[Below follows an interesting account of the university of Santo Tomás,
by the Dominican friar, Evarista Fernandez Arias, from his Discurso
leido en la apertura de sus estudios (de la universidad) el dia 2 de
Julio de 1885--i.e., "Discourse read at the opening of its studies
(of the university) July 2, 1885" (Manila, 1885). Its author was a
professor of the university.]
The university of Santo Tomás, of Manila, graced with the titles of
royal and pontifical by the Catholic kings and the supreme pontiffs,
holds the first place among all the educational institutions of
the Philippines on account of its antiquity, its history, and its
importance. It was established in 1619, under the name of College of
Santo Tomás, having, as its basis, a holy legacy from his Excellency,
Fray Miguel de Benavides, of the Order of Preachers, second archbishop
of Manila, who is considered as its true founder. By this legacy,
the sum of 1,600 pesos was turned over to the fathers of his order,
of the province of the Santísimo Rosario, who, accepting it, in
accordance with his purposes and intentions, immediately proceeded
to carry the plan into effect. Thus, after various contingencies, on
the day of the festival of the Assumption of the Virgin, in the year
mentioned, after having been authorized by the general government of
these islands, and by both the ecclesiastical and the secular chapters,
Fray Baltasar Fort, its first rector, proceeded to the inauguration
of its studies by giving fellowships to twelve young men belonging
to the most distinguished families of Manila. The permission granted
by the general government and other authorities of this capital, was
formally confirmed by his Catholic Majesty, Felipe IV, in his royal
decree of November 29, 1623, in which he said of this institution: "It
has afforded and affords great advantages to the young, the preaching
of the gospel, and the instruction of the children of the inhabitants."
The chronicles of those times show that the number of young men,
mostly children of Spaniards, who attended the schools of the Dominican
fathers was not small; but the difficulty of not being able to receive
academic degrees was an obstacle to the progress of the studies. For
this reason, Pope Paul V was asked to authorize the order to confer
the customary degrees upon the pupils of this college. This permission
was granted for ten years, upon the expiration of which time, it
was necessary to again apply to the Roman pontiff, then Urban VIII,
for the extension of the concession for a similar term of years. This
uncertain condition of affairs was not, as is evident, most conducive
to progress in these studies, for which reason Felipe IV, desiring
to regulate this concession consistently and permanently, requested,
through his ambassador, an apostolic brief from the supreme pontiff,
Innocent X, in 1645, which should confer upon the college of Santo
Tomás (the title) and honors of a university, with all the privileges
of those of the same class in the Peninsula, authorizing it to confer
academic degrees in the schools of theology and philosophy. Afterwards,
in 1734, this concession was extended by Clement XII, [78] also on
the petition of the king of Spain, to the schools of canonical and
civil law, and to others that might in time be established.
The year following the erection of this university by Innocent X and
Felipe IV, its first rector and chancellor, Fray Martin Real de la
Cruz, who so distinguished himself in the conversion of the Cagayanes,
framed the laws, which continued in force until 1785. The greater
part of these were similar to the laws of the university of Mexico,
to which his Catholic Majesty desired to conform them, as appears from
his letter written on December 20, 1644, to his ambassador at Rome.
In the beginning the only courses were dogmatic and moral theology,
philosophy, and the humanities; Latin and Spanish grammar, rhetoric,
and poetry were included in the humanities, and the study of all the
branches comprised in the works of Santo Tomás de Aquino formed a part
of the courses in theology and philosophy. [79] This was the custom in
most of the universities existing at that time, a custom that responded
perfectly to the necessities of that century, and more particularly to
the special requirements of this country at that period. In the first
stage of their civilization, education in the Philippines was based
exclusively on religion; and the local necessities and the aspirations
of the first Spaniards, echoing faithfully the sentiments expressed
many times concerning this subject by the Catholic monarchs, demanded
a literary center where the bishops and missionaries might find a
solution for the many and varied doubts which arose in the exercise
of their ministry; where the governors-general might receive ideas of
profound and consistent methods of government for the direction of the
towns and for their relations with neighboring nations, and where the
alcaldes and encomenderos might learn the lessons of Christian charity
and justice, which they not infrequently failed to observe. In what
a satisfactory manner the university of Santo Tomás fulfilled this
duty is shown by the illustrious names of Fathers Berart, Marron,
Santa Cruz, Pardo, Sanchez, and the celebrated Father Paz, and many
others whom it would take too long to mention, whose brilliant and
wise writings contain discussions of all kinds regarding the practical
life of these people. It is also shown by the royal decree of 1862,
in which his Catholic Majesty, admitting this institution under his
protection, says that degrees in theology and letters are given with
all strictness and display to qualified persons in those islands,
this being of notable utility in that it furnishes subjects capable
of filling the offices of curates and prebendaries.
The eighteenth century arrived, and, with the coming of the Bourbon
dynasty to the Spanish throne, new germs of civilization took root
throughout the monarchy, and were felt as far as these remote
shores. Then the faculty of jurisprudence and canonical law was
established (the establishment of which the Dominican corporation
had endeavored to secure years before), because with the increase of
the native and mestizo population, and with the consolidation upon a
religious basis of the social life of these peoples, there was not a
sufficient number of lawyers for the administration of justice. Lawyers
did not come from the Peninsula, and for that reason, if not for
other better and more noble reasons, it was necessary to seek them
within the bounds of the islands. Hence, faculties of jurisprudence
and canonical law were established, with courses in Roman law and
institutes and the sacred canons. The pupils could hope for the degree
of licentiate in jurisprudence and canonical law after a four years'
course in these studies, and four other years called pasantía years,
which were taken in connection with the law course, and were years
of practice in the office of some lawyer. During these so-called
pasantía years, the pupils were required to defend a proposition every
week and sum up the opposing arguments, and were permitted to act as
substitutes during the absence of any of the professors of the faculty.
The course of institutes and canonical law was the only course in
law given in most of the universities of that period, the professors
being charged with making the applications necessary to the Spanish
laws and those of the Indias, explaining the points in which they
differed from the Roman and canonical laws.
The instruction continued thus during the greater part of the
eighteenth century, the university conferring degrees in theology,
philosophy, and canonical and Roman law. The courses in moral theology
and the humanities were pursued without the formalities of enrolment
and without a fixed number of terms, until toward the end of that
century. With the increase of the commerce and the intercourse of
these islands with Europe, and under the influence of the government
of Carlos III, it was decided in the university assembly of 1785,
to extend the faculty of theology by the establishment of chairs in
literature and sacred writings, and that of law by two additional
chairs of canonical and Roman law. It was also decided to create the
faculty of medicine, together with a chair of mathematics, applied
to commerce and navigation in conformity with the necessities of
the times. Father Amador, professor of canonical law, having been
appointed to form the new laws, in accordance with the resolution of
the assembly, concluded them during the same year, 1785. These laws,
after being approved by the superior government of these islands, are
now in force except in the points modified by subsequent laws. These
laws provided that all professorships, with the exception of those
belonging to the private patronage of the Order of St. Dominic,
should be conferred by competitive examinations. It also prescribed
rules for the conferring of academic degrees by the faculties of
theology, canons, law, philosophy, and the new one of medicine, it
being provided that, in order to secure the degree of bachelor of
theology, canons, civil law, and medicine, it was necessary to have
passed in four courses, and for philosophy in three, and that, after
having obtained the title of bachelor, it was necessary to exercise
the pasantía for four years in the schools of theology and law, and
for three years in the other schools. Rules werealso provided for the
courses, the enrolments, and the examination fees. These laws were
taken to a great extent from those in force in the universities of
Salamanca, Mexico, and Lima.
About that time the king of Spain confirmed the privilege of exemption
from tribute for all those who had received the degree of bachelor,
and also for the pupils of the university, in consideration of "the
utility and necessity for this branch of the state to encourage these
studies, without which no community can flourish; for, if it should be
ordered, contrary to the practice observed up to the present time,
that the tribute be paid, the schools would be deserted, to the
general injury of these islands."
Because of the indolence of the times and the lack of pupils, it
became necessary to abolish the school of medicine and the class
of mathematics and drawing, which were afterwards incorporated by
the consulado, and the superior studies continued during the first
part of the present century as they existed at the beginning of the
eighteenth century. It was not until the year 1836, on the petition
of the corporation of St. Dominic, that the chair of Spanish law was
created, increasing the faculty of laws.
By a royal order of 1837, continuing the progressive course initiated
in the instruction at the university, a commission, presided over
by the director of the university, was appointed for the purpose
of studying the method of extending the instruction, and making a
report upon the manner of filling the chairs which should be created,
at the same time preparing a plan of studies, conforming as far as
possible with that in force in the Peninsula. The report of this
commission was awaiting the decision of the court of appeals when
a new royal order of April 2, 1842, provided for the appointment
of a new commission, also presided over by the director of the
university, and consisting of one associate justice of the royal
court of appeals, a prebendary of the cathedral chapter, a member
of the municipal council, and one of the economic association, for
the purpose of preparing a new plan of studies in harmony with the
necessities of the times. The new commission, having worked with
great activity, presented its completed report, submitting a plan
of laws for this university which included the college of San José,
notwithstanding the opposition of its rector, who, as prebendary,
formed part of the commission. According to this plan of studies,
instruction in theology, philosophy, and jurisprudence was improved,
chairs of medicine, pharmacy, and chemistry were created, and that of
physics was extended. Upon the submission of this plan of studies to
the supreme government of his Majesty, it was provided by another royal
order of April 2, 1846, that funds be secured for the establishment
of said change in the university, without injuring the interests of
anybody, but respecting those existing in so far as possible.
In fulfilment of this decree, on the twenty-sixth of the following
August, this superior government appointed another commission, to which
was communicated a royal order of April 15, 1847, which appointed,
as a member of the same, the rector and chancellor of the university;
and another royal order of July 12, of the same year, which directed
said commission not to include in the budget of studies "the property
of the college of Santo Tomás, as it is the exclusive property of
the Dominican fathers." [80]
Unfortunately this commission was dissolved just before the
completion of its work, on account of the absence of some members in
the Peninsula, there remaining only one (in addition to the rector of
the university), who later resigned his membership in the commission,
under date of October 28, 1848. But by a royal order of April 19,
1849, the action of this superior government in not accepting said
resignation was approved, and in the place of the absent members,
Señor Montes de Oca was appointed and instructions given that another
competent person should associate with them, in order that the work of
university reform might continue. But as the commission did not hasten
the matter with the speed desired by the government of his Majesty,
another royal order was issued, under date of October 19, 1852,
urging the commission to conclude the plan, and budget of studies,
in accordance with the wishes and the interest of his Majesty for
the welfare and prosperity of this colony. However, the difficulty
of reconciling very great extremes, such as the preservation, in a
new plan of studies, of everything already in existence that should
be in harmony with the studies of the universities of Spain, the
formation of a budget without injuring the interests of anyone, and
a thousand other necessary considerations, placed under the charge of
the commission by more than one royal decree, were more than sufficient
causes to prevent the board from finishing its laborious contract and
including its complicated work in the brief period desired. Hence,
it was not until February 16, 1856, that its work was done, and
the long-desired plan of studies concluded. This plan was at once
sent to the superior government of these islands, in order that it
might finally be forwarded when it should be deemed convenient. The
papers were still in the hands of the secretary of the government in
March, 1859, when a fire occurred in the town of San Miguel, where
said secretary resided at the time, and unfortunately the papers,
in the compilation of which so much valuable labor had been expended,
were burned. So unfortunate an occurrence must naturally have delayed
this matter, although by chance there was in the possession of the
rector of the university a copy of all these works and the previous
writings of the board which were used in the compilation of the desired
plan. The rector of the university was requested by the government of
these islands to furnish all the previous writings in his possession
on the works and plan of studies which had been destroyed while in
the possession of the secretary, and which should serve as a basis
for the new papers treating of the same subject.
