Female founders within the education landscape of the Alponshine Restoration: the example of Paulina Harriet and Christian Brothers

Abstract

The Christian Brothers arrived in Spain in 1878, thanks to the initiative of a women well portrayed by Benito Pérez Galdós: Ernestina Manuel de Villena. In a short period of time, the proposals to establish new houses ensued. The superior of the new teaching order H. Justino María could not keep up with all of the proposals despite being an efficient and well-informed individual. In all of this, women will play a leading role, in particular those with resources and goals, who will call for the establishment of Christian schools in their respectives spheres of influence. One of them was Paulina Harriet, a French woman settled in the city of the Pisuerga River, Valladolid, dedicated to the tanning industry together with her husband Juan Dibildos. After being widowed, she developed a concern for the education of the children from the San Ildefonso parish and the working-class children that led her to open a free school devoted to Our Lady of Lourdes in 1884, followed by a fee-paying school three years later. In this chapter we will not only discuss the founding of the now-called Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Lourdes, but also Paulina Harriet's family and social background.