St. Anthony’s College (formerly St. Anthony’s Academy) derives its basic reason for existence from the basic Christian Message, “LOVE GOD, LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR.” This educational institution in the farthest north of the archipelago has survived more than five decades to maintain its mission as evangelizing arm of the Church through quality education. This Catholic school was founded by the late Rev. Fr. Gerry Filippetto, OFM from Padua, Italy. He is a member of the Order of the Franciscan Minor (OFM) from the Province of Venice. After his ordination, he volunteered to China as Missionary but there, he suffered imprisonment and eventual expulsion among other missionaries during the outbreak of the Communist Regime in 1951. With their expulsion from China, he opted to go to the Philippines together with some Italian confreres with the permission of their superiors.

By the grace of God, Fr. Gerry met the late Bishop Alejandro Olalia, DD, of the Diocese of Tuguegarao who invited him to do mission in the North. Collaborating with his superiors, he and his Franciscan brothers responded generously, opening a new territorial mission comprising the towns of Buguey, Sta. Teresita, Gonzaga, and then later on Sta. Ana in the northeastern tip part of Diocese of Tuguegarao. In March 1952, he became the first OFM parish priest of St. Anne Parish of Buguey, Cagayan and at the same time, the Superior of the Community of the Italian fathers.

In order to conduct an efficient religious instruction among the people and to help the parish priest in the task of evangelization, Fr. Gerry got an inspiration to organize a religious congregation starting from volunteer women who were legionaries of Mary. In 1953, he went to settle in Sta. Ana, Cagayan and started St. Anthony’s Academy (now St. Anthony’s College) with the volunteer women who became the pioneering members of the religious community. The pioneering members were envisioned as auxiliary to his work of evangelization and the preservation of the faith in the vast region deprived of priests. The members are to live the spirit of the Third Order Rule of St. Francis of Assisi dedicated to penance, prayer, and apostolate and to follow the examples of the Blessed Virgin Mary. For this reason, they got the name Franciscan Apostolic Sisters (FAS).

Fr. Gerry and the sisters started with the opening of the secondary education. A decade later, the Elementary Department was opened. In 1968, the College Department was established. With the death of Fr. Gerry in 1991, the Franciscan Apostolic Sisters (FAS) and their mission partners and collaborators continue to develop SAC as an institution of quality education, a vehicle for intellectual, social, emotional, and spiritual formation. The FAS has also evolved from its status as Diocesan Religious Institute from a diocesan permission granted by Msgr. Teodulfo Domingo, DD in 1964 and then Diocesan Right by Archbishop Diosdado A. Talamayan, DD in 1996 to a Religious Institute of Pontifical Right granted by Pope John Paul II on the occasion of the FAS Golden Jubilee in 2003. Catholic education is the arm of the church in its evangelizing tasks. The strong emphasis on holistic formation represented by “growing in Age, in Wisdom, and in Grace, remains to be the mission of Saint Anthony’s College among God’s people in this part of the Philippines. SAC continues to adapt its curriculum and course offerings in order to respond appropriately to the needs of the time. Particularly, SAC has opened its doors to the short courses of the Technical Educational Skills and Development Training (TESDA). At the same time, it continues to uphold a solid and uncompromising Christian formation to equip Anthonians to make responsible Christian decisions in the midst of contradicting options of the present times.