La Sagesse’s Mission is conveyed through its cultural and national commitment deeply rooted in the history of Lebanon. Its origins go back to 1852 when Mgr. Toubia Aoun, Archbishop of the Maronite Archdiocese of Beirut back then, established his seminar in Ain Saadé.

In 1875, Mgr. Youssef Debs, the successor of Mgr. Aoun, considered it more suitable to move to a better location in order to lead the adventure of a cultural revival in the city of Beirut.

He founded « La Sagesse » with its Law Institute that taught Civil Law and the Islami « Fiqh » by well-known Muslim scholars.

This school was as influential as the ancient school of Beryte, the mother of Law, and the Ottoman authority of the Sublime Porte followed thoroughly the development and legalized the diplomas it delivered.

At the end of the past century, Mgr. Paul Matar, Archbishop of Beirut found it adequate to start a new expansion by adding other disciplines than the judicial studies already provided, such as Canon Law, Political Sciences, International Relations, Hotel Management and Business Administration with its different branches.

The faculty of Ecclesiastical Science provides education for catechists and offers theological doctrina, and Church pastoral teaching.

Mgr. Paul Abdel Sater, the Archbishop of Beirut since 2019 and the current Grand Chancellor of the University La Sagesse brought wisdom into the university in the air of modernity, inter alia appointing at its head, and for the first time in the history of Catholic universities in Lebanon, an atheist woman as a rector.

As head of the rectorate, Mgr. Paul Abdel Sater led its mission to reform and accredit the university.

Nowadays, each year on the 25th of January, the university celebrates « St. Paul’s day », the Apostle of the nations.