Message

Praise and thanksgiving to our God,
the Source and Giver of life for the wondrous blessings
we have received these past forty years of Vincentian caring
to the people of Bicolandia. Certainly our Lady of Penafrancia, Patroness of the Bicol region must be very pleased
to see that her people are given the opportunity to be cared
for the way Christ and our Holy Founders would have cared for them. May I take this occasion to thank our General and Provincial Superiors who have stood by us and supported us in all our projects and medical innovations. May this ruby jubilee celebration
of MSH deepen the Vincentian commitment
of our doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers,
“give them fresh hope and renewed enthusiasm in caring for the suffering members of the mystical Body of Christ.”
This is my hope and my prayer for all of us.

SISTER DOLORES C. CORNEJO, D.C.
Vice Pres. For Health Services

        Healing is one Mysterious Act of God and blessed are those who have cared for and administered treatment to the sick and the dying for they have shared and have become co-workers in this Wonderful Mystery called Healing.

        Mother Seton Hospital has emerged as one respected institution of health care run in Vincentian Way that has contributed immensely in providing quality medical and healthcare services to the population of Bicolandia.

Laying of the cornerstone of the Mother Seton Hospital Annex Building (St. Vincent de Paul Bldg.) by His Excellency Most Rev. Leonardo Z. Legaspi, Archbishop of Caceres (January 17, 2002)

        A milestone in the history of Mother Seton Hospital came in 2005 when the Department of Health granted the hospital to operate with a hundred and fifty-- (150)-bed capacity. In April of 2003, the four-story Saint Vincent de Paul Annex Building was completed, blessed and inaugurated.

        The Universidad de Santa Isabel (USI)-Mother Seton Hospital stands as one of the most modern hospitals in Bicol Region today. It is located along Roxas Avenue where it has surroundings conducive to rest and recuperation – away from the noise and bustle of the Naga metropolis, yet very accessible. There are nine buildings within the compound with a spacious parking space just opposite the façade of the Hospital and at the back of St. Vincent de Paul Building.


Blessing of the Saint Vincent de Paul Building (Annex of Mother Seton Hospital, April 28, 2003)

        The central structure consists of the two-story main building and the newly constructed four-story St. Vincent de Paul building.

        It has about 400 hospital workers and is staffed by about 139 consultants, highly trained and experts in their respective specialties. It is licensed for tertiary level of service by the Department of Health (DOH).

        There are different types of room accommodations to suit one’s tastes and needs. These include: deluxe rooms, suite rooms, private air-conditioned rooms, private electric fan rooms and service rooms.



Visit of Dr. Laurie Worral of De Paul University, Chicago and Dr. Marilyn Fleckenstein of Niagara University, New York (January 16, 2006)

        The modernization of Mother Seton is a result of a gradual but well-conceived improvement in all facets of services it offers to the public, a continuing testimony and legacy by the founders of the Daughters of Charity – St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac - in pursuing its commitment to serving the “poorest of the poor”.

        To trace the roots of Mother Seton Hospital is to trace the exemplary lives of St. Vincent de Paul, a humble French priest and St. Louise de Marillac, a widow, who together established the Company of the Daughters of Charity in 1633 as a group of women dedicated to serving the “sick poor”. Prayer and community life were essential elements of their vocation of service.

        The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, founded in France in 1633, is a congregation of women with simple vows devoted to corporal and spiritual works of mercy. In France, the members of the congregation had been popularly known as “the Grey Sisters” referring to the color of their habit which is bluish grey.

        The need of organization to serve the poor suggested to Fr. Vincent de Paul, a French parish priest, the forming of a confraternity among the people of his parish. It was so successful that it spread from the rural districts to Paris, where noble ladies often found it hard to give personal care to the needs of the poor. The majority sent their servants to minister to those in need, but often the work was slighted.. Vincent de Paul remedied this by inducing young women from the country to go to Paris and devote themselves to the service of the poor under the direction of the Ladies of Charity. These young girls formed the nucleus of a very large community of the Daughters of Charity now spread all over the world. On November 29,1633. Louise de Marillac began a more systematic training of the girls in the care of the sick and in spiritual life. This is looked on as the real foundation of the community.

