Their Congregation began in the little village of Levesville, in France, at the end of the seventeenth century, more than three hundred years ago. It started with four young girls, going into the homes of the poor, teaching the children to read, to write, to count, and to pray. The Superior at that time was seventeen years old, Sister Marie Micheau. They taught the wives and mothers of Levesville to cook, to sew, to keep the home beautiful, and to take care of their children when they were sick. Marie Micheau herself died at the age of nineteen, when a plague swept through Levesville, and all of France.
Now, here in the Philippines, they are celebrating their hundredth anniversary with a musical drama that portrays their work in their schools, in their hospitals, and with the poor. The cast is drawn from their five schools in Manila: Saint Paul University Manila, Saint Paul University Quezon City, Saint Paul College Pasig, Saint Paul College Parañaque, and Saint Paul School of Makati.
The unusual thing about their musical drama–which they have called: "Women With A Heart" — is that they have put sixteen of their nuns on the stage, as performers: the four original Sisters of Levesville, the seven who came to Dumaguete, and three more from their schools, hospitals, and social workers in Manila.
The scenes are set in Levesville, in Marseilles, in Dumaguete, in Iloilo, and in Manila. The fact that the play is musical comes naturally to the Sisters of Saint Paul. Their founder, Pere Luis Chauvet, was a musician. He lived in a poor little village. His convento was tiny, and poor. He himself was poor. But in his quarters he had a spinet and a harpsichord. He passed on his love of music like a heritage to the Congregation he founded.
Of the seven Sisters who came to Dumaguete four were French, one was Portuguese, one was Chinese, and one was American. The American, Sister Josephine, played the piano and the mandolin. They discovered that the Filipinos were musical, by nature. So their schools echoed with song, from the beginning. It was a Paulinian tradition. Wherever the Sisters of Saint Paul are teaching, their choral groups, their dance troupes, and their dramatic guilds are outstanding.
The Sisters were missionaries. They were here to evangelize. But there was no contradiction, in the Philippines, between religion and music. One of the finest Filipino writers, Father Horacio de la Costa, S.J., wrote:
"This pauper among the nations hides two jewels in her rags. One of them is our music. We are sundered one from another by eighty-seven dialects; we are one people when we sing. Somewhere in the rugged north, a peasant woman croons her child to sleep; and the Visayan, listening, remembers the cane fields of his childhood, and his own mother singing the self-same song.
"We are again one people when we pray. This is our other treasure: our Faith. It gives, somehow, to our little uneventful days, a kind of splendor; as though they had been touched by a King. And did you ever notice how they are always mingling–our religion and our music? All the basic rites of human life –the harvest and the seed-time, the wedding, birth and death–are among us drenched with the fragrance of incense and the coolness of music.
"These are the bonds that bind us together; these are the soul that makes us one."
And so it was that, very soon after the Sisters of Saint Paul de Chartres arrived here – seven foreigners – they admitted the first two Filipinas into their Congregation: Petra Labaralo and Cipriana Sonsona. In their production of "Women With A Heart" the Sisters have cast two girls, who are actually about to enter their Congregation, and became real nuns.
Because the play tells the story of the Sisters, the nuns star. But they are supported by a little army of students, all of them triple threat: singers, dancers, and actors. Cef Valderama plays the romantic Jacqueline. Christine Allado plays a dramatic role, where she runs away from home and comes to the Sisters. Justine Narciso and Cassandra de Luna narrate for Levesville. Jecily Juliana
Escorpiso introduces Marseilles and Dumaguete. Darcy Nerelle Grefalde opens for Iloilo. And Ann Louise Cruz stars in the scenes of Manila. And Carla Mumar plays the leader of society in Dumaguete.
The male stars are all experienced actors. Aljim Bernas plays Pere Luis Chauvet. Kiko Rallonza is the natural leader on Edsa. Ben Nuñez plays Bishop Rooker of Jaro, who brought the Sisters of Saint Paul to the Philippines. Bill Corneby is the father of Yvonne, who threatens to have the Levesville school closed down. Francois, who is in love with Jacqueline, is Peimon Badiee. Vic Sison is very strong as Saint Paul the Apostle. And the Japanese Captain, who shows the good side of the Japanese during the Philippine Occupation, is Ray Ang.
There will be thirteen performances. The show will open in Parañaque, on the stage of Saint Paul College, at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 25. There will be two more performances at Parañaque: at 6:00 pm on Saturday, September 25 and at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 26.
Saint Paul University, Quezon City, will host the play five times:
• At 7:00 pm on Friday, October 1
• At 2:00 pm on Saturday, October 2
• At 6:00 pm on Saturday, October 2
• At 2:00 pm on Sunday, October 3
• At 6:00 pm on Sunday, October 3
There will be three performances at Saint Paul College, Pasig:
• At 9:00 am on Saturday, October 9
• At 2:00 pm on Saturday, October 9
• At 3:00 pm on Sunday, October 10.
The gala performances will be held at Saint Paul University, Manila, in their newly renovated theater.
• At 6:00 pm on Saturday, October 16
• At 7:00 pm o Sunday, October 24.
The Sisters have made a great effort to portray this story beautifully. It is a tale of good people, in Europe and in the Philippines, doing the right thing. In our day, it is good to remember that God still has a strong, strong place in our lives.
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