The foundation of this retreat was approved by a royal despatch signed February 17, 1716, which put an end to the various petitions which had been submitted to the court against its installation. In 1732, a new cedula granted the retreat the right to have a church with a bell, and prescribed, at the same time, that the inmates were not required to observe retirement by a rigid vow, but only for the purposes of good administration.
The practice observed is that the sisters never pass through the inside door of the convent, which is in charge of one of the gravest sisters, but any person can enter it with express permission from the provincial.
Although in the beginning, the college of Santa Catalina was nothing but a house, to which Spanish ladies, desirous of renouncing the vanities of the world and of devoting themselves entirely to the service of God, retired, the Dominican order did not long delay in assigning some of the sisters to instruction in a college. From that time, the retreat took the character of a college, where the pupils, at the same time that they were instructed in reading, writing, Christian doctrine, and other work suitable to their sex, learned to practice virtue.
In 1865, it was deemed proper to increase the number of sisters fixed when the retreat was established, in order to be able to extend instruction further, and thus place the college on the same level as the best equipped colleges of the same class in this capital.
The inmates of this institution are not permitted to leave it without good cause.
They may be visited by their parents and other friends and acquaintances in a reception room located near the door of the college.
After the earthquakes of 1880, notable improvements were made in the material part of the building;[5] and at the present time, in the departments necessary for the good service of the college, this establishment has a spacious working-room, large class-rooms, well-ventilated dormitories, a beautiful bathroom, and an ample and capacious dining-hall.
The retreat is managed by a prioress, elected every three years by the sisters, who acts, at the same time, as the mother superior of the college; at the head of the latter, nevertheless, there is a directress in charge of the instruction.
The spiritual direction of the retreat and college is in charge of a father of the order, appointed by the corporation for the charge of vicar.[6]
College of Santa Rosa