The King. Inasmuch as Fray Sebastián de Valverde, of the Order
of Preachers, and procurator-general of the province of Santísimo
Rosario of Filipinas, has represented to me, among other matters,
that since the establishment of the college of Santo Tomás in the
city of Manila, and especially since, at the instance of Felipe IV,
a public academy or university was erected in it by his Holiness,
Innocent X, in the year one thousand six hundred and forty-five,
[75] in behalf of his order, not only has it redeemed its obligation
in the public instruction with well-known benefit to those vassals,
in which the religious have filled the chairs at the expense of
the private property of the above-mentioned college, but also, at
the same time, in order to inspire in the minds of its pupils the
illumination of the holy doctrine of the angelic doctor St. Thomas,
which some factional spirits in that capital, in whom still lives
the seed of the suppressed doctrine, [76] are attempting to confuse
with useless projects, have endeavored likewise to infuse into their
hearts the fidelity, loyalty, and love due my royal person--and one
of the most signal and noble proofs that attest this truth is the
promptness, with which the present rector, Fray Domingo Collantes,
in this last war, in observance of the suggestion of that governor,
raised four companies of fifty soldiers apiece among the collegiates
and students, on whose clothing and support he spent some thousands
of pesos from the beginning of the war until the peace was made, and
at the same time placing at the disposition of the same government
all the grain of the harvest and the cattle of its estates--and
inasmuch as he has petitioned me that, in order that this signal
example of the fidelity and generosity with which the above-named
college served me and continues to serve me, may be remembered by
the inhabitants of those islands, I deign to signify to it my royal
pleasure and kindness by admitting it under my sovereign protection
and patronage, and by granting to it the title of "very loyal;"
therefore, my Council of the Indias having examined the above petition,
together with the information given in regard to it by the general
accountant's office, and the explanation of my fiscal, I have resolved
in the conference of the tenth of January of this year, to concede,
among other things, and as I concede by this my royal decree, the
sole name of "royal" to the above-named college of Santo Tomás of
the city of Manila, with the distinct condition and declaration,
that it shall never have the right of petitioning assistance from
my royal treasury. Therefore, by this present, I order and command
my governor and captain-general of the above-mentioned islands,
the regent and auditors of my royal Audiencia in the islands, and
all other ministers, judges, and justices of those provinces, and
I request and charge the very reverend bishop of that metropolitan
church, the venerable dean and cabildo in vacant see, and all other
ecclesiastical prelates and judges to whom this pertains, to observe,
fulfil, and execute, and cause to be observed, fulfilled, and executed,
exactly and effectively, my herein expressed royal resolution, as and
in the manner herein set forth, without violating it, or permitting
it to be violated in any way, for thus is my will. Given in El Pardo,
March seven, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five. [77]