Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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ANTONIANS

Several religious communities tracing their descent from St. Anthony of Egypt (251-356). Among others are: 1. the original disciples of St. Anthony with whom the present-day Maronites claim continuity; 2. the group founded by Gaston de Dauphine in 1095 and known as the Hospital Brothers of St. Anthony, who survived until the French Revolution; 3. an order in the Armenian Church founded in the seventeenth century; 4. Chaldean and Maronite groups; 5. the Orthodox monastery of Mount Sinai; 6. a congregation established in Flanders in 1615. The Annuario Pontificio gives four religious orders of Antonians of pontifical status.