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On August 25, 1956, three
Italian sisters came to the Philippines from Rome to begin
witnessing to the beauty and nobility of the PDDM vocation and
mission in this part of Asia. After staying with the Daughters of St.
Paul in Pasay City for some time, Srs. M. Pierra Marin, M. Lidia
Drudi, and M. Clementina Dragone began looking for a house, deciding
later to settle at St. Scolastica Street, also in Pasay. It was also
at this time that they began collaborating with the Society of St.
Paul, who had been in the country since the late 1930s.
For the next thirty years, the congregation grew and developed. A
community and liturgical center opened in Cebu City on June 29,
1971. Ten years later, on January 26, 1981, the sisters ventured
into the construction of the Alberione Oasis, Home for Priests,
across their convent in Antipolo.
The sisters never lost sight of their mission as the "bridgehead of
evangelization in the east". In November 1982, three Filipina
sisters were sent to respond to the invitation to begin a community
in Taipei, Taiwan. There are now ten sisters there, serving in three
communities - in Hsin Tsien, in Hsinchuang, and at the Apostolic
Nunciature of China. The latter started only last November 2001.
A very significant and important landmark in the life story of the
Philippine foundation in the Great Jubilee Year 2000 was the
erection of the PDDM Philippine-Taiwan Region into a Province on
February 13, 2000.
The Great Jubilee Year 2000 has also graced us with the continuation
of our Founder's dream of a mission for immense China with the new
foundation in Hong Kong which formally opened on June 30,
2000. Right now the community is composed of three sisters. They
give services to the Hong Kong Diocese Liturgy Commission; assist in
the publication of the diocese's liturgical bulletin and in the
liturgical catechesis now being intensified both in Hong Kong and in
Mainland China. They also do animation work for the Filipino
community in one of the big parishes there. At the same time they
are starting a mini liturgical center to attend to the demands of
the local Church.
The PDDM has been in the Philippines for almost forty-nine years,
blessed with a steady growth in communities and personnel. There are
now 97 professed members (eighty-seven perpetually professed and
twelve temporarily professed); 81 are in the Philippine-Taiwan-Hong
Kong Province while 16 are in various missions in Rome, Ireland,
Canada, USA, Australia and France. There is also a steady entry of
young people. Currently, there are eight novices, one of whom is a
Chinese, two pre-novices and six pre-postulants, four of whom are
Vietnamese. There are also three other young Vietnamese who have
come to observe and experience our life.
At this challenging stage of their maturation as an institute, the
sisters have opted to commit themselves more consciously and
concretely to the work of renewal in the local church and in the
world journeying in this new millenium.
Meanwhile, they praise and thank the Lord for the 49 years of their
foundation in the Philippines and look forward to the coming
celebration of the 50th anniversary a year from now.
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