The time was one of great changes. The Industrial Revolution had shaken the traditional structures of society. The ideals of the French Revolution, propagated by Napoleon’s soldiers, gave rise to both adherence and rejection. The struggle for the unification of Italy created a climate of unrest.

The purpose of the nascent Congregation was education although, according to the perspectives of the time, its activity was subdivided into:

– Female education in colleges and schools
– Parish catechesis
– Retreats and meetings for girls and women through Pia Obra de Santa Doroteia
– Meetings for guys

The Work of Santa Doroteia, considered a priority and which aimed to remake the social fabric through a simple and flexible network of support for poor children and adolescents, support given by girls from the neighborhood framed by adult women. The role of the Sisters was to encourage girls and women, especially in periodic meetings.

College do Sardão was founded in 1879, while Paula Frassinetti was still alive, in the house and farm of the same name, in Oliveira do Douro.

Its owners were the maternal aunts of the writer Almeida Garrett and they donated these assets to the Congregation, with a view to educating youth and the Christian life of the local population. Garrett, in his work, fondly recalls his childhood years spent at Quinta do Sardão.

In the beginning, the College had a school organization of three types: a male school, a female school for external students and another, also female, for internal students.

After an interregnum due to the change in the Portuguese political regime – from 1910 to 1921, the College reopened with two types of organization: a school for external students and another for internal students (both female).

From 1969, with the introduction of Early Childhood Education, under a co-education regime, later extended to Primary, the structure of the College underwent successive changes. At the moment, the school population covers Kindergarten and the 1st Cycle of Basic Education.

In fidelity to its origins – the House and the Congregation – the College seeks not only to carry out joint action by the entire Educational Community, but also to open itself to the outside, in an exchange between Schools and with other Organizations with a cultural matrix, integrating in particular the initiatives of the Culture Department of the Vila Nova de Gaia City Council.