Chapter V: Appendix: Education in the Philippines (1)

Letter from the ecclesiastical cabildo to Felipe III. Juan de
Bivero, and others; July 12, 1601.
The college of San José. In two parts. I--Francisco Colin, S.J.;
1663. II--Summary of history compiled from various sources.
The college and university of Santo Tomás. In three
parts. I--Baltasar de Santa Cruz, O.P.; 1693. II--Cárlos III,
March 7, 1785. III--Evarista Fernandez Arias, O.P.; July 2, 1885.
Royal college of San Felipe de Austria. In two parts. I--Casimiro
Diaz, O.S.A.; Valladolid, 1890. II--Pastells's notes in his
edition of Colin's Labor evangélica; 1904.
Secular priests in the Philippines. Felipe Pardo, O.P.; June
6, 1680.
Royal decree concerning native schools. Cárlos II; June 20, 1686.
College-seminary of San Felipe. In two parts. I--Felipe V; March 3,
1710. II--Juan de la Concepción; 1788-1792.
College of San Juan de Letran. Vicente Salazar, O.P.; 1742.
Law regulating marriages of students. Cárlos IV; June 11, 1792.
Royal decree ordering the teaching of Spanish in native
schools. Cárlos IV; December 22, 1792.
Conciliar seminaries. In two parts. I--Governor Rafael María
de Aguilar y Ponce de Leon; March 26, 1803. II--Excerpts from
various sources.
Nautical school. In two parts. I-- ---- Chacon; May 9,
1839. II--Compiled from various sources.
Boys' singing school. 1901.
Public instruction. Sinibaldo de Mas; 1843.
Educational institutions and conditions. J. Mallat; 1846.
Privileges granted to students. ---- Arrazola; December 2, 1847.
Superior school of painting, sculpture, and engraving. Compiled
from various sources.
Ateneo municipal. Compiled from various sources.
Educational suggestions. Vicente Barrantes; 1870.
Public instruction. José Montero y Vidal; 1886.
Girls' schools in Manila and the provinces. Compiled from various
sources.
School of agriculture. Compiled from various sources.
Government reorganization of education in the university of Santo
Tomás. Dr. E. Montero Rios, and others; October 29, 1890.

Sources: The material for this appendix is obtained as follows: I. MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla. II. I--Francisco Colin's Labor evangelica (Madrid, 1663), book iii, part of chapter xviii, pp. 414-418, from a copy belonging to Edward E. Ayer; II--compiled from various sources, fully credited in footnotes. III. I--Baltasar de Santa Cruz's Historia (Zaragoza, 1693), book i, chapter xxxvi, pp. 168-172, from copy belonging to Edward E. Ayer; II--Algunos documentos relativos á la universidad de Manila (Madrid, 1892), pp. 35-37; III--Census of the Philippines (Washington, 1905), iii, pp. 622-626. IV. I--Casimiro Diaz's Conquistas (Valladolid, 1890), book ii, part of chapter xxxv, pp. 446, 447; II--Pablo Pastells's notes to his edition of Colin's Labor evangélica (Barcelona, 1904), ii, pp. pp. 261-268, 493, 494. V. Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), iii, pp. 9, 10. VI. Copy of decree published in Barrantes's Instrucción primaria (Madrid, 1869), pp. 74-76, from copy belonging to the Library of Congress. VII. I--MS. in Archivo-historico Nacional, Madrid; II--Juan de la Concepción's Historia general (Sampaloc, 1788-1792), viii, parts of chapters xiii and xiv, pp. 315-338, from a copy in the possession of the Editors. VIII. Vicente Salazar's Historia (Manila, 1742), book i, chapter ii, pp. 7-12, from a copy belonging to Edward E. Ayer. IX. Colección de autos acordados (Manila, 1861-1866), i, pp. 149, 150, from a copy belonging to Edward E. Ayer. X. Barrantes's Instrucción primaria, pp. 80-82. XI. I--Colección de autos acordados, v, pp. 15-17; II--Archipiélago filipino (Washington, 1900), i, pp. 343, 344, Census of Phil., iii, pp. 611, 612, and Doctrina y reglas constitucionales de la iglesia filipina independiente (Manila, 1904), pp. 14, 15, 42, 43, and 67, 68. XII. I--Colección de autos acordados, i, pp. 318, 319; II--Archipiélago filipino, i, p. 349, and Census of Phil., iii, p. 613. XIII. Archipiélago filipino, i, pp. 349, 350. XIV. Sinibaldo de Mas's Informe (Madrid, 1843), ii, no. 12. XV. J. Mallat's Les Philippines (Paris, 1846), ii, pp. 239-253, from a copy belonging to Edward E. Ayer. XVI. Colección de autos acordados, ii, pp. 128, 129. XVII. Archipiélago filipino, i, p. 349, and Census of Phil., iii, p. 614. XVIII. Archipiélago filipino, i, p. 343, and Census of Phil., iii, pp. 603, 604. XIX. Vicente Barrantes's Apuntes interesantes (Madrid, 1870), pp. 218-225, from a copy belonging to Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A. XX. Montero y Vidal's Archipiélago filipino (Madrid, 1886), pp. 187-193. XXI. Dominican report, 1887, from Census of Phil., iii, pp. 616-620. XXII. Reports of Philippine Commission, 1900, i, p. 39, 1901, i, p. 145, 1900-1903, p. 601; and Reports of Commissioner of Education, 1897-1898, i, p. 980, 1899-1900, ii, pp. 1625, 1626, 1902, ii, pp. 2233, 2234. XXIII. MS. belonging to Edward E. Ayer.

