THE EARLY YEARS...
At the turn of the century, people were moving away from the crowded city of Intramuros, while provincianos flock closer to the city.

Singalong-San Andres area was one of the most fast growing settlement areas. Situated closer to the Walled City, it had the rustic charm of the countryside. Given a lower topographic elevation, San Andres Bukid was indeed a rice field along Manila Bay, where streams passing through different communities would end. There were no buildings, nor business; a few families lived in simple nipa huts or wooden houses. There was a humble tuklong dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua.

As early as 1901, Fr. Leoncio of Santibañez and other Capuchins Fathers from the Nuestra Señora De Guia Parish of Ermita and from the Capuchin Fraternity of Intramuros would visit Singalong and celebrate mass, visit the sick, and teach Christian Doctrine to the children.

Cognizant of the need of the community for permanent pastors and the on-going ministry of the Capuchin Fathers in the area, then Archbishop of Manila, asked the Capuchins to stay permanently on November 25, 1905, Subsequently on April 2, 1906 the Parish of St. Anthony of Padua was officially erected and entrusted to Fr. Mariano of Olot as the first parish priest.

Through the years, the missionary fathers of the Capuchin fraternity braved the challenges of organizing the fast growing community facing the threats of the Aglipayans and the urbanization of area.

Through the invaluable support of two sisters of St. Paul of Charters and the benevolent Basque gentleman Don Manuel of Ynchausti, they persevered in reaching out the people and bringing them to the church fold. They established the Patronage of the Sick, known as the Patronato de Nuestra Señora de Lourdes. Day in and day out they would knock on the doors of catholics and non-catholics alike to visit the sick and to help anyone in need. Celebrations of the Holy Mass, reception of Sacraments and devotion to St. Anthony were ardently and punctually carried out amidst the limited number of priests.

The overflowing converts and devotees attending the Masses necessitated the replacement of the old visita with a big church in 1908, and yet a bigger church in 1929 that can accommodate 2,000 people.
 
NOBLE BEGINNINGS...
Having organized the parish, constructed the church for the people and convent for the priests, established the Patronato for the sick and the needy, the 11th Parish Priest of Singalong saw the need to attend to the hundreds of out of school youths and other public school children who did not received any religious instructions.

Thus on June 1, 1936, Fr. Florencio of Lezaun together with Doña Maria Gutierrez founded the Immaculate Conception Institute, “where the Catholic teachers could frame the tender minds of the youth, so preparing a generation of instructed and fervent Christians, assuring in this way, the spiritual strength of the parish.”

The Immaculate Conception Institute attended to the needs of the children hungry and thirsty of learning not only of humanistic culture, but also of the truths of religion. Managed by four teachers, Mo. Suzanne de Marie, SPC from the Patronato, and Doña Maria Gutierrez as the Directress-Principal, the school offered kindergarten, primary, and intermediate courses. The school plant was built at the corner of the convento and the parish church.

The school progressed rapidly such that in 1938, there was a need for three more teachers. By that time, Fr. Florencio had finished the construction of a wonderful two storey wooden building equipped with a canteen, a clinic, a library and a laboratory.

Nineteen thirty eight (1938) was also a milestone, as the school was given government recognition to grant official degrees. Very soon the school was overflowing with children from the local community and nearby towns. At the outset of the last great war (SY 41-42) the total number of enrolled children reached six hundred (600).

When Fr. Florencio was elected Custodian of the Mission and was transferred to Intramuros in 1939, Fr. Raimundo of Labiano took his place.

The new Parish Priest-Director knew English and Tagalog very well. He was a great enthusiast of catechetical instruction and lover of the beauty and solemnity of religious and liturgical functions. He perfected the organization of the school: giving conferences on spirituality, pedagogy, psychology, and culture among the faculty members.

His assistant who played the organ like an angel is Fr. Santiago of Ibiricu took care of the music of the church and the religious instructions of the school.
 
UNER THE RISING SUN...
The noble cause and the enthusiastic beginnings of the Institute was abruptly dampened six years later as the world stood still during World War II.