But before sending the report to his Majesty, for his final approval,
the superior government received some copies of the plan of studies
newly established in the universities of the Peninsula, together with
a royal order directing that it be adapted in so far as possible
to the plan for these islands which was to be presented for the
approbation of his Majesty. This circumstance led to the suspension
of the proceedings instituted, and obliged this superior government
to appoint another commission, or, rather, to complete the old one,
which had already become disintegrated by the absence of some of its
members, to revise the work and the plan of studies formerly proposed,
and to harmonize it, if possible, with the plan of studies, a copy of
which was sent to the members of the board for the purpose indicated.
Thus, on April 5, 1861, General Lemery appointed the lacking members
of said commission, in which figured, as in the former commissions,
the director and chancellor of this university. The commission
concluded its work on February 20, 1862. The plan of studies prepared
by this last commission was presented on the same day to the superior
government of the islands and was finally transmitted with a favorable
report to the government of his Majesty without the sovereign approval
for its establishment having as yet been given.
This lack of approval of the superior government did not prevent
the consideration of the means of immediately carrying into effect
the change in the studies, and soon afterwards, in 1865, secondary
instruction was adopted with the degree of bachelor of arts, commercial
expert, and surveyor, and chemical and industrial expert, as in the
universities of the Peninsula. The classes were opened the following
year, in accordance with a provisional program taken from that of
Cuba. In 1867, this program was given the supreme approval. Secondary
instruction having been happily inaugurated, the approval of the plan
of superior instruction, submitted by the university to the government
of his Majesty, was being awaited, when a decree arrived from the
regent of the kingdom, Don Francisco Serrano, countersigned by the
colonial minister, Señor Moret, [81] which secularized the official
studies, and, suppressing the existing colleges and the universities
of Santo Tomás, converted them into the Philippine Institute and the
university of the Philippines respectively, thus ignoring all the
elements which they had accumulated in their teaching during three
centuries of existence, and turning over the literary future of the
people to the hazardous plan, inspired, notwithstanding the loyal
patriotism of the minister, by a doctrine diametrically opposed to
that which had served as a solid basis for welfare and progress. The
corporations of Manila, the bishops, and the clergy, with a majority
of the householders, protested against a measure which, although it
fulfilled the hopes of the university in regard to new chairs and
schools, deprived them of any value by separating them completely from
the religious basis. These protests were heard by the governor of
these islands, Señor Izquierdo, who provisionally resolved that the
decree be not executed in regard to the secularization, but that it
be carried out with regard to the new schools. This resolution was
fully approved by the government of the Peninsula. Thus, in 1871,
the schools of medicine and pharmacy were established, and the
other schools were extended. By a resolution of General Moriones,
the governor of these islands, which was confirmed by his Catholic
Majesty, it was decided to appoint a director of the college of San
José, which was granted in perpetuity to the rector of the university,
and of an administrator, on the recommendation of the said director,
for the management of revenues. [82]
In 1876, the study of the profession of notary was inaugurated, and two
professors were appointed to teach these subjects. Finally, in 1879
and 1880, the auxiliary courses of medicine and pharmacy, midwives,
assistant surgeons, and practitioners in pharmacy were created. From
this date, the university of Manila has had a complete course of
superior and secondary instruction, better than some universities of
the Peninsula. [83]
This is the brief history of the first and most important educational
institution of these islands, [84] in which it may be seen that,
without the violence of certain schools, with the moderation and
firmness demanded by reforms in the branch of public instruction,
this university combining perfectly scientific interests with religion
and patriotic interests, has been able to rise to the height required
by the circumstances of the period, and has fulfilled the aspirations
of all true lovers of Christian and Spanish civilization.