Translations and Compilations: These are all by James A. Robertson, except No. V, above, which is by Emma Helen Blair.

LETTER FROM THE ECCLESIASTICAL CABILDO TO FELIPE III

Sire:

Considering that your Majesty's great desire has always shown that these Filipinas Islands should increase in all things, and they may without doubt increase greatly for the service of God and that of your Majesty, if perchance your Majesty's ministers aid them by observing the royal decrees (for no more would be necessary); understanding also that some of those religious who come here would like to have your Majesty grant them favor by giving them a university in these islands, [18] and authority to confer the degrees of bachelor, licentiate, and other degrees: we have considered that, the case having been well examined, this is not fitting, either for the service of your Majesty, or for the welfare and increase of this land. We believe that we shall give very clear and very apparent reasons for this. For if a religious order has the said university, never will the children and those born in this country have any advantage, nor will they advance any in letters. For, since it is a fact that virtue increases with reward, which is the honor, if the religious hold all the professorships, the seculars will have no incentive which encourages them to rise and to study solidly. A professorship and the thought of being able to get one makes many study. Second, it would be a great pity and even a great cause of ruin for the country, if the children of its inhabitants did not have anything more to which to aspire than a benefice of Indians, or at most one single benefice which exists, of Spaniards, in all this archbishopric, namely, this curacy of Manila, and four or five others of Indians, which exist in all these islands. All of those benefices will be given by the bishops to their servants unless students are found here such that their conscience obliges them to favor such students. If the professorships should be given only to religious, no encouragement could be given to the children of the citizens here to study earnestly, at the most more than a little grammar. For that would be enough for them so that a benefice might be given them. Third, it is necessary for the religious orders themselves here, for the children of citizens to have the wherewithal with which to be encouraged to study, and to pretend to honorable and great things. For, by such people must the orders be fed and sustained. And it is fitting that those who should take the habit in them should have studied very well, and with honorable intention, and not that men of little mind and learning should enter the orders. Fourth, it is right that this metropolitan church of Manila and the other cathedrals of these islands should have men truly erudite who may enter them and hold their prebends. This is impossible to attain if all the seculars who enter them must be only students, and only scholars, and no one can be a master, or hold a professorship, and it is well known how unadvisable that is. It is right and necessary for the mother churches to have in their own body very eminent men, and no one is eminent ordinarily but those who have taught and held professorships. Fifth, the religious will be well able to teach theology and the arts, but canons and laws, which, particularly the canons, are also necessary for churches and for the community, cannot be taught by religious. And, in fact, the custom of the Catholic church has always been to leave in the universities, especially in those which are located in the capitals of notable provinces, as is that of this country, the door open to seculars and to religious, and to all, in order that they may compete for the professorships. This custom has always been observed by the Catholic sovereigns of Castilla, not only in Salamanca, Valladolid, and Alcalá, and in the other parts of España, but also in the Yndias. Considering these so forcible reasons, which are laid at your Majesty's feet, we petition that your Majesty do not allow a university to be conceded to a religious order, although any ask it, and that the secular estate be not so abased in these islands that we should be excluded from a thing which has always been so common and so peculiar to the seculars in the Church. And if, for the present, your Majesty should be pleased to commission some religious to lecture in arts and theology, we know that there are religious in these islands who are friends of sane doctrines, and hostile to all innovation, and zealous for the honor of God, who will attend to this ministry without it being necessary for them (nor do they wish it) to meddle in giving degrees, but who only wish to be useful and to teach. If your Majesty would be so pleased, we believe that it would be very suitable for such persons to be appointed until there be more people to study, and that you be informed by the archbishop of this city, and should it appear fitting, by the governor together with him. Such appointees should not necessarily be of one order merely, but from those which the archbishop shall deem best, and your Majesty should order that very learned persons, and those inclined to simple doctrines be chosen. By so doing this will be fulfilled until such time that your Majesty shows us the grace of placing this in greater perfection and in such form that we seculars may have a place according to the merits of each one. May God preserve your Majesty many years, as is petitioned in this holy church ceaselessly. Manila, July twelve, one thousand six hundred and one. The vassals and chaplains of your Majesty.