Families sought refuge in the provinces as life in the city was reduced to impoverished rat existence. It was actually the cost of liberating Manila from the claws of the Japanese Imperial Army that caused inconceivable damage both in the homes and spirit of the people.

More taxing than the ruined structures, the War also painfully counted among its casualities the parish priest of Singalong, Fr. Raimundo of Labiano and two other assistant priests, Fr. Santiago of Ibiricu and Fr. Pacifico of Villatuerta… the Martyrs of Singalong.

While serving as the superior of the community in Intramuros, the saintly founder of Immaculate Conception Institute and pillar of St. Anthony Parish, Fr. Florencio de Lezaun together with four other Capuchin Fathers made the supreme sacrifice of laying down his life while upholding the mission of the congregation and attending to the poor helpless people seeking refuge in Intramuros.
 
POST WAR ERA...
The Church was partly damaged, but was used as a Red Cross Hospital, the convento was partly burned, the school that Fr. Florencio built was completely wiped out.

The gargantuan task of rebuilding the parish both in the terms of physical structures and spirit of the people was put unto the shoulders of Fr. Jacinto of Arandigoyen. As the school re-opened in 1946, Archbishop of Manila His Eminence Michael O’Dougherty turned over the school administration from the capuchin Fathers to the Sisters of St. Paul of Charters who assigned once more the pioneering amiable French sister, Mother Suzanne de Marie to head the mission together with Sis Marieta, Stephanie, Aniceta, Clara, and Magdalene.

Mrs. Asuncion Jimenez, Ms. Araceli Bautista, and Ms. Guillerma Torres were the Grade School Teachers.

Mother Suzanne de Marie, SPC revived the school with the P10,000 war-damage payment ( the cost of 2/3 of the building was actually P40,000.00). Burnt galvanized iron sheets, desks from crates and other materials were made used of to construct makeshift classrooms.

Classes were also held under the convento, empty camaligs, and in rented rooms in different houses along Dart (now A. Linao) and Anak Bayan Streets.

Teachers went house to house to invite parents to send back their children to school. They must have convinced them so well that enrollment went up, necessitating public school teachers from Pasay to help out classes in the afternoon.

The Sisters and their lay collaborators took the task of rehabilitating the school from the rubles of was upholding the same vision and standards when it was founded. Under the guidance and support of their capuchin Pastor, the students and teachers help in the parish celebrations, especially the Eucharist, and devoted themselves to learning.

The school catapulted to greater heights during the administration of the sisters that two years later in 1948, the school was officially recognized by the government as Singalong Parochial School, the name that made an imprint among the academic community of Manila for its quality education, religious instruction, balanced by arts and humanities.

In 1956, the Sisters returned the administration of the newly developed school to the Capuchin Fathers and continued to assist in the administration of the school. The sustained progress of the school was made evident by the construction of a three-storey building along Singalong St. under the leadership of the Priest-Director Fr. Adolfo of Echavarri in 1959.

The following year (1960) was another milestone marked by the opening of the High School Department. In 1961 the school was renamed St. Anthony School in honor of the Patron Saint of the parish.

In 1963 during the administration of Fr. Ramon of Navaz, another four storey building was raised to accommodate the growing number of enrollees. This may be seen as the portion running from the central stairway to the right abutting the building of 1959. It housed the administration and the grade school and high school classrooms.

In 1964, the late Archbishop of Manila, Rufino Cardinal Santos decreed to change the population groupings of classes among parochial schools. His Eminence imposed to separate groupings according to sex, thus the Boys and Girls Department came to being.

In 1967, Fr. Julio of Narcue extended the building from the central stairway to the entire left wing behind the church. It was also him who took the leadership of building the parish church as it stands now facing San Andres Street.
 
THE 70's and 80's ...
The turbulent years of the 70’s and 80’s did not impede the brightness of St. Anthony School from shining through.

In his nine years of stay as the Parish Priest-Director of St. Anthony (1970-1979), Fr. Manuel Remirez acquired six more lots with the end view of expanding the school to accommodate the growing population of students and the need to construct more modern facilities.