        In 1660, on the death of St. Louise de Marillac and St. Vincent de Paul, there were more than forty houses of the Daughters of Charity in France, and the sick poor were cared for in their own dwellings in twenty-six parishes in Paris.

        During the 19th century, the community spread to Austria, Portugal, Hungary, the British Isles, and North and South America,

        Today, the Daughters of Charity are an international community of over 27,000 Catholic women ministering all over the world. Their ministry touches those in need through education, health care, social and pastoral services.

        The life of a Daughter of Charity is animated first of all by the LOVE OF CHRIST founded on an interior experience of Him, nourished by personal and communal prayer.

        The Daughters of Charity (DC) sisters commit to live intensely the charisma of the founders -St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac – by constantly evaluating and redefining their response to the needs of the poor. Today, they reach out to victims of hunger, homelessness, and war, substance abuse, broken families, refugees, troubled youth, and persons living with AIDS.

        In Naga City, Mother Seton Hospital, came into being when in 1966, the former Naga Medical Center (NMC) founded in 1958 by a team of young medical professionals was offered for sale to the Daughters of Charity (DC) of the then Colegio de Sta. Isabel (CSI). The acquisition of the hospital came in very timely when it was made the base hospital for clinical practice of student nurses in the newly opened College of Nursing of CSI.

        The initial difficulties of running a hospital was such that the DC sisters needed a model of fortitude and found it embodied in the life of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American-born Saint and Founder of the Daughters of Charity in the United States of America (USA). She pioneered in parish schools and left behind an example of inner strength and courage.

        The turnover of ownership and administration to the Daughters of Charity was formalized on March 12, 1963. Since then, the Naga Medical Center assumed the name of Mother Seton Hospital, in honor of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.

        In 1974, a three-story annex building was constructed and extended behind the original two-story building and in 1979 it was designated as a tertiary level hospital. Mother Seton Hospital became the “home of excellent doctors, competent staff and personnel as well as a beacon of light and hope for the sick and the dying”. These milestones in the history of the hospital were all attributed to the intercession of its patroness Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.

        In 1991, on its 25th year, Mother Seton Hospital (MSH) celebrated a dual milestone in its history: the Silver Jubilee Anniversary and theblessing of its new building complex along Roxas Avenue (Diversion Road), Naga City.

        The Administration, after an objective evaluation of its services and its impact in the community, decided to relocate to a wider and more conducive atmosphere that is free from noise and pollution and environment hazards for the well-being and healing comfort of the patients.

        The new site, which has a land area of almost two hectares, was an imposing two-story building and built adjacent was a chapel named after St. Louise de Marillac. In April 2003, the four-story Saint Vincent de Paul Annex Building was blessed and inaugurated.

        Now on its 40th Ruby Anniversary Celebration, Mother Seton Hospital still enjoys the privilege of being the only Catholic hospital in Naga City. With the change of status of Colegio de Sta. Isabel into a University, now known as the Universidad de Sta. Isabel, the hospital has become a very strong component in education and health ministry of the Daughters of Charity in Naga City

        Despite the economic uncertainties in the Philippines, the financial difficulties, and natural calamities that have frequently visited the Bicol Region, Mother Seton Hospital has survived the test of time. It stands to its commitment to render quality health care to the sick, the poor and undeserved in the Vincentian or Setonian Way

        Mother Seton Hospital is a recipient of numerous awards attesting to its significant contribution to the region and giving recognition to the hard work, dedication and the Setonian Way of caring for the sick, and its continuing adoption of advances in medical and health care technology for the benefit of the patients. Mother Seton Hospital is a 2004 Quality Service Awardee, and 2005 Technical Service Awardee from the Philippine Hospital Association (PHA); and, a 2006 National Awardee from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation. (PHIC).

        The audacity and initiative of Sister Imelda Espiritu, former Superior of CSI who expertly handled the acquisition of the hospital on May 7, 1966, and the able management of the hospital by administrators over the years up to the present administration have shown that the intense passion of the Daughters of Charity sisters to serve Jesus Christ by serving the community, especially by attending to the sick, nourishes and purifies the soul, undaunted and unfazed by misfortunes and hardships they bear witness to the joy of giving oneself, unreservedly, for the service of the needy, the sick and the dying.