Before leaving Rome, M. Ratisbonne was to visit one of his childhood's friends, an old schoolmate with whom he had always kept up an intimacy, although their religious belief was so widely at variance. This friend was M. Gustave de Bussière, a zealous Protestant, who several times had endeavored to profit by their intimacy, by persuading M. Ratisbonne to embrace Protestantism, but the latter was immovable, and the two friends, after useless discussions, usually ended by a renewal of their faith in two words, expressing most emphatically how invincible each deemed himself. "Headstrong Jew!" said one; "Enraged Protestant!" replied the other. Such was the result of these conversations, which never succeeded in shaking the opinion of either, or dissipating any of their deplorable errors. This opposition of principles, however, did not estrange their friendship. M. Ratisbonne called to see M. De Bussière, and was admitted by an Italian servant. He inquired for M. Gustave de Bussière, but this gentleman was absent, and by a providential mistake the servant introduced him into the salon of M. Theodore Bussière, Gustave's brother, whom M. Ratisbonne had seen but once. It was too late to withdraw, and though somewhat disconcerted at the mistake, he stopped to exchange a few words of courtesy with his friend's brother. M. De Bussière had had the happiness of abjuring Protestantism, and he was a zealous advocate of the Faith he had so lately learned to prize. He knew that M. Ratisbonne was a Jew; he received him with affectionate eagerness, and the conversation naturally turning upon the various places of interest in Rome visited by the young French traveler, it soon drifted into a religious discussion. M. Ratisbonne did not disguise his real sentiments, he expressed his animosity against Catholicity, his inalterable attachment to Judaism and to the baron De Bussière's solid arguments, his only replies were the frigid politeness of silence, a smile of pity, or new protestations of fidelity to his sect, repeating that a Jew he was born and a Jew he would die!
It was then that M. De Bussière, not the least discouraged by M. Ratisbonne's emphatic language, and impelled by a secret impulse of grace, thought of offering him the Miraculous Medal. Doubtless this idea appears rash to many, and many would have banished it as a veritable folly, but the simplicity of faith teaches us to discern things by a very different light from that in which they are revealed to the world. Filled with this holy fearlessness of the Saints, M. De Bussière presents the young Jew a medal of the Immaculate Conception. "Promise me," said he, "to always wear this little image, I beg you not to refuse me." M. Ratisbonne, unable to conceal his astonishment at so strange a proposition, rejects it instantly with an expression of indignation that would have disconcerted any other than his new friend. "But," continues our fervent Catholic undismayed, "I cannot understand the cause of such a refusal, for, according to your view of things, the wearing of this object must be to you a matter of total indifference, whilst it would be a real consolation to me if you would condescend to my request." "Ah! I will comply, then, if you attach so much importance to it," replied the other with a hearty laugh; "I should not be sorry, moreover, to have an opportunity of convincing you that Jews are not so headstrong as they are represented. Besides, it will give me an interesting chapter to add to my notes and impressions of travel." And he continued to jest on the subject in a manner rather painful to the Christian hearts around him.