The Shepherd prepares a Pasture
As early as 1921 the Good Shepherd Sisters at St. Bridget's Academy in Batangas, after a hard year's work, spent the summer months in Baguio. Not having a house of their own in Baguio, the sisters used to stay with the Belgian Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary or with the Maryknoll Missionary Sisters.
With the increasing number of Good Shepherd Ssiters it became necessary to have their own vacation house.
And so it was that one day in the summer of 1948, "they cruised around searching for a suitable place, A half-opened gate witht he fading "FOR SALE" sign beckoned them and Sisters Mary Dominica Long, Holy Name Hamilton, and Evarista Mullaney drove into the Gaches grounds, which, despite the potholes and bombed out house, showed tremendous potentials." So goes the account in Landscapes: A History of the First 72 Years of the Good Shepherd Sisters in the Philippines.
On June 21, 1948 the land titles were issued to and in the name of St. Bridget's College Batangas.
With the decisiveness and foresight for which she is well-remembred, Sr. M. Dominica lost no time in constructing a convent for the sisters and a cottage for visitors.
The convent, of course, had a chapel and when Bishop William Brasseur, the bishop of Baguio, came to bless it, he told the Sisters, "God has planned some special work for you in Baguio." Bishop Brasseur seized the occasion to ask for a foundation in his diocese.
A community was missioned to begin the "special work" foreseen by the Bishop: Mother Mary Victory Walsh, Irish; Sr. Mary John Eudes Heredia, Filipino Belgian; Sr. Rose Virginia Hayes, American; and Mary Carmel Medalla, Filipino.