The college of Santa Catalina follows next in order of antiquity to
the college of Santa Isabel. It was founded in 1696 by the provincial,
then belonging to the Dominican order, the very reverend father,
Juan de Santo Domingo.
There were purchased for the purposes of the college, at the account of
the province of Santísimo Rosario, some houses adjoining the convent
of Santo Domingo, to serve as an asylum to the young ladies who desire
to consecrate therein their virginity to the Lord.
The institution was inaugurated on the day of St. Ann, of the
year mentioned, after the approval of the rules to be observed,
in conformity with the spirit and statutes of the Tertiary Order of
St. Dominic, with some modifications for the proper interior régime,
based upon the principal laws and ordinations of the province of
Santísimo Rosario. On this day some ladies who had long before adopted
the dress of the Tertiary order, took the vows, binding themselves
to the strictest observance of the new rule, and taking the three
religious vows with all the necessary formalities.
Among the new nuns was the sister of Mother Francisca, who, in order
to adopt the Dominican vestments, left the rectorate of Santa Isabel.
The new retreat was given for a patron, the seraphic mother, Santa
Catalina de Sena. It was also ordered that there should be only
fifteen choir nuns, in honor of the mysteries of the rosary, with
some lay sisters to attend to the material service.
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; [162] 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. [163]