San Ildefonso College History: a Century of Holistic and Competent Catholic Education
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SAN ILDEFONSO COLLEGE HISTORY: A CENTURY OF HOLISTIC AND COMPETENT CATHOLIC EDUCATION San Ildefonso College is a diocesan college in the Diocese of Antipolo. Dedicated to the formation of the young and adults of Tanay and of the surrounding municipalities. It offers 4 levels of education: preschool, elementary, high school and college. For more than three centuries, the town of Tanay has been under the Franciscan friars that belongs the Province of San Gregorio Magno. The early missionaries dwelt so much on evangelization with the natives and tried to expand Catholic religion within their ecclesiastical boundaries. FRANCISCAN MISSIONARIES Only in 1851 when these Franciscan missionaries built a primary school. Felix Huerta in his Estado-Demografico states: “Despues por los años de 1851, fue reparada la casa paroquial y reducida a mayor forma por el R. P. Fr. Antonio Santiago. Hay ademas un tribunal de Piedra: una escuela de primeras letras, dotada por las cajas de Comunidad, en un camarin de nipa, y como unas sete cientos casas de las cuales son de tablas las tres cuartas partes…”1[ "After the years of 1851, the parish house was repaired and transformed into a better form by R. P. Fr. Antonio Santiago. There is also a court house made of stone; a primary school sponsored and funded from the community fund, a room made of nipa and about seven hundred houses of which are three-quarters made of wood ... "] This educational instruction for the natives was realized during the year of Fray Antonio Santiago y Verdugo. Together with the other friars, the Franciscans introduced the basic rudiments of the alphabets, the three R’s and of course, the Doctrina Cristiana and the ways and how to recite the basic prayers like Ave Maria, Pater Noster and Gloria Patri plus the catechism given by the Curas. In one of the memoirs of the late Rev. Fr. Arthur Price, a Columban missionary, he was able to found an extant of the early Spanish records of the parish, which corroborates the establishment of the school building in 1850s. It says that the new building which is intended for the educational instruction was divided for the boys and the girls in the Poblacion. This was followed by the incoming maestro in 1860 wherein this incoming 1 Philippine Parishes under the Franciscan Friars, Archivo San Pedro Bautista, Quezon City. From the writings of Felix Huerta, OFM. 1 teacher would be met by the Cura with the ceriales, the Alcalde, banda de musico and the principales of the town.2 THEN… THE CHURCH OF SAN ILDEFONSO AND THE SCHOOL (RIGHT SIDE) At the end of the Spanish rule in the 19th century, a new wind blew for the people of Tanay. New missionaries arrived and at the same time, new methods and ways of learning in molding the hearts and minds of the people of Tanay were eventually accepted. CICM3 Fathers The first CICM missionaries landed in the Philippines on Nov. 2, 1907, they were met by Father Carroll, secretary of Bishop Dougherty of Vigan. The group went to the residence of Msgr. Agius, who welcomed them with open arms. They were offered lodging for almost two weeks at the convent of the Augustinians in Intramuros. Aside from the 2 Memoirs of Rev. Fr. Arthur Price. See 1993 SIC Yearbook. 3 The letters CICM stands for the Latin text that bears the name of their congregation that is Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae. It is a Roman Catholic missionary religious congregation of men established in 1862 by the Belgian Catholic priest Theophiel Verbist (1823–1868). 2 Apostolic Delegate, they were invited at table by Archbishop Jeremiah James Harty of Manila and later, also by the Jesuits. The coming of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary or CICM to the Philippines was spearheaded by no less than the then Apostolic Delegate to the Philippines, Msgr. Ambrosius Agius, dated February 14, 1906 to Fr. Adolf Van Hecke, CICM Superior General: “The Superior of the Mill Hill Fathers suggested that I write to you because you could provide several vigorous and zealous missionaries since you are looking for new mission territories. Please, good Father, come to our aid and do it without further delay.”4 MSGR. AMBROSIUS AGIUS The first group consisted of eight priests and one brother from Belgium. Two others from the China mission followed after a couple of weeks. The minutes of the meeting of June 30, 1907 of the CICM General Government ticks off their names, as follows, “The Council destined for the new mission of the Philippines: Fr. Peter Dierickx as Superior, Frs. Herman Ramaekers and Albert Botty from Ortos Mission in China as his councilors. To these are added: Frs. Florimond