Saint Paul University Manila

Saint Paul University Manila

St. Paul University Manila (also known as SPUM) is a private, previously a women's college and recently turned co-ed beginning school year 2005-2006 in Manila, Philippines. The college was established in 1912 by the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres (SPC), a Congregation founded in Chartres, France in 1698.

1904 – On October 29, 1904, seven Sisters of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres, France established its first foundation in the Philippines in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental, Philippines. The Sisters, coming from their mission in Vietnam, responded to the invitation of the Most Reverend Frederick Rooker of the Diocese of Iloilo, to which Dumaguete then belonged. The seven Sisters were Mother Marthe de St. Paul, Superior, Sr. Marie Louise du Sacre Couer, Sr. Ange Marie, Sr. Anne de la Croix, Sr. Charles de Genes, Sr. Catherine, and Sr. Josephine. St. Paul’s College, Dumaguete was founded as St. Paul Academy, becoming the first St. Paul’s College in the Philippines.

St. Paul Academy which was located near the Cathedral, accepted boys and girls and prepared them for their First Holy Communion. The Sisters were installed in the old Convent of the Augustinian Recollects that Bishop Rooker had offered. The Parish Priest transferred his residence somewhere else.

January 09, 1905, the new school opened with 30 girls (15 of whom were aged 15 to 20), four of them were boarders, and six boys. Children, women, and young men came to the school for religious instruction. Besides the regular academic courses, there were supplementary classes in music, drawing, painting, French, sewing, and embroidery. The medium of instruction was English. However, since the Americans had been in the Philippines only for five years, very few pupils were acquainted with the language. Hence, the Sisters were obliged to learn Visayan and Spanish to be able to communicate with their charges.