Don Juan de Bivero, dean of Manila.
Archdeacon Arellano
Santiago de Castro, chanter of Manila.
Juan de Paz, canon.
Diego de Leon, canon.
Juan Galindo de Mesas
Cristoval Ramirez de Cartagena
Paulo Ruiz de Talavera
Crisanto de Tamayo
Lorenço Martinez Peñas
Francisco de Carrança

[On envelope: "Manila, to his Majesty. 1601. The ecclesiastical cabildo. July 12."]

[Endorsed: "Read, July 2. Have it filed with the other papers."]

THE COLLEGE OF SAN JOSÉ

I

COLLEGE AND SEMINARY OF SAN JOSEPH

[The first part of this document is taken from the second half of chapter xviii, of book iii, pp. 414-418, of Colin's Labor evangélica.] [19]

353 [i.e., 153]. A few months after the foundation of the congregation, [20] a beginning was given to the college and seminary of San Joseph, which was not less desired by the principal citizens of Manila than was the congregation. It had been discussed already before this, and Governor Don Luis Perez Dasmariñas had enacted, on the fifteenth of the month of August one thousand five hundred and ninety-five, an act in regard to it, in obedience to and in execution of a royal decree of one thousand five hundred and eighty-five, in which his Majesty commands Doctor Santiago de Vera, his governor in these islands, or the person in whose charge should be their government, to ascertain in what manner a college and seminary, where the sons of the Spanish inhabitants of these islands, under the care and management of the fathers of the Society, can be instructed in virtue and letters, may be instituted. Although the act was given out from that time by the governor, at the advice of Doctor Don Antonio de Morga, lieutenant general and assessor of the governor, on account of difficulties which always exist in whatever depends on the royal treasury, that work was suspended until the arrival of the father visitor, Diego Garcia, [21] with his ardent desire of putting into execution all the means for the service of God and the greater welfare of his neighbors. From the mountains of Antipolo, where he was, he charged Father Pedro Chirino, rector of the college of Manila, independently of the said act, to treat with Governor Don Francisco Tello, the auditors of the royal Audiencia (which had been reëstablished in these islands), and the two cabildos (ecclesiastical and secular), in regard to this matter. [22] The father found them all not only kind but desirous of its execution, for some of them had sons or nephews without the necessary education, for lack of the college.

154. Having seen the readiness and desire of all, the father visitor ordered some houses near our college to be made ready for that purpose. He appointed Father Luis Gomez [23] rector of the future college, and ordered him to choose some picked students as collegiates, and gowns and becas of the color now used to be prepared. He ordered the necessary licenses of the ordinary and of the secular government to be obtained; and that after they had been obtained, a beginning should really be made to the college and seminary with the fitting solemnity. It was to be named after San Joseph, on account of the special devotion that he had for that holy patriarch. The rector appointed exerted himself and, by virtue of his efforts, obtained the licenses from Governor Don Francisco Tello, and from the provisor judge and vicar-general of the archbishopric which was then vacant. Both licenses were dated August twenty-five, one thousand six hundred and one. Inasmuch as everything was now ready, a day was appointed for the erection of said college in due form. The governor and royal Audiencia, the provisor and vicar-general, some capitulars, the secular cabildo, the orders, and many others of the best people assembled in the chapel of the houses which had been prepared for the habitation and dwelling of the collegiates. Gowns and becas were given to Don Pedro de Tello, nephew of the governor; to Don Antonio de Morga, son of the senior auditor of that name; and other sons of the principal citizens up to the number of thirteen. Mass was celebrated by the archdeacon of the cathedral, Don Francisco Gomez de Arellano, who afterwards became dean. The new collegiates recited two prayers, one in Latin and the other in Spanish verses, in which with elegance, gravity, and in a pleasing manner, they declared the reason for the undertaking and the end of the new foundation, and the profit which could be promised to the community from it. They were received with general applause. Then many persons went through the house, and admired the neatness and fitness of the lodgings, beds, and desks, and the good order in everything. The number of the collegiates soon increased to twenty, which for a beginning and in a country so new and which professes rather the military and mercantile life than that of letters, was not to be esteemed lightly. After having made the foundation in the said form, the father visitor came to visit the new college, and with his presence, authority, and prudence, they attained great prestige. He gave the collegiates rules, and a method of living, proportionate to the profession of students. He made for them and for the rector and masters the necessary statutes, so that they might be kept in the future, as was done. By means of that in a few years students were seen to graduate from this college very advanced in letters and fit for offices and benefices; and others, sensible and devout, who, touched by God, entered the religious life.

