14. The collegiates shall confess and take communion at least five
times per year, viz., on the three feasts of Christmas, Easter, and
Pentecost, and the days of Sts. Sebastian and Philip, under penalty
of a fortnight's seclusion every time they fail to observe it, and
loss of their college portion for that time.
15. The students of San José shall be preferred to all others in
competition for fellowships.
16. These shall be defended every Saturday when no legal obstacle
presents itself.
17. All the collegiates shall be obliged to attend vespers and mass
in the royal chapel on St. Sebastian's day, and on the feast of the
most holy sacrament held at the same place, and they shall have to
take part in the procession of the latter day as well as on the day
of Sts. Philip and James (May 2).
18. Gambling with cards, dice, or in other manner is forbidden, the
penalties being for the first time, seclusion for a fortnight and
deprivation of the college portion for that time; for the second,
that penalty doubled, and for the third, dismissal from the college.
19. The college shall be locked after the evening prayer, after time
has been allowed for the collegiates to arrive from the farthest part
of the city. The third time that any collegiate is late, he shall
be dismissed from the college. No collegiate may go into the city
without his gown and beca.
20. The library shall be open two hours in the morning and two in the
afternoon, but no book shall be taken from it, "under penalty that the
collegiate so doing, shall not enter the library for six months, and
shall pay the college for the book, unless he return it. The librarian
or attendant shall be the senior collegiate, and he shall be present
in the said library one hour in the morning and one in the afternoon."
21. Corcuera prescribes that he be advised of any case for expulsion
in order that he may give permission for such expulsion. Expulsion
shall take place if it is proved that any collegiate has obtained
the beca for sinister reasons, or is not of the proper purity of blood.
22. The collegiates shall live a good moral life under penalty of
expulsion.
23. Collegiates shall be preferred in all appointments to the beneficed
curacies and in the church dignities.
24. Every day the collegiates shall recite a prayer for the king,
besides a responsary for the deceased sovereigns. They shall assemble
(as is the custom at San José) twice in the chapel, once on rising
in the morning, and the second time at night, at which times the said
prayers shall be repeated.
25. The auditor Diego de Rivera shall be the protector of the
college, and in his absence, the one who shall be appointed by the
government. The governor shall inspect the college annually without
the intervention of any ecclesiastic, but he may delegate it to the
father provincial of the Society.
26. On the day of the patron saint of the college, the collegiates
shall assemble and three of the most capable shall be chosen as
assistants to the rector in matters of importance.
27 and 28. The college shall contain archives for the conservation
of important papers, and records.
29. The rector shall have especial care of the money assigned for
the support of the collegiates.
30. One of the art or theological collegiates shall be elected annually
as conciliar, when the number is sufficient to warrant it.
31. If the expenses of the degree of doctor or licentiate in any course
reach 400 pesos, counting the fees, theaters, gloves, collations,
and other things, the royal collegiates shall pay only half the fees
to the doctors and teachers.
32. The senior collegiate in any course shall be graduated before
the other students in that course.
33. The college is entrusted to the Jesuits as Corcuera has full
confidence in them.
The Dominicans asked that the twenty fellowships founded by Corcuera be
adjudged to their college, without any gratification or income. Their
request was made by the rector of that college, Fray Domingo Goncales,
and the other religious of the same, and they offered to take the
twenty students free of all charge to the king, as an appreciation
of the latter's many favors to their college. Corcuera answered the
request by a decree, November 23, 1640, in which he suggested that
the Dominicans might use the 3,000 pesos which they offered for the
support of the fellowships, for bringing over missionaries of their
order from Spain, thus relieving the king of that expense. But it
is not in accord with the greatness of the king to listen to such
a proposal. On August 8, 1641, Corcuera wrote to Felipe IV, stating
the reason which induced him to found the college. He cites therein
the request made him by the Manila cabildo, encloses the Dominican's
petition, and gives his reasons for refusing it. He also asks that
the college be exempted from the payment of the half-annats, as it
is a royal institution.
When Diego Fajardo took possession of the government, August 11,
1644, he ordered the assignments for the fellowships, amounting
now to 12,000 pesos, belonging to the college of San Felipe, now
received by the college of San José, to be returned, in accordance
with a royal decree dated June 16, 1643, ordering the former college
discontinued. The Jesuits urged against the measure "that his Majesty
did not order that the Society should pay the said sum, but that there
be given to the royal treasury what the Society had received, leaving
it to the decision of the royal official judges how it was to be paid
and by whom; that the seminary of San José was a distinct college,
and had made no use of what had been spent in the support of the royal
college; that it was only interested because it had given them a house
in which to live: consequently it was not right that it should pay from
the income which its founder had instituted, what they had not eaten
and drunk. As regards the embargo of property, we alleged immunity,
for it was proved that the incomes of the college of San José were
ecclesiastical." The sentence was given in favor of the Society by the
royal officials, but the governor would not listen. The Society were
ordered to pay the 12,000 within three days. The governor refused to
discount 8,000 pesos owed the Society by the treasury, and to take
4,000 pesos in cash, and hence, it became necessary for the Society
to seek a loan. The king on fuller information, ordered the Society
to be reimbursed to the amount of the 12,000 pesos, if it had been
collected from them, by a royal decree dated March 17, 1647. [91]