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).