155. The support of the collegiates during that time was obtained by themselves with a certain sum of money which each one of them gave, and which, administered by the procurator of the college, was sufficient for their sustenance and decent support. Some fixed income for the support of the rector and teachers, and succor for some students of quality and ability, who by the poverty of their parents could not meet their expenses with the sum which was charged, was greatly desired. Our Lord provided that by means of the Christian and noble governor of Mindanao, Estevan Rodriguez de Figueroa, who (as we have remarked above) had already founded and endowed the principal college of the Society in Manila. Being so favorable to the good work, he, when making his will as he embarked in Oton for the conquest of Mindanao, in which he named his daughters as his heirs, in case of their death before they reached a competent age, made a pupillary substitution in favor of this college and seminary. He ordered that in such an event, the property of either one of his two daughters should pass to the Society of Manila for the purpose of building a house, and founding a college and seminary for the education of youth. That event happened, for the younger of his two daughters named Doña Juana died at a very tender age, being drowned with her uncle Andres Duarte, a "twenty-four" of Xerez, in the wreck of the ship "San Antonio." Therefore, by virtue of the clause of the will of the said governor, the college of San Joseph inherited the possession which belonged to it. With that property this college and seminary of San Joseph was instituted and founded anew with public ecclesiastical and secular authority, on February twenty-eight, one thousand six hundred and ten, as appears from the act of its foundation which reads as follows.

156. "In the city of Manila, February twenty-eight, one thousand six hundred and ten, in the college of the Society of Jesus of this said city, before the treasurer, Don Luis de Herrera Sandoval: the provisor and vicar-general of this archbishopric, apostolic commissary, subdelegate-general of the Holy Crusade in these islands, Father Gregorio Lopez, provincial of the said college of the Society of Jesus, made a presentation of the acts contained in the four preliminary leaves of this book, signed by his name, and sealed with the seal of his office. That signature appears to be that of said father provincial. I, the present secretary, attest that I know him. He also presented the original licenses of the cantor, Santiago de Castro, former provisor and vicar-general of this archbishopric, and of Don Francisco Tello, former governor and captain-general of these islands, copies of which are inserted in these acts. Said licenses are for the foundation of the said college of San Joseph of this city of Manila, as is contained in them more minutely. I attest that I have seen said original licenses and that they are conserved in the archives of the said Society. One of them is countersigned by Geronimo de Alcaraz, former notary-public of this archbishopric, and the other by Gaspar de Acebo, former government secretary of these islands. The said father provincial declared that by virtue of the clause of the will of Captain Estevan Rodriguez de Figueroa, deceased, which is contained in the said acts, where he appears to be the patron of said college of San Joseph, he appointed and presented as collegiates of said college, Don Felipe de Figueroa, son of Don Lorenco de Figueroa and Doña Ana de Salazar, his wife; Gabriel de Santillan, son of Captain Ventura de Santillan and Doña Flora de Aguilar, his wife; and Gabriel Venegas, son of Don Goncalo Flores and Doña Juana Bautista, his wife: all inhabitants of this city, so that as such appointed collegiates they might be supported by the said income of the said college, according to the clause of its institution, as appears from the appointment above, which was dated in this city on St. Bernard's day, August twenty of the former year, one thousand six hundred. Although the said appointment is valid, legal, and sufficient, as it was made by the patron whom the said testator appoints, for greater validity he declared that he again presented--and he did present--the said three collegiates above named. And for greater solemnity of this act, as it was the first, the said provisor and vicar-general begged that his judicial authority be interposed and renewed, and that the license of said Santiago de Castro, his predecessor, be confirmed. The said provisor and vicar-general, having also read the said acts and original licenses, declared that, so far as it concerns him, he approved--and he did approve--the appointment made of the said Don Felipe de Figueroa, Gabriel de Santillan, and Gabriel Venegas; and he declared that he confirmed--and he did confirm--the said license of the said Santiago de Castro, his predecessor, and said that he again gave it--and he did give it--for the college founded with an income. For that effect, for greater validity, the said father provincial, in the presence of the said provisor and of me, the said secretary, delivered the three said collegiates to Father Pedro de Velasco, appointed rector of the said college. The latter received them as said collegiates of said college, so that they might be supported by it. All the above was done in my presence, and that of the witnesses who were present, brothers Diego de Sarsuela, Juan de Larrea, and Martin de Lisarde of the said Society; and the said father provincial, the said provisor; and the said Father Pedro de Velasco affixed their signatures to it before me, Pedro de Roxas, secretary and notary-public."

