It was erected by Governor Dasmariñas, by virtue of an express royal
mandate contained in the instructions which were delivered to them
August 9, 1589, [125] in which section 27 reads: "Upon your arrival
at the Filipinas Islands, you shall ascertain how and where, and with
what endowment, a convent for the shelter of girls may be founded,
so that both those who should come from here and those, born there,
may live in it, so that they may live modestly and after being well
instructed may go out therefrom to be married and bear children." That
zealous governor, with the efficacy and activity which distinguished
his government, did what his Majesty ordered him; for, in a royal
order of January 27, 1593, the measures which had been taken with
the city are approved and ordered to be continued, namely, that the
said convent should be founded in the church of San Andres. Shortly
afterward that pious institution must have been completed, as is
inferred from another royal order of June 11, 1594: "The rules and
regulations," says his Majesty to the governor, "which you have made
for the girls' school have been examined and are approved, and thus
you shall have them observed." It was further provided how they were
to act at the wheel, or in the parlor. The chaplain was also to be
the manager and he was to be an approved person of forty years old
or upward. The clothing of the collegiates, of the mother superior,
and the teacher, was to be modest and cheap, and was sent by his
Majesty. The governor was authorized to name the sum which was to
be paid annually by any other woman who wished of her own accord to
enter the institution, in order to take shelter therein, provided
that such sum should be moderate. [126]
There is no copy of the first rules of this school in existence, for
they probably perished with its archives, and ten or twelve inmates
in the awful earthquake of 1645, which overthrew the edifice and
destroyed the greater part of the city. In fulfilment of a royal order
of November 27, 1686, and superior rulings of March 15, 1691, Doctor
Silva, then chaplain of said school, published, in the following April,
the ordinances of Santa Potentiana, which merited royal approbation
November 14, 1825, in which year the newly printed rules were ordered
to be observed.
In 1736 the free inmates were the daughters of Spaniards who had
served his Majesty in the islands. They were aided with what was
necessary for their support and clothing, and the physician and the
medicine for the sick were paid for them, besides a suitable funeral
for the dead. The funds of the college did not permit, in case one
married, to give her a suitable dowry, but such a one received two
hundred pesos from the charitable fund which was established for
that purpose in 1686 by Don Cristóbal Romero, castellan of the fort
of Santiago, and in the time of Governor Tamon, fifty pesos more,
which he gave from his own purse, to each one of the inmates when she
was married. In 1729, Auditor Don José Antonio Pabon founded for the
same purpose another charitable fund by giving 2,823 pesos, which the
royal treasury owed him on account of pay, but that foundation had no
effect until 1749. The funds were in charge of the managers, who very
commonly were the royal officials, and were increased by investing
them suitably, until the time when they entered the royal treasury
with the other incomes of the school. At present that school occupies
a house which was bought at the royal account, for its ancient site
has been destined for the building of a fortification. From the same
treasury, the expenses of a small chapel, a physician, apothecary shop,
infirmary, clothing for the pupils, and six servant girls are met,
which are estimated at 700 pesos annually; and those of a sacristan,
four faginantes [i.e., fagot-gatherers], and one purchaser. By a
provision of the Superior Board of the royal treasury of September
22, 1808, money was subscribed for the maintenance of a rectress,
a portress, and twenty-four inmates at the rate of one and one-half
reals per day to each one, and monthly from the royal magazines,
46 baskets of pinagua [127] rice of 15 gantas, 25 quintals of wood,
and 17 gantas of cocoanut oil for their light.