who induced him to enquire into Christianity, and this happened repeatedly with others. He then learned the trade of shoemaking, and was finally converted in 1798, at Prenzlan, when his master, a worldly man, dismissed him on account of attending prayer meetings frequently. Encouraged by Christian friends he went to Berlin, and applied to Pastor Janicke for admission into his missionary training school in 1800. From there he went to London. Then, after holding meetings with Jews in Bury Street, Spitalfields, he wrote a most touching appeal to the Committee of the L.J.S. (or rather to those earnest Christian men who formed themselves later into a Committee) in 1801, and thus he gave the first impulse to the establishment of the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews in 1809.

Of  Frey’s converts at that time an excellent one was Erasmus H. Simon, who after his baptism studied theology at Edinburgh, and went with Thelwall to Amsterdam, in 1820, to work in that city amongst the Jews, as he knew the Dutch language. In 1816 Frey went to America, where he assisted in the reconstruction of the already existing American Society for Evangelizing the Jews, under the title of « The Society for Ameliorating the Condition of the Jews in New York, » under which he laboured for some time.