157. Before making this second institution of the college, account had been given to his Majesty in his royal Council of the Indias, of the legacy and bequest of Governor Estevan Rodriguez, and the possession by the Society in Manila of the property of Doña Juana de Figueroa, and permission was petitioned to bring from Mexico to Manila the money belonging to the said bequest, since it had to serve for the foundation of the college for the public welfare and profit of the islands. His Majesty, considering himself as greatly served by it, had ordered his royal decree despatched in accordance with this. In order that one may see the esteem of the Council for that work, that decree faithfully copied from its original will be placed here. It is as follows.

158. "The King. Don Luis de Velasco, my viceroy, governor, and captain-general of Nueva-España, or the person or persons, in whose charge may be the government of that country: On the part of Diego Cordova, of the Society of Jesus, and its procurator of the Indias, I have been informed that Governor Estevan Rodriguez de Figueroa, when he went to accomplish the conquest of the island of Mindanao in the Filipinas, where his enemies killed him, made a will under whose disposition he died, by which, desiring that the youth [of Filipinas] be occupied in virtue, he ordered that if either of his daughters should die while a minor, a college seminary should be founded in the city of Manila with the portion of the inheritance which belonged to such deceased girl, so that the sons of inhabitants of the said islands might study therein; and he left as patron of it the provincial of the Society of Jesus of those islands. Inasmuch as the younger daughter has died while a minor, the possession of that inheritance which fell to her was given to the said Society. Consequently, the said college seminary is to be founded in the said city of Manila with that inheritance. There is very great need of that college in that city for study, and for the rearing of ministers of the holy gospel. The property with which the said seminary is to be founded is in that city of Mexico, where it is advisable that it be placed at interest for its conservation and maintenance, inasmuch as there is nothing in which to invest it in the said islands. He petitions me that, in consideration of the great fruit which will be attained in those islands from that foundation, and in consideration of the many good services of said governor, I grant the concession of giving the license so that the proceeds from the property which is in that said city for the foundation and support of the said seminary, be allowed to pass thence to the said islands freely, notwithstanding the prohibition, with a sworn certification of the procurator of the said Society of Jesus of the said islands, to the effect that what thus passes is the gain or proceeds of the property of the said seminary, as there is nothing in the islands in which the said money can be invested as abovesaid. The members of my Council of the Assembly of the Indias having examined it, and having considered the abovesaid, I have considered it fitting to have this my decree issued. I command you thereby that, in each one of two years you allow to pass from that city to the said islands the sum which shall appear necessary to you for the said effect from the said property, if it does not exceed six hundred ducados; and that that sum be included in the quantity which I have given permission to be sent from that kingdom to the said Filipinas Islands, notwithstanding any order to the contrary, which for this time and in regard to this matter I dispense with. The said two years you shall send me a minutely detailed account of the value of the said property, and the district where it is invested and in what, and the amount of the proceeds thereof each year, and what it is advisable to enact concerning the whole matter. That, with your opinion you shall send to the said my Council of the Assembly, so that after examining it the advisable measures may be taken. Given in Valladolid, September thirteen, one thousand six hundred and eight.

I the King

"By command of the king our sovereign:

Juan Ruiz de Contreras"

159. After all this, it was necessary to have recourse the second and third time to the royal Council of the Indias, in regard to the collection of the remainder of the property of this foundation, which was in the royal treasury of Manila. His Majesty, with the appreciation and esteem which he always had for this work, protected it with the kindness which he generally exercises toward all those things which are for the service of God and the public welfare, and ordered his royal decrees despatched to the governors, Don Juan de Silva, May twenty-two, one thousand six hundred and fourteen, and Don Alonso Faxardo, December three, one thousand six hundred and eighteen, ordering the said sum to be paid for the purpose of the support of the collegiates, as was done. By virtue of those royal decrees and other papers which were presented during the suit of precedence which the college of Santo Thomas, of the Order of Preachers of this city, began a while ago with San Joseph, the latter obtained a decision from the royal Audiencia in its favor, May sixteen, one thousand and forty-seven, by which it was protected in its priority and possession of precedence in the public acts to that of Santo Thomas. That same thing was confirmed afterward by the royal Council of the Indias, as appears from the suit and other authentic documents which are kept in the archives of San Joseph.

II

SUMMARY OF HISTORY

[The following brief summary is compiled from various authorities, full references being given in the footnotes throughout.]

