Saint Francis of Assisi College Alabang 4.13

Saint Francis of Assisi College have over 10 schools located in South Manila. Our Alabang Campus offers programs from High-school down to Pre-school.

We have rich and responsive curriculum represented by well-trained professional teachers and administrators making us one of the top schools in Manila today! We are located at 19 Ilaya Street, Alabang Muntinlupa City, Metro Manila.

The Saint Francis of Assisi College (SFAC) is a learning institution offering complete education from pre-school up to the graduate level. Founded in 1981 with about 80 pre-school pupils, SFAC now consists of more than 8,000 students spread over in nine campuses in the Southern Luzon area. Main campus is located in Admiral Village, Talon III, Las Piñas City.

In its three decades of existence, SFAC, recognized by the Commission on Higher Education, is pursuing programs of instruction grounded on academic, cultural, and sports excellence, and tempered by Christian - and Franciscan - values exemplified by its patron, Saint Francis of Assisi. Rich and responsive curricula, a corps of well-trained, experienced and professional teachers, dynamic administrators, and an atmosphere conducive to excellence - all make up the lifelong learning experiences at SFAC.

The Life of Saint Francis

Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan Order, was born in Assisi, in the 12th century. Francis was the eldest son of a prosperous cloth merchant. He was named John at baptism but earlier acquired the name Francesco, the “Frenchman”. Francis was a high-spirited youth, who delighted in the fellowship of revelry and the romance of chivalry.

In 1205, moved by a desire to achieve military glory, Francis joined the army at Walter of Briene, who was then fighting on the Pope's behalf in Apulla. The would-be warrior never reached the front. He become ill at Spoleto where in a dream, a voice asked him, "why do you desert the Lord for his vassal?" This was the first progress of Francis' conversion. One day in 1207, while he was praying in the crumbling church of Dan Damiano near Assisi, the voice spoke to him again: "Francis, repair my house", he interpreted this statement as a positive command to rebuild the dilapidated building in which he knelt. To raise money for his project, he took several bails of cloth from his father's shop and sold them. When his irate parent had him brought before the bishop's court to recover the stolen property, Francis made a dramatic gesture of abandonment to providence. He gave back his father not only the money received for the cloth but even the very clothing he was wearing.

After his inheritance, Francis continued repairing neglected churches. He also served the inmates of lepers' hospitals and spent long period in solitary prayer. It is unlikely that Francis deliberately set out to find a religious order, but the unaffected candor of his preaching, the warmth of his personality, and his joyous asceticism drew men to him. By 1209, his followers numbered 11, lived as itinerant preachers, slept in abandoned churches and leper houses, and possessed no wealth except that obtained from honest labor. They felt little need for a rule in the sense of a conscious legal contract. The "Form of Life" that Francis drew up for them in 1209 was the statement of an ordeal rather than a rule in traditional sense. After some hesitation, Innocent III gave verbal approbations to Francis "Form of Life" on April 16, 1209 (or 1210). Sometime later, Francis was ordained a deacon, but never became a priest.

In 1220, the Friars Minor numbered more than 5,000. This phenomenal growth necessitated a more structured organization of brotherhood. In 1221, Francis resigned from the administration of the order into the hands of a vicar. He was keenly aware of his inadequacies as an executive. His wealth was gone and he was almost blind. He spent his last years at remote hermitages in the company of his early companions.

On October 3, 1226, he died at the Portiuncula, a small chapel near Assisi. After his death, Brother Elias, the Superior General, announced to the order at La Verna (Alverno) on September 12, 1224, that Francis had received the stigmata or the wounds of Christ, on his body.