Sister M. Antonija Fabjan, baptized as Jožefa, was born on January 23, 1907, in the village Malo Lipje near Žužemberk in Slovenia, as the third of five children to Jožefa and Janez, whose first wife died leaving him with their three children. Sister Antonia's father died when she was four and her mother died when she was eleven. Their relatives took the children in and Sister Antonia was sent to one of her aunts.
She entered the convent on April 9, 1929, and took her vows on March 19, 1932. At first, she was in Betanija near Sarajevo and Antunovac on Ilidža when she got sent back to the convent in Betanija. She was gardening, taking care of livestock, and working in the field. She was in poor health so she spent some time recovering in Pale, where she was reassigned on September 16, 1936. She spent the rest of her life there.
In Mary's home, she served the sick and gladly received the poor and children. She helped in the kitchen, the laundry room, the garden, and the chapel. She was very helpful and attentive to the needs of others. She had nice words for everyone.
She was obedient and deep down a child. Sister M. Wilibalda Markensteiner said, "She is our big baby."
She loved to pray in silence in the convent’s chapel. After her prayer, she would say, "I prayed, but I did not receive."
Sister M. Ligorija Murn testified: "When Sister Antonia was with me in Betanija she told me what her aunt would say, ‘If somebody does you harm, you do him well', as the Gospel says. That was her motto. "
On the morning of December 11, 1941, the day she would be taken captive with her fellow sisters by Chetniks, one Chetnik took a shot at her and almost killed her as she was trying to escape him.
