BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
“Charity is the flame that spreads and seeks to embrace all”
Responding to the invitation of Bishop Alejandro Olalia, a small group of Italian Missionary sisters, Canossian Daughters of Charity – daughters of St. Magdalene of Canossa, arrived in Santa Rosa. Two sisters Mo. Ida Tamburlini and Mo. Marley Sardinha arrived first in the Philippines on February 2, 1954 and were soon joined by the Provincial Superior, Mo. Victoria Garre on March 15. They came to the quiet town of Santa Rosa, in order to start the work of love and service for the Filipino people, especially the poor.
Canossa School opened its doors on June 14, 1954, they completed the first group of Canossian Sisters in the Philippines. This first community was composed of: M. Carolina Colombo, the Superior, M. Anna Bautista, M. Miriam Tavecchio, the school principal, M. Cecilia Pereira, M. Zita Bereta, M. Teresina Cantu, the kindergarten teachers and with 4 lay teachers namely: Ms. Ida Tiongco, Ms. Eufrocina Custodio, Salome Sanchez, Dolores Rodriguez and Mrs. Agulto. The school was named in honor of their foundress St. Magdalene of Canossa whose main goal in the educational and pastoral work as to fulfill the mission, “to make Christ known that He may be loved.”
The 233 pupils did not pay any regular fee, and the facilities though rough, served the purpose of offering a place for learning. The first year called for great creativity o the teachers and sisters to keep spirits high in a school building which was dark and dingy with broken desks and benches, no instructional materials or other equipment. The dedication of the sisters and their collaborators indicates that learning took place. Sisters came and went, and new sisters took their place. Filipino sisters “were born” who dedicated their life to make Christ known and loved in the Spirit of Charity and Humility, as exemplified by their two models in life, Jesus Christ Crucified and Mary, Mother of Charity at the Foot of the Cross. They years rolled by, witnessing the steady growth of Canossa School: in enrolment, in the quality of instruction, and in the stability of Canossa as a Catholic institution at the service of God and His Church. A warm relationship with the people of Santa Rosa and the nearby towns of Cabuyao, Biñan, San Pedro, Carmona, Muntinlupa, and Alabang, helped smoothed out the otherwise long, bumpy and often rough forty or more years. Fifty years has seen the crystallization of the many prophetic gestures of St. Magdalene in Santa Rosa. Her mission has become the mission of the students and the graduates which they express when they become young professionals, ready and willing to serve the Filipino people, particularly the people of Santa Rosa as businessmen and women, catechists, farmers, social workers, doctors, teachers, nurses and other services in the helping professions.
New initiatives to reach out to the poor of Santa Rosa are ever springing up in order to address their problems and difficulties. Our students and graduates go into the community with eyes for the future filled with Meaning, filled with Faith and Hope against the backdrop of life’s difficulties. They enter these times of wavering faith, confusions and doubts with the desire to serve our people, especially the poor out of Love for God and Love for their Kapwa Filipino.