| For the Sisters of St. Paul
of Chartres (SPC), the year 2004 marks a century-long journey with the
Filipino people, which started on October 29, 1904 when seven Sisters,
having left Saigon on the 20th of the same month, landed in Dumaguete,
led by Mother Marthe de St. Paul Legendre, first Superior. At the time
of their arrival, the Congregation had been in existence for more than
two hundred years, having been founded by Father Louis Chauvet, parish
priest of the French village of Levesville-la-Chenard with the help of
Marie Anne de Tilly in 1696. In 1904, the Congregation had already spread
to various countries in Europe, the West Indies and Central America, and
in Asia.
In less than a decade after
the arrival in Dumaguete, the Sisters moved on to start five other foundations:
in June 1905 - the school in Vigan, known today as the St. Paul College
of llocos Sur; 1906 - in Culion, Palawan working for the leper colony;
1907 - Tuguegarao, today the St. Paul University; 1911 - lloilo, today
consisting of the St. Paul Hospital, the St. Paul College of lloilo, the
Mother Antoine Pastoral Center, and Mere Monique Home; 1912 - St. Paul
College of Manila. In 1926, the Sisters reached Mindanao to run the San
Nicolas College in Surigao.
The year 1965 saw the passing
of the administration of the Philippine Province into the hands of Filipina
Sisters with the appointment of Mother Marie Madeleine Denoga, as first
Filipina Provincial Superior. With many foundations through the rest of
the 20th century, SPC Philippines journeys with the Church and the Filipino
people today through their service in thirty-four (34) schools, ten (10)
hospitals, and thirteen (13) pastoral, formation and retirement houses
found in twenty-nine (29) dioceses in the Philippines. The
Provincialate and the Novitiate
are in Our Lady of Chartres Convent along the highway to Antipolo City.
At present, the Congregation is in five continents and twenty-six countries. |
