ICA traces its foundation in 1933-1936 when the Chinese families in Binondo requested the MIC sisters to open a school so that their children who have been baptized in the Catholic Church could be followed up in the practice of living out of their faith. The school moved seven times to accommodate its growing population, partly due to influx of Chinese immigrants escaping the Sino-Japanese War as well as the damage of school buildings as a result of the shelling of Manila by the Americans and the Japanese during World War II.