THE HISTORY OF CANOSSA COLLEGE SAN PABLO CITY
Canossa College – San Pablo City Inc. is the only Catholic three-level school in San Pablo City offering elementary, high school, and college education. This college is run by the Canossian Daughters of Charity, a religious congregation founded in Verona, Italy, in 1808 by Marchioness Magdalene of Canossa. The Congregation was approved by Pope Leo XII with “motu proprio” in 1828. At present, this congregation has established its apostolate in different parts of the world, in North and South America, Africa, Asia, Australia, Oceania, and Europe.
The Canossian Sisters came to the Philippines in 1954 in Santa Rosa, Laguna. Upon the invitation of the late Msgr. Alejandro Olalia, Archbishop of Lipa, the Canossian Sisters came to San Pablo to run a parochial and subsidized school sponsored by the Young Ladies Association of Charity (YLAC). The formal transfer of the administration of the school to the Canossian Sisters took place in May 1955. The school was called “Our Lady of Fatima Academy” and was for high school female students only. In 1957, the Sisters transferred the new school to its present site at the Lakeside Park Subdivision on a lot donated by Mr. and Mrs. Federico Azcarate.
In 1960-1961, upon the request of parents and the advice of the bishop, the Elementary Department was opened for boys and girls. The College Department was opened in the school year 1963-64 with Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education (BSEEd) as its initial course offering. The Religious Education Program was offered to prepare students for catechetical works, which was later integrated in the Teacher Education Program which is now officially called as Bachelor of Elementary Education (BEEd). In the succeeding years, additional courses were offered to meet the growing needs of young ladies in the vicinity. Bachelor of Science in Psychology in 1984-85. The school finally completed its transformation from being an exclusive school for girls in the late 1980’s when it opened its doors to boys in college (1986) and high school (1987). June 2004 was the birth of Bachelor of Science in Nursing
Shifting from the 10-year to the 12-year educational cycle was one of the major thrusts of the administration of President Benigno C. Aquino III. This landmark educational reform, implemented through the K to 12 Program, was officially rolled out in June 2012 and produced its first batch of graduates in 2018. According to the Department of Education (DepEd), “The K to 12 Basic Education Program is designed to meet current global standards of education. It upholds a dynamic learning atmosphere that focuses on the development of essential skills which will equip learners to succeed in higher education, their chosen careers, and life itself.”
In line with this vision, the school—having met the K to 12 standards with its competent faculty, state-of-the-art facilities, and student-centered curriculum—was granted a Provisional Permit by the Department of Education on April 28, 2015, to operate the Senior High School (SHS) Program.
A decade later, DepEd revisited and evaluated the implementation of K to 12. The findings from this review gave rise to the Senior High School Strengthened Curriculum in 2025, designed to address emerging challenges and enhance the effectiveness of the program. Canossa College was honored to be among the pilot schools chosen to implement this strengthened curriculum, reaffirming its commitment to providing quality education responsive to the needs of the times.
The school is presently called Canossa College in honor of the Foundress of the Congregation, St. Magdalene of Canossa. The latter, aptly called “a woman whose name is charity,” had consecrated almost her whole lifetime to service, for love of God and neighbor. The apostolate she envisioned extended to various fields such as the school, parochial and catechetical work, and assistance to the sick. These services are expressive of her thoughts that “charity is a fire that continually spreads itself and seeks to embrace all.”