BASILIANE SOUJARITE. - A female congregation founded in 1732 by several Melkite Aleppine unmarried women who were already living in community in Aleppo according to the constitutions of the Visitation nuns of St Francis de Sales, under the guidance of Fr Peter Fromage.
Their customs were confirmed by Benedict XIV in the constitution *Demandatam* of 24 Dec. 1743. Then the constitutions of the Order were approved by Clement XIII with the brief of 15 Nov. 1762 and printed in Rome in 1764 (cf. Mansi, XLVI, cols. 309-320, 330, 1225-30; Italian version of the constitutions, cols. 1303-46). The B. S. aim at a life of cultural contemplation with strict enclosure and choral office. They have two monasteries with 45 religious in the diocese of Beirut.
From these, in 1832, when the Souveri monks split into two branches, there arose the Basilian Aleppine nuns, who nonetheless retained the same constitutions and way of life. They too have two monasteries with 30 religious in the diocese of Beirut.