During this period (1852-1878), the College, directed by various laymen, was a public Gymnasium, Girls' School, and Helvetic Institute of Languages and Commerce, with mixed fortunes.
When the Apostolic Administration of Ticino was created in 1885 (Diocese of Lugano since 1971), Pope Leo XIII entrusted the College, which in the meantime had returned to being directed by a Ticino parish priest, Fr. Alessandro Verda, to the Apostolic Administrators (Bishops) of Lugano.
Two religious orders succeeded each other in leadership: the Salesians from 1894 to 1910 and the Assumptionists from 1910 to 1917.