MISSIONARY BENEDICTINE SISTERS IN THE PHILIPPINES
The first five Missionary Benedictine Sisters arrived in Manila on September 14, 1906. They came from Tutzing, Bavaria, Germany, at the request of the Apostolic Delegate to the Philippines. From the start, the Sisters aimed to provide young Filipinas with quality Catholic education, coupled with a sense of discipline and respect for the dignity of labor. They initiated this at St. Scholastica’s College (SSC), which started in Tondo with 8 paying students and 50 poor children in a free school. The College was later moved to its present site in Singalong, Malate.
THE FOUNDATION OF ST. SCHOLASTICA’S ACADEMY, SAN FERNANDO
Graduates of SSC, proud of the education they had received and eager to pass it on to their children, requested the Missionary Benedictine Sisters to establish a branch school in San Fernando, Pampanga. In 1925, in response to an urgent plea from Monsignor Prudencio David, then the Parish Priest of San Fernando, five Missionary Benedictine Sisters (Sister Superior Crescentia Veser, OSB, Sr. Luitgard Schanbeck, OSB, Sr. Rudolphine Bildstein, OSB, Sr. Celsa Rieger, OSB, and Sr. Richarda Hermann, OSB) came to pioneer the work.
The first school, known as Assumption Academy of Pampanga, was a residence near the Baluyut Bridge in San Fernando. It opened in June 1925 for elementary school pupils. The next year, the first-year high school, exclusively for girls, was opened. Every year, a curriculum year was added, so in 1930, Assumption Academy presented its first high school graduates.
In 1931, the school transferred to its second site, a swampy area in the poblacion of San Fernando. A semi-concrete three-story edifice housed the increasing number of elementary pupils and high school girls. Ownership of the school passed from the parish to the Benedictine Congregation in 1938. With the growing population, new annexes and buildings were erected. After 40 years, in 1966, Assumption Academy assumed a new name, St. Scholastica’s Academy, to avoid confusion with the newly opened Assumption College of the Archdiocese of San Fernando.
Despite its growth and development, St. Scholastica’s Academy has been beset with the perennial problem of floods and accommodating its fast-increasing enrollment. In 1972, partly as a solution, the High School Department was transferred to the wide barren grounds in Cer-Hil, Quebiawan, five kilometers from the town proper. The previously match-like edifice has been expanded into an F-shaped building that houses the whole High School Department. A covered court with a stage, eating sheds, a building to house the Grade School Department, and covered walks have been added through the combined efforts of the students, alumnae, PTA, and administration. On July 11, 1987, a building for the whole Grade School Department was blessed. The pre-school later transferred to a new building in June 2001.
Beset by the continuing threat of natural calamities prompted by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991, SSA-SF was challenged to strengthen its social orientation through various curricular processes and community-involvement projects and activities.
In 1992, it opened its doors and provided a temporary office for the Social Action Center of Pampanga (SACOP), and in 1994, it housed the lahar victims from various towns of Pampanga. The year after, SSA-SF shared its campus with Don Bosco Academy, a school totally buried in lahar. SSA-SF suffered a tremendous drop in enrollment in 1996 due to the devastation of lahar but recovered the next year. Through all of this, SSA-SF continued its quest for excellence so that in 1991, the High School Department was accredited by the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges, and Universities (PAASCU), and the Grade School Department in 2000. In July 2016, the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines (FAAP) granted Level III accreditation to the GS and HS Departments.
With its growing population and increasing influence, St. Scholastica’s Academy-San Fernando seeks to continue providing quality Filipino, Christian, and Benedictine education to its clientele. St. Scholastica’s Academy-San Fernando now celebrates its 100th year of existence. Dubbed SSAndaan, the theme of the celebration is 100 Years of Love and Service. It is a year-long celebration covering July 2024 – June 2025, 100 years after its founding in June 1925.