Carlu, Albert Dereume, Serafin Devesse, Constant Jurgens, Jules Sepulchre, Oktaaf Vandewalle, Henri Verbeeck, and Bro. Christiaan Hulsbosch. THE FIRST CICM MISSIONARIES Rev. Pierre Cornelis de Brouwer 4 From the letters of His Excellency Rt. Rev. Msgr. Ambrosius Agius, Apostolic Delegate by His Holiness Saint Pius X. 3 One of the missionaries coming from the CICM Fathers was Rev. Pierre Cornelis de Brouwer. Upon his arrival from Belgium in 1909, Rev. Fr. Pierre Cornelis de Brouwer5,was assigned first in Pasig, Rizal and eventually founded Pasig Catholic School in 1913. It was known as “Escuela Catolica” during the early 1900’s. 6 Later years, Fr. Brouwer was transferred and assigned in Tanay, Rizal in 1916.7 His zeal and enthusiasm, as well as his enigmatic charisma, true to his CICM vocation, found himself in establishing a school and named it as Tanay Catholic School in 1918.8 The school he founded function actively as an elementary school with the help of the parish priest of Tanay until 1936. REV. PIERRE CORNELIS DE BROUWER, CICM When Fr. De Brouwer arrived in Tanay in 1916, he did not yet already start putting up of a school. It is the general practice of any missionaries to know first the people, the culture, the tradition and the surrounding place where they are assigned. This general practice is not new to the CICM Fathers. Normally, a foreign missionary who comes from a foreign country would take several years before they venture into a major project such as erecting a school. This custom is corroborated and attested by their Provincial Superior when he said that: “Within CICM tradition, our missionaries dedicate a year or two just observing the reality of the new place they are assigned in. besides, to create a new parish school would require some financial resources.”9 Nevertheless, his dream of putting and establishing a school came to realize. However, the CICM Fathers who lived and served the people of Tanay did not lasts long. They were recalled and asked to serve in the Northern part of the island of Luzon. Another 5 Fr. Pierre Cornelis de Brouwer was born in Netherlands, 16 December 1881. Assigned in Tanay from 1916 to July 1921. 6 Pasig Catholic College Annals. 7 Into the Shoots. Historical Chronicles of CICM. 8 Another account of the establishment of the school was in 1916. However, this account is not conclusive considering Fr. De Brouwer only arrived in Tanay in 1916. 9 Letter of the Provincial Superior, Rev. Fr. Ramon R. Caluza, CICM dated 7 July 2017. 4 group of missionaries replaced the CICM. This time, the Columban missionaries. They were the ones who continued the legacy the CICM had established, in particular, the importance of learning through education. The elementary school continued to exist with the presence of the Columban missionaries. A CLASS PICTURE OF GRADE II PUPILS IN 1933. NOTE THE NAME OF THE SCHOOL: TANAY CATHOLIC SCHOOL THE COLUMBAN FATHERS10 The first resident Columban missionary in Tanay was Fr. Dermot Feeny who held it down until Fr. Gerald Cogan11 arrived one month later in August 1937. While Fr. Cogan was taking his holidays in Ireland, Fr. Arthur Price took over as Parish Priest from April 1939 to July 1940. The immediate post-war effect saw newly arrived young priests filling in the post of the veteran missionaries who went home for a rest. Fr. Eddie Bahl12 was the earliest to arrive. He became the parish priest of Tanay from 1946-1948.13 10 The Columbans in the Philippines, Volume 3, James McCaslin. 11 He became parish priest of Tanay from 1937- 1945. Ibid. p. 116 12 Rev. Fr. Edmund Bahl was born in Buffalo, New York in 1918. He was ordained on the 18th December 1943 at Nebraska. He died at Lakeshore, New York at the age of 83. His body was buried in Saint Columban, Lake Silver Creek, New York. 13 The Columbans in the Philippines. Volume 3, James McCaslin. Copyright 1999. P. 115 5 REV. FR. EDDIE BAHL, SSC Picking up the pieces… However, the school’s operation was temporarily shut down during World War II. The damages caused by World War II destroyed many lives and infrastructures in the town of Rizal. All were shut down. After the war, the Columban missionaries picked up again the pieces of the rubbles of the war. They revived again the school. Since there was no school in Tanay, many of the young people studied in a nearby schools such as Morong and elsewhere and were gone all week. This is what Rev. Fr. Edmund Bahl saw the need when he was assigned in Tanay. Partly from boredom, Fr. Bahl undertook in establishing a high school which he had determined could easily be housed in the old convento. Nowhere to ask for funds or financial support, Fr. Bahl enlisted the aid of the American military forces to renovate the building and acquire the equipment necessary to begin.