- ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY
- Our Story
- Mission and Vision
- Louisian Excellence
- Saint Aloysius Gonzaga
- The University Emblem
- USL Organization
- The CICM
- A School of Topnotchers
Pre-Saint Louis History
The University of Saint Louis has its roots from Msgr. Constant Jurgens, CICM, D.D., then bishop of Tuguegarao. Msgr. Constant Jurgens, a Dutch by nationality, was a CICM missionary and a great educator.
A few years before the outbreak of the Second World War, Msgr. Jurgens founded the Cagayan Valley Atheneum as a diocesan school for boys. Rev. Fr. Oscar Deltour, CICM. Cagayan Valley Atheneum stood from 1938 to 1946. Cagayan Valley Atheneum was originally cited at the coumpound of St. Peter's Cathedral. Later it was transferred to a different lot bought by Msgr. Jurgens with his own missionary fund from the Tabacalera in Ugac.
The war had destroyed the Cagayan Valley Atheneum buildings. Msgr. Jurgens had been confined at the concentration camp during the Japanese Occupation from which he came out a very sick man. Many CICM Missionaries had also suffered either in concentration camps or in evacuation. Msgr. Jurgens called on the Jesuit Fathers (Society of Jesus) to take over the administration of the school. Conditions were that he built a residence and school complete with equipment and that he transferred the ownership of the land to them. The name of the school was changed to Ateneo de Tuguegarao. It operated with a high school and two college courses, Commerce and A.A. Pre-Law. In 1962, the Jesuit Fathers left Tuguegarao and closed Ateneo de Tuguegarao.