The Order of the Armenian Catholic Sisters of the Immaculate Conception (Armenian: Անարատ հղության հայ քույրերի միաբանություն) is a

religious order A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practi ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

founded on 5 June 1847 in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, Turkey. It was proposed in 1843 on the initiative of Archbishop Andon Hassounian who later became Catholicos and the first cardinal of Armenian ancestry. The Sisters had, around 1900, up to 30 schools in various countries in the Middle East, including

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

and

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

, Syria. In America they operate the

Armenian Sisters Academy The Armenian Sisters Academy (ASA; hy, Հայ քույրերի վարժարան) is a Pre-K through eighth grade institution located in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania suburb of Upper Merion Township, Pennsylvania, with a Radnor postal address. I ...

with schools in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

(1963), Boston and Los Angeles.Invisible Philadelphia: community through voluntary organizations - Page 59 Jean Barth Toll, Mildred S. Gillam - 1995 "Monsignor Stepanian requested that the Armenian Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, an order founded by Cardinal Andon Hassounian in 1847, establish a school in the Philadelphia area. Its students (both Armenian and non- Armenian) "

References

External links

www.suorearmene.org

armeniancatholic.org Armenian Sisters

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Armenians from the Ottoman Empire Armenian Catholic Church {{ArmenianCatholic-stub