Our Origins

The roots of the Antonine Congregation go back to Saint Anthony of the Desert, called the Father of Monastic life. As a community, the Antonine Sisters belong to the Antiochene Maronite Church.

The “Moniales Antonines” (cloistered communities of women religious) were found in Lebanon as early as 1700. There they lived in four independent monasteries following the spiritual way of Saint Anthony of the Desert.

A member of the Jezzine community Lebanon, Sister Isabelle Khoury, aware of the crying need for education among the poor living in small villages, obtained permission to found a convent together with  a school outside Beirut, Lebanon.

In 1932, Mother Isabelle Khoury’s community received Papal permission to engage in apostolic ministries outside the convent.

Since 1954, the Antonine Sisters have greatly extended their apostolate. They now work in such diversified ministries as education, health, and social services. They also are actively engaged in parochial, cultural, religious, liturgical and scriptural programs.

APOSTOLATE OF THE ANTONINE SISTERS AUSTRALIA

The Antonine Sisters arrived in Melbourne in 1980 and soon established an Arabic language and a cultural school.

In 1986, the Child Care Centre was established, which now serves as an integral pastoral component of the community. The Parish established St Paul’s Hostel, a welcoming home for the elderly, which is run by the Antonine Sisters.

In 1998 the Antonine Sisters Maronite Primary School was successfully established.

In 2002 the Antonine Sisters – Trinity Maronite Catholic College (a co-educational secondary college) was established.

2005 demonstrated a further commitment of the Antonine Sisters to education, with the amalgamation of Antonine Sisters Maronite Catholic Primary School and Antonine Sisters – Trinity Maronite Catholic College which resulted in the establishment of Antonine College.

Throughout the world

Our apostolic mandate includes early childhood and youth education, social health services as well as religious, cultural, pastoral and parochial activities. Our institutions, pertaining to educate, count 21 school establishments; 10 are at the secondary level. Most of these institutions are trilingual (French, English and Arabic) and educate some 15 000 students in a given school year.
Actually, we are working in 42 institutions of which 32 are in Lebanon and 8 elsewhere in the world. We are established in different Lebanese regions and in some other country such as