This video was made to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the Colegio Sagrado Corazón in Villa Mercedes, Argentina. With music dedicated to Saint Frances Cabrini and images of the history of this Institute.
Happy Birthday #CollegioSagradoCuore 120 years of life.
College founded by #SaintFrancescaJavierCabrini (foundress of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart) on 26th May 1901.
Today we pray in a special way for all the Missionary Sisters who have forged a great institution. We also pray for all the teaching and non-teaching staff, as well as for all the alumni and students who are part of this tender College.
Opening of the College:
On 26 May Mother Cabrini attended the Pentecost Mass and on her return wrote to Signor Bishop Marcellino Benaventi, advising him of the opening of the College and asking for a confessor and chaplain. That day, she went to the train station to welcome the sisters who had come from Buenos Aires to form the Mercedes community. After several days of stay, the Superior returned to Buenos Aires, although in those days our city counted the centre and the station; passing by the place where the present school is located (Mitre 1222) Mother Cabrini made it clear that this was the place she liked to build the school, because she considered this to be the geographical centre of the villa, a dream that came true in the 1960s.
The community consisted of seven religious, to which two more were added in June of that year.
There was a lot of work at home: visiting the sick, teaching catechism, rebuilding the house, visiting prisoners, making the word of God heard, missionary work. Our school quickly became an important centre for catechising Italian immigrants and the rest of the population.
The first years passed without any great news; the new house was distinguished by the high level of teaching and the spread of two foreign languages: Italian and French.
As time went by, the boarding school grew in number of students and in order to provide furniture and carry out the arrangements of the house (poor, built of adobe) they helped themselves to lotteries and benefits.
Later years
The primary school of the missionaries received year after year, a greater number of pupils, together with the number of pupils the need for more teachers grew, so the doors were opened to the first lay educators.
In the years’ the institute began to dictate lessons in embroidery and cookery, which the sisters drew up for maintenance. It was also at the end of the ‘ years that the school received its first male pupils who would only attend first grade.
In the 1950s, the need to build a larger building became apparent, thus beginning the dream of the secondary level. The boarding school would be built on the land chosen by Mother Cabrini fifty years ago, through the donation of the land and money for the construction of the building by the Boucherville brothers.
Tengo los más bonitos recuerdos del Colegio Sagrado corazón. hice allí toda la primaria y un año de la secundaria. Desde 1976 a 1983. Allí escuché y me enamoré del evangelio. Teníamos como maestras a las hermanas aún, en Primer Grado Madre Emergencia, Madre Carmelina en Segundo Grado (Dos Santas mujeres) Madre Dolores en la Biblioteca una española Inteligentisima y Graciosa. Madre Águeda que tocaba el órgano en la Iglesia, madre Catalina en el Kiosco, Madre Ignacia en mil funciones… Luego llegaron otras hermanas, pero la compasión y capacidad misionera de las que nombré era increíble. Marcaron para siempre mí infancia y la de mí hermana. Ellas tomaron decisiones difíciles en tiempos difíciles en esa ciudad hoy como mujer madura me doy cuenta de todo lo que hicieron, de los riesgos que asumieron y de lo valientes que eran. Saludos a la Congregación y que Dios las bendiga con más mujeres como esas