Antonio Sedeño, writing to Felipe II, June 17, 1583, petitions for the establishment of a Jesuit seminary, and asks royal aid. [24]

Felipe II, in a decree dated June 8, 1585, in view of the benefit that will result to the colony from aiding the Jesuits in instituting a college, and in aiding in the support of the religious who shall teach therein, orders Governor Santiago de Vera and Bishop Salazar to discuss measures for the founding of the same. [25]

The above-mentioned royal decree was presented to Governor Luis Perez Dasmariñas, August 15, 1595. September 5, a government act was dictated accepting the petitions of the Society in regard to the foundation of a college, with the condition that 1,000 pesos he assigned to it, together with the royal title and arms. The governor has it noted in the said act that everything is only provisional, until the foundation of the college is discussed with the bishop, and the agreement adopted sent to his Majesty for his approval. [26]

Rodriguez de Figueroa, on setting out for Oton for the conquest of Mindanao, made (March 16, 1596) his will in which he declares: "And inasmuch as, ... some of the said my children may die before reaching the age necessary for making a will, it falls to me as their father and legitimate administrator, to make a will for them. In such case availing myself of the said faculty, I order and command that, if the abovesaid should happen during the lifetime of their mother, the said Doña Ana de Oseguera, the latter shall hold and inherit the goods and property of the one who shall thus die, and with both the third and the remainder of the fifth, shall be done what shall be stated hereinafter. If the said Doña Ana Oseguera shall die, and the said my children, or either one of them without leaving any heir or descendant, then their property and their legal paternal and maternal portion, and the profit and income from it, shall be used to found a college in the manner hereinafter stated. The same must be founded, in case that said Doña Ana de Oseguera is living, from the said third and remainder of the fifth. For if either one or the other of the two casualties occur, a house shall be built next the Society of Jesus, of the city of Manila, sufficient, and which shall be used, for a college and seminary for boys, where all those may enter who desire to study the first letters in such seminary. I request and charge the provincial, at such time, of the Society of Jesus, to take it under his care and to give to such boys sufficient teachers for it. That part of the said building that shall be unoccupied shall be rented, for the support of said children and youth. The said father provincial shall be patron and administrator of the said college." [27]

In 1601, the Jesuits themselves founded a college, primarily through the efforts of Father Diego Garcia, who went to the Philippines as visitor in 1599. He ordered Father Pedro Chirino, independently of the act of Luis Perez Dasmariñas, to plan for the founding of a college for the Society. The first rector was Father Luis Gomez, who obtained the licenses of both ecclesiastical and civil authorities, August 25 of that year. The cantor, Santiago de Castro, provisor and vicar-general of the archbishopric of Manila, acting in vacant see, in view of the petition presented by Father Gomez, grants "license to said religious of the Society of Jesus, and to the said Father Luis Gomez, to found said college of San José." Governor Francisco Tello, on the same date, grants the civil license for the erection of the college in view of Gomez's petition, the erection being for the rearing "in virtue and letters of some Spanish youth, in view of the necessity of training ministers of the gospel of whom there is a lack in this land for the need of said college." [28] The new college was instituted with thirteen collegiates, and one father and one brother of the Society who were placed at its head to look after the spiritual and economic managements respectively.

October 30, 1604, a royal decree was despatched, which was received by the royal Audiencia at Manila, July 10, 1606, ordering "information in regard to the plan that could be inaugurated for the exercise of letters in these islands, and the lecturing by some professors without there being any university." The Audiencia in its reply states the death by shipwreck of the younger daughter of Rodriguez de Figueroa (1605), and that the Society of Jesus had entered suit for her estate, in accordance with the will of her father, and that they had been given possession of it. [29] Since a considerable part of Rodriguez de Figueroa's goods were in Mexico, and since there was a royal prohibition forbidding money to be transferred from one territory to another, the Jesuits requested from the king, through their procurator at Madrid, permission to transfer the necessary money from Mexico to the islands, in order to found the college. Three royal decrees were issued in accordance with this petition, two asking for reports from the archbishop and Audiencia, and one (September 13, 1608) [30] granting permission for the founding of a college and seminary in the city of Manila. By the beginning of 1610, the Jesuits realized the terms of the will of Rodriguez de Figueroa, and on February 28 of that year, the licenses, given formerly to Luis Gomez in 1601, were confirmed by the provisor for the college now founded with an income. [31]

