ROYAL PATRONAGE EXTENDED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS
The King. Inasmuch as Fray Alonso Sandín,[1] definitor and procurator-general of the province of Santo Rosario of the Order of St. Dominic in the Filipinas Islands, has represented to me that a public academic institution was erected in the college of Santo Tomás of the city of Manila, by a bull of his Holiness Innocent X, promulgated November 20, 1645, at the instance of the king my sovereign and father (may he rest in peace) and passed by my Council of the Indias, by virtue of which degrees in the arts and theology are granted in that institution, with full rigor of examinations and publicity, to capable persons in those islands, from which follows a notable advantage for furnishing prebends and curacies, for which the students therein compete, they petition me that, considering this, in order that the students’ energy may not decrease in what at present is flourishing, I be pleased to admit that university under my royal patronage, and declare myself to be its patron. My said Council, having examined the petition, together with an authentic copy of the document erecting the university and of what my fiscal said concerning it, I have considered it expedient to admit, as by this present I do, the said university of the college of Santo Tomás of the city of Manila under my protection, and declare it to be under my royal patronage. I order my president and the auditors of my Audiencia of that city, and request and charge the archbishop of the city, the bishops of the said islands, the ecclesiastical and secular cabildos, the superiors of the orders, and any other of my judges and justices of the islands, that they consider it as such, and observe it; and that they cause to be observed the privileges and exceptions that pertain to it by reason of such patronage, for so is my will. Given in Madrid, May 17, 1680.
I the King
By order of the king our sovereign:
José de Veitialinage[2]
In the city of Manila, August 21, 1681. The president and auditors of the royal Audiencia and Chancillería of these Filipinas Islands, while in royal Council, after having examined the petition of father Fray Juan de Santa María[3] of the Order of Preachers, and rector of the university of Santo Tomás de Aquino, together with his Majesty’s royal decree which is mentioned therein, in which his Majesty receives his university under his royal protection and declares it to be under his royal patronage; and that due execution and fulfilment be given thereto in this royal Audiencia, together with the petition for the fiscal in the examination given it: the aforesaid took the decree in their hands, kissed it, and placed it upon their heads, as a decree of their king and legitimate sovereign (whom may the divine Majesty preserve, with increase of new kingdoms and seigniories); and in obedience thereto declared that they would observe, fulfil, and execute it, in accordance with, and as his Majesty ordains and commands, and—leaving a certified copy of it in the record books—that the original would be returned. Thus they voted and decreed and signed it with their rubrics before the fiscal.
Before me:
[1] Alonso Sandin made his profession in the Dominican convent of Salamanca, in 1658. After completing his studies, he became a teacher in the college at Plasencia, but resigned that post for the Philippine missions, being then thirty-one years of age; he came in the mission of 1671. He was a teacher in Santo Tomás at Manila, until 1676, when he was sent as procurator to Rome and Madrid, filling that office for twenty years. He died at Madrid, in May, 1701. [↑]
[2] Veitia Linage is best known by his work, Norte de la contratación de las Indias occidentales (Sevilla, 1672) a valuable contribution to the history of Spanish commerce. [↑]
[3] Juan de Santa María came to these islands (1666) from the Dominican convent at Sevilla, where he had professed two years before. He was occupied as a teacher in Santo Tomás, later becoming rector of the university, superior of the province, and incumbent of other high offices therein. From 1694 to 1700 he labored in the missions of Bataan. At the time of his death (April 30, 1715) he was acting provincial. (Reseña biográfica, ii, pp. 24–26.) [↑]