In 1975, a new building was constructed at the back of the main building to house the vocational courses of the high school students. It was replaced in 1980, when the newly appointed School Director, Fr. Jose Arrieta led the school community in constructing what is now known as the St. Francis Building.

Standing with a height of a three-storey building, it housed a gymnasium, five vocational rooms, and a science laboratory (at present this houses the Preschool Department and the St. Francis Hall).

Academic discipline has become more rigorous as training in arts and humanities also blossomed forth.

The school had a speech laboratory, sewing and typing rooms in the 70’s, and vocational shops in the 80’s (machine, automotive, and carpentry). During his term as the School Director, Fr. Tomasito Veneracion introduced computer education in the early 90’s.

Fired up by the wave of competition and the spirit of creative self-expression, students and pupils broke free from self-made limitations and excelled in the fields of rhetoric, literature, mathematics, sciences, arts, and music. They also created waves in the areas of scouting, CAT, and athletics. St. Anthony School has become one of the honored competitors among the respected schools in the city and in the country as well.

Along side curricular and extra-curricular development was the intensification of spiritual formation. Retreats and recollections have been introduced unto the existing liturgical celebrations and prayer sessions of students. Noteworthy here are the fatherly presence of Frs. Jesus Aceron and Francisco Garces.

It was also during this time that vocation flourished remarkably from St. Anthony School. Students entered convents (monastic and non-conventual a like) and seminaries both of the religious orders and diocesan. To name a few, St. Anthony School has Frs. Ed Tiamson, Ed Dumaual, Reynaldo Papa, Cesar Acuin who were known as the Singalong Boys in the Capuchin Seminary.
 
TURN - OVER TO THE ARCHDIOCESE OF MANILA...
The early 90’s was a stormy uphill climb for St. Anthony School. Saddled by a general economic crisis triggered by a series of coup-de-etat and natural catastrophes coupled by a crisis in internal administration within the school, a major organizational change was implemented by the Capuchin fathers to keep the school on track. The four different departments were trimmed down to Grade and High School Departments with two SPC Sisters as principals in the persons of Sr. Gemma of the Cross Barcena and Sr. Mechtilde Seva, SPC respectively. The school was on the road to recovery when new missions required the Capuchin Fathers to be assigned into different ministries.

Thus roughly after 90 long years, on April 1, 1995 the administration of the parish and the school was formally turned over by the Capuchin Fathers to the Archbishop of Manila, His Eminence Jaime Cardinal Sin.

The transition created a new crisis among the community and the faculty who had endeared the Capuchins and the Franciscan tradition in their hearts. Enrollment went down, while a number of good faculty and personnel left. All these the first Diocesan Parish Priest-Director Fr. Jose Clemente F. Ignacio faced and solved during his term.

In his six years of stay, Fr. Ignacio who was also serving as the chancellor of the Archdiocese of Manila reorganized the school to make it more responsive to the challenges and prospects of the 21st century.

A new Vision-mission statement was defined. Administrators, faculty, and personnel were given extensive training on professional, personal, and spiritual development. Finances were restructured and curriculum was re-engineered. Facilities and services were re-inspected and upgraded. A new building was erected housing ten additional classrooms, three I.T. Laboratories, Library, Research and Development office, Clinic, Audio-Visual Room, Theatre, student-kitchen area, a multi-purpose hall, and a prayer room.

The administration office, Pre-School Department, and canteen were also renovated to make it more productive. Relationship with the parish and the community had been strengthened.

On December 1, 2002 Msgr. Rolando de la Cruz took over as the second Diocesan Parish Priest-Director while serving at the same time as the Economus of the Archdiocese of Manila.

At the outset of school year 2002-2003, his reverence had prepared the school community for strategic planning to formally assess the situation of the school and thoroughly plan for future developments. The Administration, faculty, personnel students, parents, alumni, and local community representatives were organized and consulted to re-write the vision-mission statement. Parents Councils were formed for closer collaborative formation of students.

Towards this end, St Anthony School is envisioned to be a more dynamic partner in the evangelizing mission of the parish.