In a letter to the Jesuit general, June 11, 1611, Father Gregorio Lopez writes of the flourishing condition of the college and seminary of San José. He says: "In the seminary of San Joseph, our pupils are reared with the virtue of which advice was given in former years. Some are inclined to our rule, and others to that of the other orders. Three have embraced that of the Order of St Augustine. The seminary has been improved this year with a fine new refectory built of stone, with a very large hall for the lodging of the collegiates, and the work which will be one of the best in the city, is progressing." Diego Vázquez de Mercado, archbishop of Manila, insists on the idea of the foundation of the university, which was undervalued by Felipe III, after the unfavorable report of Benavides, and in a letter of June 24, 1612, to the king, praises the work of the college and asks that graduates therefrom in arts and theology be granted degrees. Archbishop Garcia Serrano writes to Felipe IV, July 25, 1621, regarding the colleges of San José and Santo Tomás: "There are two colleges for students in the city, one founded by Captain Estevan Rodriguez de Figueroa, which is in charge of the fathers of the Society of Jesus, whence the collegiates go to the college of the same Society, which is near by, to hear lectures in grammar, philosophy, and scholastic and moral theology. It has twenty collegiates with the beca at present, some of whom pay for their tuition, while others are aided by charity, as the income derived from the founder serves now to support but few because it was spent in building said college. The other college is called Santo Tomas de Aquino and is in charge of the Order of St. Dominic, and is very near their convent. It is not more than two years since collegiates entered it. It was founded with alms of deceased persons and others given by the living which the fathers have procured. It also has some income, and it is making progress. It has also twenty collegiates with the beca, some of whom also pay for their tuition, while others are supported by charity and by other persons. They study grammar, philosophy, and theology in the said college, where they have a rector and masters of the Order of St. Dominic. These two colleges greatly ennoble the city, and the sons of the inhabitants of these islands are being reared therein in civilization, virtue, and good letters. It will be of the highest importance for their progress for your Majesty to honor them by giving them license to grant degrees in the courses taught in them." Another letter from Serrano, July 30 of the same year, notes that the secular priests have increased so greatly in his archbishopric because of the number that have graduated from the college and seminary of the Jesuits that he has not places for them and they suffer great poverty. The same is true of those who have studied in the college of Santo Tomás. In a letter of August 15, 1624, he notes that the college of San José has obtained the right to grant university degrees, by a papal brief, without the necessity of the graduates going to other universities, and petitions that the rector be allowed to grant the degrees in person. In 1627, Pedro Chirino was dean of the law faculty of the university. [32]

A document of June 18, 1636, shows the college of San José to possess incomes from various houses, aggregating 14,000 pesos. [33] In 1640 the college was able to support 40 collegiates, and was in a flourishing condition. [34] That same year the short-lived royal college of San Felipe de Austria was founded. [35] The earthquake of 1645 caused great losses to the college of San José, as much of its capital consisted of houses which were destroyed. [36]

The Dominican college of Santo Tomás, formally founded in 1619, with the alms left by Archbishop Benavides and others, was the second college founded in the Philippines. October 25, 1645, however, the Dominicans entered suit against the Jesuits declaring the precedence of their institution over the latter in all public acts in which the said institutions participated. [37] Governor Fajardo, before whom the suit was brought, remitted the cause to the royal Audiencia, which rendered a verdict in favor of the Jesuits, May 10, 1647, declaring that all public acts of the college of San José had precedence over those of Santo Tomás, as the former had been founded over eighteen years earlier. This sentence was confirmed in review, July 29 of the same year, and again by the royal Council of the Indias, August 12, 1652, on examination, and again on review, November 25 of the same year. The college of Santo Tomás, being dissatisfied with the decision, endeavored to take precedence in certain public acts, but with no real effect. [38]

A royal decree of June 12, 1665, conceded the sum of 8,000 pesos to the college of San José; and another, issued July 27, 1669, granted the further sum of 12,000 pesos. The reason advanced by the petitions for the grants was the many losses sustained because of the earthquakes during the period from 1645 to 1658. [39] The Jesuits made many requests for royal alms for their Society and college; and many royal decrees were issued granting such alms, both of money and rice. [40]

November 22, 1666, Don José Cabral, a Spaniard born in the Philippines, died bishop elect of Camarines, and left a pious bequest of certain lands called later the estate of Liang, to the college, on condition that a chaplaincy be maintained thereby, and that an annual alms be given of ten pesos each to the church of Balayan and to the poor of its district." [41]

A decree issued by Governor Fausto Cruzat y Gongora, September 22, 1695, recites the two royal alms above mentioned, which had been assigned from tributes of vacant natives. In response to a petition by Father Juan de Montemayor, S.J., that 1,000 pesos be given the college annually until the 20,000 pesos be paid in full, he assigned to the said college 383 1/2 tributes from the encomienda of Tubig, Sulat, and Pamboan, in the province of Leyte, "so that there may be paid annually, five hundred and thirty-three pesos four tomins one grano ... on account of the eighteen thousand six hundred and eleven pesos six tomins which are still to be paid of the twenty thousand pesos." [42]

A royal decree of May 3, 1722, grants the title of "royal ad honorem" to the college of San José. This decree is as follows:

