Philippine E-Journals

Phoenix of the North: A Historical Inquiry on the Beginnings of St. Paul University in Tuguegarao (1907-1949)

Salvador M. Evardone | Augusto V. De Viana

Discipline: History

 

Abstract:

This paper narrates the beginnings of St. Paul UniversityTuguegarao (SPUT), a school founded and administered by the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres (SPC) in 1907. The Sisters’ zealous mission toevangelize through Catholic Education, along with their other apostolates and social advocacies, have greatly improved and developed from a nursery to a college in 1949. Such mission, however,was no easy since the Philippines that time was in the period of transition from a colony under Spain to a colony of the United States of America. Also, the disruption caused by the World War II affected the school system. These challenges, however, did not hinder the apostolic fervor of the Sisters to provide Catholic formation to the youth in Tuguegarao. From the ashes of trials and difficulties, their Paulinian school became one of the premier Catholic schools in the Cagayan Valley. This study used the Structuration Theory of Anthony Giddens, the oral history method, and supplemented by the data gathered from archival research.