In 1855 Alphonse moved to the Holy Land, where, in 1858, he established the Convent of the "Ecce homo" on the site of a ruined church of that name on the famed Via Dolorosa for the Sisters of the congregation. On the grounds of the convent, Ratisbonne built an orphanage and vocational school which the Sisters ran. These institutions were open to all the children of the city, regardless of creed. A motherhouse was established in Paris for the Fathers. In 1874, Alphonse began the construction of the Ratisbonne Monastery, on a site then on the outskirts of Jerusalem, which was a school for boys. It now houses a branch of the Salesian Pontifical University.