Caption: Nashabiyé School, Dame Syrie, run by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
The Jesuit missionaries founded two women’s groups, the “Mariamettes” and the “Poor Daughters of the Sacred Heart,” to serve as their assistants in working with women in a society that was still resistant to girls’ education. In 1874, these two groups merged into a single institute and took the name “Congregation of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.”
Education and the promotion of women’s roles, carried out through social programs, were two of the institution’s main missions.
Founded in 1853, the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts School in Bikfaya is the first school in the Metn region. “Our Congregation was established five years ago with the goal of educating the girls of the towns and villages of Mount Lebanon,” wrote Sister Marie Elhab, superior of the Mariamettes in Bekfaya (Mount Lebanon), on March 12, 1858.
