ANTONIAN MARONITES OF ALEPPO AND BALAD
In 1694 three young Maronites from Aleppo—Gabriel Eva, Abdullah Qara’ali, and Joseph al-Batni—requested permission from the patriarch to found a religious order. At that time, as had always been the case, Lebanon was dotted with a. accafali monasteries. Having obtained the monastery of St. Maura, the three young men restored it to serve as their dwelling. In 1695 the patriarch clothed them in the cowl and habit, and a year later they were given the monastery of St. Elisha. Meanwhile, they had compiled their rules and constitutions, drawing upon both Eastern and Western sources, as Qara’ali and G. Assemani state in the preface to the book of rules. On 10 October 1698 the first chapter was held, and Fr. Eva was elected superior general.
Soon, however, a disagreement arose regarding the purpose of the order—whether it should be active or contemplative in character. Eva, along with two monks, favored the former, while the others preferred the latter. An extraordinary chapter was therefore convened, and Qara’ali was elected superior general. Eva remained for a few months with the dissenters at St. Maura, then in 1701 he departed for Rome, where after several years Clement XI entrusted him with the church of SS. Peter and Marcellus, building him a house nearby as a hospice and college for the monks. These monks, however, did not definitively take possession of the property until 1724, by order of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. On 18 June 1700 Patriarch ad-Duwaih approved the rule, and the monks made their solemn profession of the three vows, to which in 1705 they added that of humility, adopting its formula from the Discalced Carmelites. In 1706 they changed the name of the Aleppine Order to the Lebanese Order, and Patriarch G. Auwad approved the rule with the amendments that had meanwhile been made. Yet it was only on 31 March 1731 that Clement XII, with the brief *Apostolatus*, approved the same rules and constitutions, which had been considerably expanded by G. Assemani, as is evident from writings of his published by L. Blaibel, and in 1735 they were published in Rome in Arabic and Latin. The same Clement XII, in 1732, approved with the brief *In supremo* the rules for the college of SS. Peter and Marcellus, which in 1753 was transferred to Piazza S. Pietro in Vincoli. (See also the briefs of Benedict XIV, *Iniunctum*, of 7 October 1744, and *Apostolatus*, of 7 November 1745.)
The missionary activity envisaged at the order’s inception was confirmed in the aforementioned briefs and in the letter that, as papal delegate, Monsignor Assemani addressed to the monks in 1736, and today it is being fully realized. Soon serious conflicts began to arise between the Lebanese and the natives of Aleppo, culminating in 1744 with the former appealing to the patriarch. The Lebanese, particularly incensed by those—who were not few—who had entered the order without being Maronites, persisted in living separately even after the prohibition issued by Benedict XIV (*Supremum*, 17 May 1757), until Clement XIV (*Ex iniuncto*, 19 July 1770) confirmed the division into the Aleppine Antonian Congregation and the Baladite Antonian Congregation (indigenous). The Aleppines established a mission in Damietta in 1745, where initially they ministered to faithful of all rites. Later they assumed responsibility for the Maronites throughout Egypt, excepting Alexandria, and in the Sudan.
According to the *Statistical Yearbook* published in 1932 by the Sacred Congregation for the Eastern Churches, the Aleppine congregation comprises 132 monks, 10 monasteries, 14 residences or hospices (including a college in Rome and a parish in Montevideo), and a hermitage, while the Baladites, who spread only within Lebanon, number 645 monks (including some hermits), 31 monasteries, 25 residences or hospices (one of which is in Cyprus), and a college in Beirut. In 1938 new constitutions were promulgated for these two congregations and for that of St. Isaiah; these are now under trial.