Mother house, Ibrine. Sainte Famille, Lebanon

Building the Mother House

The basic objective of Mother Stéphanie was to build the mother house. The decision was taken at once, with the new construction to be built over the blood of the Founding Martyr. Mother Stéphanie, herself, directed the labor force and the works. The first stone of the chapel was laid in 1907. 

The Founder consecrated it in 1913 and the work was completed by 1917. The convent doors were wide open to accept young girls, according to the main aim, for which the Congregation had been founded. Mother Stéphanie built a school as well as a boarding home.Fortified by the blood of the Founding Martyr, the unshakable faith and iron will of its co-founder, the nascent Congregation developed and expanded with astonishing rapidity, to become a very huge tree where birds have come to nest, from having been a mustard seed, as the Founder witnessed himself.