Ateneo de Tuguegarao - Brief History

Brief History

In 1938, Filipinos who identified the title "Ateneo" with a Jesuit school and who knew the Latin parent, if not the meaning, of the word, were surprised and even disturbed that a new school was opening in Northern Luzon under the title of Cagayan Valley Atheneum -- not conducted by the Jesuits.

The Cagayan Valley Atheneum was founded by the Most Reverend Constancio Jurgens, C.I.C.M., bishop of Tuguegarao. From its foundation in 1938 until the war, it was housed in ample buildings adjoining the Cathedral of Tuguegarao. The buildings were destroyed by the Philippine Commonwealth forces against the Japanese in 1945 and the school reopened in a temporary structure of Nipa and sawali erected in the patio of the pre-war compound. Shortly after its reopening during the school year 1945-1946, the Atheneum was committed by Bishop Jurgens to the direction of the Society of Jesus, and during 1949-1950 complete jurisdiction was transferred to the Society, due to the plight of the C.I.C.M. missonaries after the war. In October 1950, the school was moved to a new site in the southwest section of Tuguegarao. Two buildings were completed in time for occupancy before the second semester of 1950-51—Loyola Hall, containing classrooms, laboratories, libraries and students' chapel, and Xavier Hall, with Fathers' quarters and students dormitory and study hall. A third building, Bellarmine Hall, was completed shortly after the beginning of the semester and used for boarders' dining room. In 1953, an Administration building was completed.

The Ateneo de Tuguegarao had no Grade School nor was there co-education in any department. A college department was added to the High School in June 1947. Until 1953 it had only a two-year Pre-Law course and a two-year Commerce course. In 1953, government recognition of the full four-year Commerce was obtained.

It was a small school, and the collegiate offerings were limited to Pre-Law and Commerce courses. (During the past few years, the college student body was almost equally divided into Pre-Law and Commerce students.) The courses have been chosen with regard for local circumstances. The Commerce sources would prepare the students for local business enterprises. Many of the Pre-Law students went to a law school in Manila and were encouraged by the Ateneo to attend a law school under Catholic auspices, for which, as the records of Ateneo de Tuguegarao pre-law students showed, they have received a solid foundation. Approximately fifty percent of the High School graduates go on to college; of these approximately two thirds to Manila, while others continue at the Ateneo de Tuguegarao.

The Rev. Leo McGovern, S.J. was the first Jesuit Director of the Ateneo de Tuguegarao. He was succeeded in January 1947 by the Rev. Walter F. Hyland, S.J. who remained as Director until July 1948 when the Rev. Ralph M. O'Neill, S.J. was appointed Vice Rector. Father O'Neill became Rector in September 1951, until succeeded in that office in 1952 by the Rev. Rosalino Pascua, S.J. Father Pascua is to be reckoned among the "noteworthy features" of the Ateneo de Tuguegarao, for he had been active in the school since the Jesuits first came in 1946.

The school was closed in 1962 when the Jesuits left the Ateneo de Tuguegarao.