"Inasmuch as Augustin Soler of the Society of Jesus, procurator-general for his province of Filipinas, has represented to me that his province has charge in the city of Manila of a seminary of grammar, philosophical and theological collegiates, under the advocacy of St. Joseph, which was founded by Don Esteban Rodriguez de Figueroa, adelantado of Mindanao, which by its antiquity and royal writ of King Don Felipe IV enjoys precedence in all public functions to the other colleges; and inasmuch as in consideration of the notoriety in that community of the great profit which has followed and is experienced in the said college, in virtue and letters from the many erudite men who have graduated from it to maintain the luster of the cathedral church of that city and the other churches of their islands, the greater part of those who today obtain their prebends being among those who have been raised and have prosecuted their studies in the above-mentioned college, he petitioned me, in consideration of the above-said and so that its collegiates may have the greatest application in said studies with the luster, esteem, and credit that is due because of the particular blessing which results to that community in general, to deign to receive it under my royal protection, by conceding it the title, privileges, and preeminences of royal college, without any burden on my royal treasury, with the permission to place on its doors and the other accustomed places, my royal arms, and to make use of the title of such in the instruments which it presents, and the letters which it writes to me: therefore, this matter having been examined in my assembly Council of the Indias, together with what was declared thereon by my fiscal, I have considered it fitting to condescend to [heed] his instance, receiving (as by the present I do receive and admit) the above-named college of San José under my royal protection. I honor it with the title of Royal ad honorem, in case that it has no patrons, and with the express conditions that it never has any, and that it cannot produce any effect of burden on or embarrassment to my royal treasury by reason of this title. Therefore, I order my present or future governor and captain-general of the above-mentioned Filipinas Islands and my royal Audiencia of the city of Manila, and the other ministers and justices of that jurisdiction, and I beseech and charge the archbishop of the metropolitan church of said city, and the ecclesiastical cabildo of it, not to place or allow to be placed now or in any time any obstacle or hindrance to the above-mentioned college of San José, which is in charge of the religious of the Society of Jesus, in the grace which I concede it of the title of royal ad honorem, in the above-mentioned sense, and that as such it may place my royal arms on its doors, and the other accustomed places, and that in all its instruments and letters which it may write me, both through my councils, tribunals, and ministers, and in all that which may arise, it may make use of the abovesaid title of royal. Such is my will. Given at Aranjuez, May three, one thousand seven hundred and twenty-two. [43]

I the King

"By order of the king our sovereign:

Andrés Alcorobarratia Gulpide"

This decree was presented in the Manila Audiencia, in 1723. [44]

In 1734 the college was granted the right to teach canonical and Roman law, the same as the university of Santo Tomás, although it seems that no decrees were given in those branches. [45]

Father Francisco Mendez, S.J., in a document of August 15, 1742, enumerates the fellowships in the college of San José, in addition to the eight of the foundation, as follows: one given by Captain Gonzalo Araujo, alguacil-mayor of Manila, to be enjoyed by a Galician or the descendant of Galicians; one by Benito Lopez, for an European; two by Captain Diego Gonzales de los Arcos, one of them being for Estremadura and the other for creoles and virtuous persons--the appointment of the latter belonging to the Santa Misericordia, which afterward became the object of a suit between the Jesuits and the Santa Misericordia, and finally settled by Archbishop Camacho; one by several benefactors for a pure-blooded and virtuous Spaniard. All the capital or endowment of these fellowships was incorporated in the property of the college, except the one appointed by the Santa Misericordia. There were also two other fellowships founded in 1717 (although only made effective in 1720), by Domingo de Valencia, bishop-elect of Nueva Cáceres, who endowed them with some shops which he owned in the Parián; they were intended for Spanish creoles born in Manila. Besides the above there were nineteen other fellowships which were known as fellowships of grace, "because there is no legal obligation to maintain them, and it was a grace or favor of our Society to institute them, to facilitate the good education of youth." [46]

In his royal decree of April 2, 1767, Carlos III declared: "I have resolved to order the expulsion from all my domains of España and the Indias and the Filipinas Islands, of the regulars of the Society, both priests and coadjutors, or lay-brethren, who have taken the first vows, and the novices who desire to follow their example, and that all the temporal possessions of the Society in my domains be seized." [47] A decree couched in like terms was received in Manila, May 21, 1768. Governor José Raon affected to obey the decree and appointed commissioners to carry it into effect, but he imparted the mandates of the decree, which was secret, to the Jesuits. [48] In consequence heavy charges were afterward brought against him.

The college of San José and its estates were seized and confiscated to the crown. [49] The college buildings were converted into barracks. Against this confiscation, the archbishop protested, and petitioned the governor-general that, pending the king's action on the protest, the college be turned over to him. The petition being granted, the archbishop took possession of the college, and converted it into a seminary for the education and instruction of the native clergy. [50] He ordered the former collegiates to leave, and placed the new seminary in charge of the Piarist fathers [padres escolapios] [51] The Audiencia of Manila protested against this action of the archbishop. [52] The royal answer to their letter is as follows: