Foundation of the College of Santo Tomás of Manila
In the name of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and in honor of Mary ever-virgin, who, under the advocacy[1] of her most holy rosary, is proposed and accepted as patroness of the work which will be declared below, inasmuch as she is also patroness of the Order of Preachers of the patriarch St. Dominic, established in these Filipinas Islands and the kingdom of China; and to his honor and glory and that of the consecrated doctor[2] of the holy Church, Saint Thomas Aquinas, by whose intercessions, protection, and aid the work described in this writing will have a good beginning and means, and proceed from good to better forever without end: by virtue of which, I, father Fray Bernardo de Santa Catalina,[3] religious of the said order, and commissary-general of the Holy Office in these islands, as executor of the most illustrious and reverend archbishop of this city of Manila in the islands, Don Fray Miguel de Benavides, now defunct, and [as the one] to whom his Lordship communicated the application of the remainder of his properties for the work and foundation which will be hereunder declared—as appears from his last will and testament, which he signed in this said city of Manila before Francisco de Alanis, former notary-public in this city, on the twenty-fourth day of the month of July of the former year one thousand six hundred and five; and the clause treating of this matter, copied, corrected and collated with the said will signed by the said notary, is of the following tenor:
Item: His most reverend Lordship said and declared that he made—and he did so make—while still in life, a complete and irrevocable gift of all the remainder of his properties for a pious enterprise. He has conferred and communicated in regard to the same with the said fathers—namely, the prior of Santo Domingo, Fray Domingo de Nieva,[4] and Fray Bernardo de Santa Catalina, commissary of the Holy Office. In this charitable work all his properties remaining are to be applied and distributed, in what manner and form they ordain and consider advisable, in accordance with his communication and resolution in regard to it. For this work he said that he gave—and he did so give—all the remainder of his properties gratuitously; and the institution was immediately and henceforth to be constituted the holder and possessor of them. He transferred to them [i.e., the above fathers] his rights and power of disposal [in the property]. This is the work of which mention was made above.
And I, the said father commissary as executor of another bequest of properties, which Pablo Rodríguez de Araujo and Andrés de Hermosa, defunct, left to my distribution and discretion, in accordance with the terms of their wills—that of the said Pablo Rodríguez de Araujo appears to have been signed in this city before Francisco de Valencia, notary-public, on the sixteenth day of the month of February, of the former year six hundred and six; and that of the said Hermosa before Francisco de Alanís, notary-public, on the fourth day of the month of May of the former year six hundred and four—[declare that] the tenor of the said clauses, one after the other, according to their copies corrected by the wills signed by the said notaries, is as follows: “And in order to fulfil this my will and that herein contained, I leave and appoint as my executors and administrators father Fray Bernardo de Santa Catalina, commissary of the Holy Inquisition of these islands, Captain Fructuoso de Araujo, and Francisco de Alanís, notary-public. To all three of them, and to each one of them singly, in solidum, I delegate power sufficient to adjust and inventory my properties, and to sell and fulfil that herein contained. And for its fulfilment, I give, lengthen, and concede to them all the time and limit that they declare to be necessary. And no ecclesiastical or secular judge shall meddle with them to make them give account of the said executorship, because of the confidence that I have in the above-named persons. For this is my wish, and if such judge should undertake to demand from them the said account, in that said event I constitute them my heirs. And when this my will is fulfilled and observed, and that herein contained, to that part of my properties remaining and its rights and disposal, inasmuch as I have no obligatory heir, either forbears or descendants, I establish and appoint my soul as heir of the said remainder of my properties, its rights and disposal, so that what pertains to that inheritance, shall be given into the power of the said father commissary, who shall distribute it in doing good for my soul in pious works, alms, and other works of charity, as shall seem best to him.
“And after this my will and that herein contained is fulfilled and observed, I assign as my only heir to all the remainder of my properties, the said Inés de Sequera, my wife. However, she shall bind herself, before all else, to the sum of two thousand pesos net, which sum shall be employed after the fulfilment of the said my will. With this condition, it is my will that she have all the remainder for herself after the legacies are completed, and the other contents of the said will, and after fulfilment, but in no other manner. This she shall enjoy, and shall take also that portion that pertains to her from all the said properties, as they were all acquired during our marriage. And after having made the reckoning and division in due form, should she refuse to accept the said inheritance with the said condition, I leave my soul as my heir to the whole of the said remainder. My executors shall do with it as they deem best for the good of my soul, in accordance with what I have contracted and agreed with the said father commissary. And if the said my wife shall accept the said inheritance, and shall bind herself to the sum of the two thousand pesos, they shall be employed as is stated, and they shall be distributed; for this is my intention, and as such I remit it.”
In accordance with the clause of the will of the said archbishop, I, the said father commissary, Fray Bernardo de Santa Catalina, inasmuch as the said father Fray Domingo de Nieva is dead, declare that what his Lordship communicated to us (to myself and to him) was, that the said remainder of his properties be spent in aiding the foundation and endowment of a college-seminary, where the religious of this said convent may pursue the study of the arts and of theology; and where the religious may instruct the novices and other religious who wish to avail themselves of their aid, others who are sons of inhabitants of this city and the islands, and any other persons. It is to be under the name and devotion of Nuestra Señora del Rosario [i.e., Our Lady of the Rosary]; and to be established in this city, or where the religious of this said order should assign it, inasmuch as his Lordship and some of the first founders were of this city. And inasmuch as there are but one thousand five hundred pesos left of the properties of the said archbishop, it has been and is necessary, in order that a work so important for the welfare of this kingdom, and one that sheds so much luster on communities and people and directs them so greatly to the service of our God and Lord, may not be without effect (I declare likewise that there have remained and are left three thousand seven hundred and forty pesos from the properties of the said Pablo Rodríguez de Araujo; and that from the properties of the said Andrés de Hermosa, six hundred and thirty-seven pesos of the two thousand pesos left at my disposition, have been collected): I establish, apply, unite, and set aside all the aforesaid two thousand pesos—that collected and to be collected of them—and the three thousand seven hundred and forty pesos from the properties of the said Pablo Rodríguez de Araujo, together with the sum remaining from the properties of the said archbishop, for the endowment and foundation of the said college. In their names, I declare that I have bought two houses and their grounds, which are located near the principal chapel of this convent, on a street half-way to the corner of the street that runs from the said principal chapel to the square and cathedral church of this said city, contiguous to the street running to the river gate; and on the one side, the houses of Antonio de Espejo, and on the other those of Alonso Gómez—the place where the building of the said college-seminary must be located, and the instruction in the said branches take place, and where must live and remain the students and other things and persons pertaining to the said college and the use of it. And in case it is necessary, I, as such executor and administrator, delegate authority, cession, and transfer to the part of the said college, so that it may collect the one thousand three hundred and sixty-three pesos thus owing from the properties of the said Andrés de Hermosa; and they shall give receipts and take what steps are necessary for the collection until the money is obtained. And although I, the said father commissary, might make this foundation and endowment alone—by virtue of my authority granted me by the said clauses, and that authority given me by my superiors for the exercise of the said executorship—for its greater stability, and so that it may be firm and valid forever, since the very reverend father Fray Baltasar Fort, provincial of the said province of Nuestra Señora del Rosario, is present, I beg the latter, in addition to the permission and license that I have had and have, for new permission and license to make and execute this foundation and endowment, and its articles and conditions.
I, the said father provincial, grant, give, and concede everything necessary for the above. Exercising such permission and license, the said father commissary requested the said father provincial and father Fray Francisco Minayo, prior of this said convent, to accompany him and assist him in sketching the plan and method which ought to be followed in the said foundation, both in appointing at present a patron and administrator of the said college, and in making arrangements for the future in what they see makes for its profit and growth. For that purpose he places in the hands of the said provincial and prior, from this moment, the said alms and the properties above stated and declared, in order that so holy and profitable a work may be begun with them. That work will, I trust, through the intercession of its principal patron, the holy rosary of our Lady, and the said St. Dominic and St. Thomas, its advocates, be of much service to our Lord, and to the growth of learning and wisdom in these kingdoms, so that it will be a much greater institution in future times. Therefore, I, the said father provincial, exercising the power vested in me in accordance with the statutes and privileges of the said province and order, and especially of that granted me by the provincial chapter in the name of the entire province, accept this endowment and foundation, as is and will be contained in this writ. And consequently, in the most sufficient form and greatest stability that we can employ, all we three—the said father provincial, the prior, and the commissary father Fray Bernardo de Santa Catalina, in behalf of the said deceased, decide and acknowledge that we are making a foundation of the said college-seminary in the form and under the conditions and articles following.
First, in respect to the application made by the said father commissary of the said properties, we apply them, according as they are assigned and declared, for the particular properties of the said college of Nuestra Señora del Rosario—which is to be its title and advocation—so that a beginning may be made with them in its foundation. [This we do] with hopes that others of the faithful, after seeing its good effects in these kingdoms, will augment those properties with much more, that will help in attaining the great fruit that will result from the foundation. Consequently from now and henceforth forever, we erect and constitute the said house and lands, and their accessions and improvements, and all other properties, which are at present to be applied to the said college, and those which shall be applied to it in the future, and what it may have in ecclesiastical and spiritual properties. And they shall be used as such for the benefit of the said college, and for the good of the souls of the said archbishop, Pablo Rodríguez de Araujo, Andrés de Hermosa, and the other benefactors of the college.
Item: That the said house and college with all the incomes and profits pertaining to it at present, and that shall pertain to it in the future in any time or manner, shall be under the charge and administration of the father provincial, and other prelates of the said order and province. But they shall be unable through that authority to dispose of anything in the general or special benefit of the order; but all must be used, spent, and consumed for the good and welfare of the said college and for its greater utility, adornment, and growth. All ways and methods shall be tried for the advancement of this work, as it is just that this work, so urgently commended by the laws and holy councils, which has so ennobled the cities that enjoy such houses and colleges, should make progress. And inasmuch as this province of Nuestra Señora del Rosario has an ordinance ruling that the properties of the convents be at the disposal of the father provincial, and that he may distribute them and give them to the house that he thinks has need of them: since these properties of this said foundation do not belong to the said convents, or any one of them, but are to be applied to this one purpose; and since the said college is not a monastery, and only in its administration is under the patronage of the said father provincial and it being necessary, under that of the prior, the father provincial promises and binds himself, for himself and for the other provincials succeeding him, to observe this article, and not dispose of the properties of the said college or any part of them, in any other thing than the benefit, growth and permanence of the college; and he renounces any ordinance, statute, or privilege concerning it which authorizes him in any way whatever to make the said distribution. And for a more binding pledge, I thus swear, with my hand on my breast, in verbo sacerdotis.[5]
Item: Inasmuch as the aforesaid convent of Santo Domingo of this city, is the chief one of this province, both in antiquity and in all other things, which makes it the most prominent of them all; and since it is a convent that receives no chaplaincies or other funds as memorials of the deceased, but is sustained only by ordinary alms (as is notorious); and it has been built and rebuilt after the fires that have happened in this city, by means of those alms, through the exceeding devotion with which the faithful citizens of the city assist the welfare of the said convent; and since the convent has been, after the said archbishop, the first contriver and author of such a work as this, and founds it, and intends to preserve and increase it; and consequently, it is just that the prior of the said convent have some prerogatives over the other priors of this province in the said college: it is an express statute and condition of this foundation, that he who is, or shall be, now and henceforth, forever, prior of this said college [sic; sc. convent] of Manila, shall have in his charge the government, discipline, and teaching of the said college, and that he cannot be removed, suspended, or dismissed from the said administration, unless dismissed from the priorship of the said convent.
Item: As such founders of the said charitable work and college, we desire, and it is our will, that the said province of Nuestra Señora del Rosario be its patroness. The provincial of the province shall have the prerogative and privilege of appointing the lecturers necessary for the efficient teaching of the branches that may be studied and taught in the said college, and the officers and assistants advisable for its efficient administration and temporal government—both within the said house and outside it—and in all the other things advisable for the growth and care of the properties, causes, and affairs of the said college. However, if at any time any ecclesiastical or secular person shall desire to endow the said college copiously for the increase of the work and teaching for which it is founded, such person shall be given the right of patronage whenever he shall have made a considerable endowment to the satisfaction of the definitors of the provincial chapter, together with four fathers of the province, those of longest standing who may be present. Such person shall be admitted as patron, and shall be given the right of patronage; and this said province and provincial shall desist from exercising that right—provided that such patron be not permitted to enact any statute or ordinance, or to change any of the conditions of that foundation contrary to the authority of the said father provincial, in regard to the provision of lecturers; or withdraw the said college from the said order and province; or remove the said prior from its administration. For it is advisable that there be no change from the aforesaid for its good management. [This shall be done] provided that the endowment thus made for the right of patronage be without any injury to this work and beginning; for we must always bear in mind and remember to look after the welfare of the souls of the said archbishop and other persons, with whose alms this holy work and foundation is begun; whether the said province, or any other individual patron of the same, whoever he be, shall exercise the right of patronage, and enjoy the favors, exemptions, prerogatives, and privileges, which are conceded by all law to such patrons.
Item: As such founders, and in behalf of what pertains to the said province and its religious, and those of this said convent, I, the said father provincial and the other fathers, do ordain that the branches studied and taught in the arts, theology, and other subjects, by the religious of the said province and order of our father St. Dominic, shall be studied in the same college forever, and not those of any other order, seculars, of whatever rank and quality they may be, both to the religious of the said order, and any other persons whatever, ecclesiastical or secular, who shall go there to study—and especially and chiefly to the secular students who shall be reared and taught there; and they shall wear, as distinctive marks of being students there, black gowns with white facings.
Item: That the said father provincial—and, in his absence, the said prior who shall be directing the said college—may accept fellowships to it, chaplaincies, legacies, and endowments, which may be made—with any obligation to say masses or other suffrages which shall have to be fulfilled in this said convent by the religious of it. The college shall satisfy the said convent for the said suffrages, in the form decided by the said father provincial or prior, with the advice of the fathers of the council who reside in this convent; and from that moment permission and authority shall be granted for it.
Item: Whenever it may be deemed expedient, the provincial chapter of this said province—by which is understood the provincial of the province and four definitors—and two other religious of the said order of the highest rank and learning, may make statutes, ordinances, and new articles for the welfare of the said college—in the distribution and administration of its properties and incomes; in what pertains to the ministry and teaching of the subjects that shall be taught in it; and for the appointment of a rector, with the authority and power that shall seem advisable. Such statutes shall be made after the said college is finished and completed, and after it is used for teaching the said branches, and as a residence for the rector and collegiates. [They shall make statutes] regarding the admission of the collegiates, and all else that may be desirable and necessary. This shall be done as often as it may seem advisable; and, once made, such statutes cannot be added to, altered, or abrogated without a special authority and order from his Holiness, which shall state and declare distinctly that the statutes of the said college shall be changed, added to, or abrogated, and shall point out, for this, one or several of the statutes. And such cannot be done, nor shall it be done, by concessions and general orders now received or to be received by the said province touching the affairs of its order, even though they be received and obtained after this foundation, or after the making of the said rules, statutes, and ordinances, or those that should be made by virtue of this article.
Item: All the properties and effects owned or to be owned by the said college shall be kept in a box with two keys: one of which shall be kept by the father provincial, and, in his absence by the vicar-provincial; and the other by the prior of this convent of Manila. And should the said father prior happen to use the same in the absence of the said father provincial and of the vicar-provincial, then the said provincial may appoint another religious of the same order and convent to keep the key. The said box is to be kept in the convent for the greater security and safety that can be had for it. This regulation shall be observed until it is ruled and ordained otherwise by the said statutes, which shall be made as aforesaid.
Item: The properties possessed by the said college at present, and those that shall accrue hereafter from the said houses and possessions—inasmuch as it is necessary to construct and reconstruct them for the aid of this foundation—shall be spent and used in the said work, building, and rebuilding, in permanent form, how and as appears advisable to the said father provincial, and the prior, and the commissary; and in the absence of one of them to the other two, or in the absence of the holders of the keys of the said box, to those in whose charge is to be the payment and remuneration of what pertains to the said works and buildings of the said house.
Item: We enact and ordain that, inasmuch as the said college is founded with the alms dedicated therefor by the said archbishop and the other deceased, as above declared, at the discretion of me, the said father Fray Bernardo de Santa Catalina, and with other alms that, God helping, shall be set aside and applied according to the said method and plan, and in any other way; we desire and it is our will that, if at any time any ecclesiastical or secular prince should claim by act or right to possess any dominion, by way of patronage, or in any other way should try to dispose of the properties and incomes of the said college, or to meddle with its administration and government, or to obstruct and disturb its purpose by any method and in any manner whatsoever, and through any judge or powerful person, or any other person whomsoever, who should do it: then immediately and for the time being, the said property and possessions with which the said college is founded, and all the rest collected and applied to it, that is obtained in any manner whatsoever, shall be applied by us to the said province and religious of the said order, so that all of it, together with the said houses and college, and their additions and improvements, may be possessed and enjoyed as their own properties, acquired with just and legal title; and we annul and render void this foundation, as if it had never been made. The said order shall be obliged with them to perform masses and other benefits and suffrages for the souls of the said archbishop and the others, with whose alms and properties this foundation is begun; and of the others who, in any manner, shall hereafter bequeath and apply any other properties for it. Consequently by this method the said province will render satisfaction for the said alms to their givers.
We establish and found the said college with the above articles and conditions. They shall be kept and observed, together with any others made hereafter in the manner above described; and they shall not be violated or subverted, or opposed or contradicted, in whole or in part. I, the said father provincial, by virtue of the said authority, vested in me as above stated, bind the religious of this said province and order to see to the fulfilment of whatever pertains to them, both in the administration of the said patronage, and in their exercise of the teaching of the said branches; and to keep the said college under their rule and administration, as well as the houses and other properties possessed by it now or in the future; and to do all their duty without any exception, excuse, or limitation. [This I charge on] both the religious now present, and on all those who shall be here in the future henceforth and forever, and they shall not be exempted from its fulfilment for any cause, reason, or law, which they may have to enable them to do it, or that may be conceded to them by laws and royal ordinances, statutes, or privileges, and concessions of this province and order, as yet given or to be conceded and given hereafter. I, the said father commissary, as such executor and administrator of the properties of the said deceased, assert that this application and endowment that I make with them and for their souls is, and will be, certain and assured; and I have not made any donation, distribution, or any other application of them for any other purpose. The said properties will be certain and assured under the express obligation vested in me specially and specifically for this foundation and endowment of the said college. And all three, the said father provincial, the prior, and the commissary, authorize the justices who can and ought to try this cause, so that they may compel and force all on whom falls the fulfilment of this instrument to observe it, as if they were condemned thereto by the definitive sentence of a competent judge, rendered in a case decided. We renounce whatever laws and rights plead in our favor, and in this case, and the law and rule of law that says that a general renunciation of laws is invalid. This is given in the said city of Manila, on the twenty-eighth day of the month of April of the year one thousand six hundred and eleven. The grantors, whom, I, the notary, testify to be known to me, signed this instrument—Captains Diego de Valdez, Gerónimo de Gamarra, and Melchor de Ayllón, all citizens of Manila, being witnesses.
Fray Baltasar Fort, prior provincial.
Fray Francisco Minayo, prior.
Fray Bernardo de Santa Catalina
Before me:
Juan Illán. his Majesty’s notary.
[1] By metaphor, the instrument is here used for the person; the reference is to the advocacy of the Virgin as obtained through the rosary, the instrument of the chief devotion to Mary. As such, many churches and other institutions are dedicated to the rosary.—Rev. Patrick B. Knox (Madison, Wisconsin).
[2] Thomas Aquinas, born in 1227, belonged to a noble family, descended from the kings of Aragón and Sicily. Entering the ecclesiastical life, he soon became noted as a scholar and divine. He was professor of divinity in several universities, and author of numerous theological works. He died on March 7, 1274, and was canonized in 1323. Various epithets have been bestowed upon him: “the Angelic Doctor,” “the Universal Doctor,” “the Dumb Ox” (alluding to his taciturnity), “The Angel of the School,” and “the Eagle of Theologians.” “It was in defense of Thomas Aquinas that Henry VIII [of England] composed the book which procured him from the pope the title of Defender of the Faith” (Blake’s Biographical Dictionary, p. 66).
[3] Argensola says mistakenly that this father was killed by the Chinese in the insurrection of 1603.
For sketch of his life see Vol. XIII, note 43.
[4] Domingo de Nieva was a native of one of the three towns of Villoria in Castilla, and professed in the Dominican convent of San Pablo at Valladolid. On going to the Philippines he was sent first to the mission of Bataan, where his labors were uninterrupted and severe. He became fluent in the Tagil language, after Which he was assigned to the Chinese mission near Manila; and he composed and published several devotional treatises in both those languages. He was elected prior of Manila, but before his three years in that office were finished, he was sent as procurator to Madrid. He died at sea, at the end of 1606 or the beginning of 1607, after having spent nineteen years in the Philippines. See Reseña biográfica, part i, pp. 108–110.
[5] That is “by my priestly word.”