diff --git a/src/moab/Matrix3.hpp b/src/moab/Matrix3.hpp
index 558b559d91e9e65a3935270a0fe145b8903d7f0b..37f172fb9d9318eb82431fcb9535e4d1fd7a81b0 100644
--- a/src/moab/Matrix3.hpp
+++ b/src/moab/Matrix3.hpp
@@ -345,12 +345,35 @@ public:
               row0[2], row1[2], row2[2];
     }
   }
-  
+#ifndef DEPRECATED
+  #ifdef __GNUC__
+    #define DEPRECATED __attribute__((deprecated))
+  #else
+    #pragma message("WARNING: You need to implement DEPRECATED for this compiler")
+    #define DEPRECATED
+  #endif
+#endif
+  /*
+   * \deprecated { Use instead the constructor with explicit fourth argument, bool isRow, above }
+   *
+   */
+  template< typename Vector>
+  inline DEPRECATED Matrix3(   const Vector & row0,
+                    const Vector & row1,
+                    const Vector & row2)
+  {
+    _mat << row0[0], row0[1], row0[2],
+            row1[0], row1[1], row1[2],
+            row2[0], row2[1], row2[2];
+  }
+
+
   inline Matrix3( const double v[9] ){ 
     _mat << v[0], v[1], v[2],
             v[3], v[4], v[5],
             v[6], v[7], v[8];
   }
+
   
   inline Matrix3& operator=( const Matrix3& m ){
     _mat = m._mat;
diff --git a/test/test_Matrix3.cpp b/test/test_Matrix3.cpp
index d9049a3a80ada107fdb947004a89d847b2e0bedb..7b490995f4605a40ff21e25a7ad9a9175384b037 100644
--- a/test/test_Matrix3.cpp
+++ b/test/test_Matrix3.cpp
@@ -97,6 +97,11 @@ void test_EigenDecomp()
 
   //now verfy that the returns Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors are correct (within some tolerance)
   double tol = 1e-04;
+
+  // use a deprecated constructor
+  Matrix3 mat3( CartVect(2, -1, 0), CartVect(-1, 2, -1), CartVect(0, -1, 2));
+  CHECK_REAL_EQUAL( mat(1), mat3(1), tol);
+
   vec0_check.normalize();
   vec1_check.normalize();
   vec2_check.normalize();