Foundation
Convinced that the priest is God’s ambassador and minister on Earth, and after the inauguration of Our Lady of the Sea, Abouna Yaacoub received on October, 4, 1926, the first priest he found abandoned and left alone in a hospital, and who was followed afterwards by other priests, patients and disabled persons from different religions and confessions. When the place became too small, he builds other centers. At that time, Abouna Yaacoub truly felt, deep in his heart, the dire need to establish a religious congregation to take care of those priests and sick ones. So, he launches his big project relying on the Divine Providence with a small group of tertiary girls whom he entrusted their education to the Franciscan Sisters of “Lons le Saunier”. They became later the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Cross, whose humanitarian mission is to spread goodness and virtue.
At that time, One of the first who joined the Congregation was Mary Elias Zougheib, from Zouk-Mikael. The father Founder changed her name into Mary of the Cross Zougheib; who later became the first Superior General and co-Founder. She continued Abouna Yaacoub’s projects and finished them after he died in 1954, while she remained in charge of the spiritual and daily affairs of the Congregation till 1972. It should be noted that the ecclesiastical authorities had awarded her for life the title of Honorary Superior General of the Congregation.
December 8, 1930 is the date of the foundation of the new Congregation, when the apostolic delegate, Bishop Giannini, verbally authorized the nuns to wear the religious habit outside the convent. The nuns were committed to an individual, non-public vow and were not subject to specific fixed codes. Two years later, on February 1932, the Franciscan Sisters of the Cross became independent and self-administered congregation. Currently, the congregation includes nuns working in convents and leading projects in all Lebanese regions, and in Italy, France, Egypt and Jordan.
As for the constitutions that Abouna Yaacoub had written before his death, and had left in the hands of his daughters to live and experience them, they were reviewed by the Second Vatican Council, at the request of the Church. After a long in-depth study and a permanent application of its content, the congregation obtained the decree of definitive confirmation published on September 14, 1983 by the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches.
Mission
The Congregation achieves its objective through charity actions:
- Providing refuge to the priests who are unable to pursue their priesthood because of sickness or old age;
- Taking care of the miserable, the blind, the disabled, the mentally ill, the elderly and even the people suffering from chronic diseases who were abandoned by their families and hospitals;
- Taking care of the orphans and educating them;
- Finally, when necessary, educational mission in schools in the areas where the Sisters have a residence, and in the absence of another teaching congregation.
Vision
- Continue to provide services at hospital and educational levels according to the spirit of our Founder Blessed Abouna Yaacoub.
- Be committed to love, to free service, and to mercy, toward all the persons we meet and serve.
- Follow the evolution and progress at all levels according to international quality standards, in order to provide a service worthy of our patients, our students and all those who visit us.
- Carry out continuous training for our doctors, our teachers and all our employees, in addition of educating them spiritually and scientifically.
Structure
The congregation is composed of nuns, who want, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to live the Franciscan monastic life and work together on building the Church with love. It is run by a Superior General with a Board composed of four assistants, a general secretary and a procurator, both appointed by the Superior General with the approval of the Board. Every convent is run by a local superior assisted by a vice-superior, and a local council if necessary. The authority in the Congregation is a service centered in helping the Sisters to discover and fulfill the will of God, and to live their consecration in a religious community revived by the Bible.
Therefore, the General Chapter which expresses the unity of the institution, represents the higher authority in the Congregation by virtue of the Constitutions. It practices this authority through the election of the General Superior and the counselors and by taking the important decisions concerning the life of the Congregation and its apostolate.
The General Superiors who have succeeded in the governance of the Congregation since its foundation:
- Mother Marie de la Croix Zougheib 1932-1972
- Mother Marguerite Damien 1972-1984
- Mother Arzé Gemayel 1984-1996
- Mother Rita Rouhana 1996-2002
- Mother Marie Makhlouf 2002-2014
- Mother Jeannette Abou Abdallah 2014-2020
As for the current Board (2020-2026), it is constituted of:
- Mother Marie Makhlouf: General Superior
- Sister Nahida Chaccour: General Vicar and first counselor
- Mother Jeannette Abou Abdallah: second counselor
- Sister Elizabeth Abi Hachem: third counselor
- Sister Hiyam El-Badawi: fourth counselor