The Antonine Sisters

St.Anthony

 

The Antonine Order of Saint Isaiah was founded on August 15, 1700, at the convent of Saint Isaiah on the mount Aranta - Broummana, by Bishop Gabriel Bluzene and two monks from Our Lady of Tamich.

 The Antonine monks and nuns take their name after Saint Anthony of the Desert who heard the words of Jesus in Mark 10:21, “Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

After residing in Lebanon in different convents of Sts. Peter and Paul (Kattine), Saint Anthony (Baabda), Our Lady of Bkerke and Saint Simon the Stylite (Baskinta), the Antonine nuns were established permanently in two monasteries: Saint Elias (Ghazir) in 1748 and Saint Anthony (Jezzine) in 1774.  The Antonine nuns followed the rules of the Antonine monks and were called adorers. They led a solitary and cloistered life that was based on prayer, manual work, and service inside the cloister.

While in prayer, Mother Isabelle Khoury, Superior of the sisters at the monastery of Saint Anthony, Jezzine, felt the urgent need for ministry outside the confines of the cloister. She was sensitive to the needs of the Lebanese people after World War I, especially as it concerns a good education for youth in poor villages to prepare them for a better future. Mother Isabelle knew how to read the signs of the time and endeavored with courage to renew her religious Congregation and to make it open and ready to serve the needs of the Church and society without relinquishing the aspects of contemplation, mysticism, and prayer which form the vertical dimension of this new religious life. The innovator, Mother Khoury, joined in her person the virtues of religious mysticism and zeal for the mission with a radical and evangelical commitment. Her major virtues were poverty and love of work and prayer, humility, obedience, charity, compassion, and patience.

On May 10, 1932, according to their request and the decision of the General Council of the Antonine Fathers, Mother Isabelle Khoury and Sister Mariam Aoun left Jezzine to reside in Mar Doumith’s monastery (Roumieh-Metn). With the help of the Superior General of the Antonine Fathers, her parents, relatives, and friends, Mother Isabelle renovated the monastery to become the motherhouse and the headquarters of the Antonine Sisters. On April 10, 1940, the nuns were authorized by the Holy See to start an apostolic life outside the convent.

According to the instruction of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, the sisters decided in 1953, in a definite way for the apostolic life; their new Constitutions were approved on January 17, 1958.

Different Chapters were held to finalize the new adapted Constitutions, which the Congregation for the Oriental Churches approved on April 26, 1996.

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