Our history
Even in the late nineteenth century, in our country, education was a citizen service that no administration was taking seriously or dedicated enough resources to it, and until the second third of the 20th century the shameless saying of ” to spend more hungry than a schoolmaster “.
There were very few children of working families who could attend class, or stopped going because they had to go to work at the factories in order to help the family at any age.
For girls the picture was, if it does not do the same, or worse, with the difference that they did not usually go “to study”: they were “sewing,” where they were taught to sew, embroider and maybe a I know of “domestic economy”, but to read and write, very little …
This situation is reflected by Monsignor Josep Giribets, a predecessor of the parish in the years of the establishment of the Franciscan community in our town, when he wrote down, in the Work Book of the Parish: “Seeing how neglected was education of the girls of this Parish, as I had occasion to observe when preparing them for the first communions […] I resolved to communicate to His Excellency Mr. Ilmo Bishop of the diocese my project to establish in this a school of girls directed by Religiosas “.
And this was how, by the end of the century, many families from Vilassar de Mar wanted their daughters to have a good education, they asked Mr. Rector Mn. Josep Giriberts was responsible for it.
Taking advantage of the Pastoral visit that the bishop Urquinaona made in our parish on December 21, 1980, the priest and the petition, and Sa Ecelencia ordered that religious and municipal representatives be agreed upon in order to “establish in this town, some religious or a religious institute dedicated to the teaching of girls.”
This was how the priest with the valuable help “of the sage and virtuosity of this Parish, Dr. Mr. Jaime Almera y Comas “achieved that, after only two months, on February 21, 1881, the first five religious came to Vilassar de Mar: mother Montserrat Casarramona and sisters sister Paula Capellades, Sor Nieves Casassa, Sor Jacint Rosich and Sor Uñó Welcome, members of the Congregation of Franciscan Churches founded, few years before by Mother Ravell.
The nuns were very welcomed in the town and on the day of their arrival they were accompanied to their house, in the current street Montserrat núm. 6, which at that time was called “after the Church.” In this rental house they lived and taught teaching but soon they became small and they had to look for lands that they gave in Roc Batllori. They were almost in the open air, at the end of the town (from that time), on the way to the cemetery, which was later the street of Saint John no. 23, and finally Avenida Montevideo no.14.
On December 14, 1891, with the assistance of Bishop Jaume Català and the local civil and religious authorities, the blessing of the first stone was proceeded.
With great enthusiasm, it began to be built thanks to the fact that donations were coming, especially from the Americas where there were people from Vilassar de Mar who had been looking for fortune, but also from other sources, such as, for example, Mrs. Esperanceta Martorell de Arenys de Mar but who spent many seasons here, sent a carpenter to make doors and windows. And so, little by little, and with the help of many people the construction of the new school-convent was completed.
The authorization of this new school was donated by the Rectorate on November 28, 1904 and the Order was published in the B.O.P. on December 22, 1904.
The school was dedicated to women’s education and taught the following subjects: Catechism, Sacred History, Reading, Writing, Grammar, Arithmetic, Geometry, Geography and History of Spain, Natural History, French, Drawing, Urbanity, Hygiene and Domestic Economy, Solfeo, Piano and Needlework, knitting, cutting and dressing, ironing, etc.
In the 1920s and 1930s, mornings were dedicated to academic education and gymnastics, while the afternoon were for the “work” of future housewives.
In those difficult years, it was a great financial aid for the school, its pension service.
The Civil War from 1936 to 1939 scattered many things, and the College of the Monges did not get rid … but after the war the nuns went back: sor Assumpció, Sor Francisca, mother Rossenda, sor Manuela, … and since the post-war situation was normalizing and the number of students was increasing Madrona, Lidia mother, Sor Cecilia and mother Beatriz, who recovered the discipline and In order, the first years after the war had relaxed a lot.
At school the students spent many hours, just celebrated on Saturdays afternoon and Sundays and, although the classes finished at 5:00 p.m., there was what we call “permanences” today, until set By 1945, they began to teach types of typing, commercial calculation and trade, and at the beginning of the 1950s the Baccalaureate began. It was, without a doubt, the best school in Vilassar de Mar.
In those years at school there were already children but only up to six years. Sister Francisca was the one in charge of all of them and also the one who taught shorthand to the students that stood there after the age of twelve, when they finished the classes in the morning.
In the mid-1950s, the first promotion of Baccalaureate and Baccalaureate students had to pass the examinations at the Cots Academy and at the Maragall Institute in Barcelona.
Also in these years it began to practice sport, the basketball court was built and parties were organized with the neighboring villages, especially Argentona, where the Franciscans also had a school. The name of the team was “Stel • la Maris”, the one in charge was Sor Adelaida, great fan of this sport.
At the end of the fifties important titles were achieved and many were the students who played in this sport, some of them very good that they played in the first category.
Towards the sixties, seclusive professors were incorporated to teach high school and, at the end of this decade, the school became small again and the pavilion was built and an entrance was opened on Calle Colom.
At the initiative of the mother Victorina Valls, in 1961, the Association of Exalumns was formed which had a great importance for the social and cultural help it gave to the people: meetings, Catalan language courses were held and excursions. The activities of this Association continued until 1996, when it dissolved with a great farewell dinner.
In the mid-1980s, the children no longer had to leave school after the kindergarten, because the school was mixed and, as the activities and students grew, the facilities were also being carried out, with reforms in a part of the ground floor and the chapel, the construction of a laboratory on the first floor and a gym in the patio …
Today, more than a hundred years after its foundation, the school continues to adapt to the new challenges posed by the education of our day and, above all, continues to welcome villages and villages with the same will of the congregation religious, the illusion of the teaching staff and with the esteem of many people who have believed in our line of education.
The path from the arrival of the first religious in 1981, has been long but the seed planted has produced great results. Now we remain to continue ….
Chronology
- In 1890 there were 120 students.
- In 1897 the students were 125. In addition there was the Sunday School for workers, with 55 students. The house was already owned.
- In 1904 the name of the College was already “Presentation of Mrs. Ms.”, of a Catholic nature and dedicated to teaching girls.
- 1936-1939 because of the civil war, the nuns left. The school continued to operate and the convent orchard was converted into a playground for children.
- In 1939 the nuns return and in a precarious way the school is back.
- In 1959 the Association of Former Students was founded with the Constable Mossèn Canalias.
- In 1987 the school became mixed.
- In 1996 the Association of Exalumns dissolved.
- In 1997, the school became Infant and Primary, from 3 to 12 years.
How was it
Do you want to see what the presentation school was like?
