Trivia about the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres
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-Ia-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 Ilocos Sur; 1906 – in Culion, Palawan working for the leper colony; 1907 – Tuguegarao, today the St. Paul University; 1911 – Iloilo, today consisting of the St. Paul Hospital, the St. Paul College of Iloilo, 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.
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