This college was founded at the beginning of the seventeenth century; their Excellencies, Benavides and Soria, the one archbishop of Manila, and the other bishop of Nueva Segovia, giving their libraries for that purpose, and, in addition, the former giving 1,000 pesos and the latter 1,800. Already finished in 1619, it was admitted as a house of the province of Preachers in the islands, as appears from the records of the intermediary chapter celebrated in Santo Domingo, April 20, with the suitable license of the superior government and of the ordinary. In 1620 it already had lecturers and masters for public teaching, and November 27, 1623, his Majesty admitted it under his royal protection. It was erected into a university at the instance of the said monarch Felipe IV, by a bull of Innocent X, November 20, 1645, which was passed by the supreme Council of Indias July 28, 1646. By a decree of May 17, 1680, the university was received under the royal protection, his Majesty declaring himself its patron. In consequence of another decree of December 7, 1781, the rules were made, which, approved by the superior government October 20, 1786 as they were prepared are those which are in force at present. Their cloister is composed of various doctors, licentiates, and masters, although in reality only twenty-one of the first and second kinds form it. The number of collegiates is ruled by circumstances, and the college supports them, for they have to dress and provide shoes for many. Their funds are ministered by lay-brother religious. This college and royal university is in charge of the Dominican religious, who teach Latin, logic, physics, metaphysics, moral and canon law, and theology. In addition there is a chair of institute, and another of native law. In this university 581 students are studying, who are classified thus:

By a decree of June 8, 1585, his Majesty ordered the establishment of a college to be attempted in Manila, in which the sons of the Spanish inhabitants might be instructed in virtue and letters under the direction of the Jesuit fathers. But, although the governor DasmariÑas enacted an edict for that purpose, it was not fulfilled until the year 1601 when the college of San JosÉ was instituted in some houses next to the house of the Jesuits. There were thirteen collegiates when it was first opened, but in a short time their number reached twenty. Among the first was a nephew of Governor Tello, a son of Dr. Morga, senior auditor, and other sons of influential citizens. At the beginning the collegiates contributed a certain sum for their own support, but soon there were greater means. One of the most considerable was the endowment left in his will by the illustrious gentleman, Don Esteban Rodriguez de Figueroa, governor of Mindanao, who was recognized as patron of the college. In 1605, Father Pedro Montes became rector, he founded the chair of scholastic theology, and promoted those of philosophy and Latin, selecting to take charge of them the most pronounced men of talent of his Society. During the reign of Felipe IV, the latter obtained from his Holiness, Gregory XV, authority to concede solemn degrees in philosophy and theology. The latter’s bull and the royal decree of concession were celebrated in Manila by a public procession, and when they were presented to the most illustrious Serrano, then archbishop, he offered obedience and observance on his part. February 18, 1707, his Majesty continued for six years the assignment that had been made to the college of 400 pesos, and 400 fanegas of rice. May 3, 1722, the title of “Royal” was conceded to the college. November 15, 1747, the enjoyment of an encomienda in the villages of SulÁt and Tavig, in the province of Samar, was also continued for ten years. February 3, 1748, his Majesty confirmed in favor of this college the lands of the estates of Mariquina and San Pedro YunasÁn. At present it possesses that estate and the estate of San Juan de Lian, which are administered by the rector. With their products the college takes care of the support of twenty-two collegiates, the house and food of the vice-rector and masters, and the annual pay given to them and to the rector. They also admit capistas who pay fifty pesos per year, and receive public teaching therein in philosophy, rhetoric, and Latin. From the expulsion of the Jesuits until the year 1777 this institution was closed.

It owed its foundation to the charitable zeal of Juan GerÓnimo Guerrero, who in the year 1630 dedicated himself to gathering orphan boys, to whom he taught reading and writing and the Christian doctrine, paying for their support and clothing from the abundant alms with “which the citizens of Manila aided him.” This institution was recommended to the supreme Council of the Indias by the government of these islands, and later his Majesty recommended it to Governors Fajardo and Corcuera. Before dying, the aged Guerrero took the habit as lay-brother in [the convent of] Santo Domingo, and made that order a formal bequest of his advanced charitable work. Later it was erected into a college and received under the royal protection, his Majesty conceding it some encomiendas, or annuities for its support. At present it maintains at its own cost twenty-one Spanish orphan lads, with the 600 pesos to which amounts the product of the annuities which are collected from the alcalde-mayor of Pangasinan by a Dominican religious. It also receives Indian and mestizo collegiates who pay fifty pesos per year apiece for their support. Their number is not fixed. Under the title of sacristan, porters, librarians, and other mechanical trades, there are various people who pay nothing. Their studies are carried on in the university of Santo TomÁs, except that of grammar. At the present time this college has 239 students, counting orphans, capistas and others.

Don Pedro Vivanco having begun to promote its establishment in 1803, it was installed in 1817 under the direction of a special assembly composed of distinguished citizens, among whom was a member of the ecclesiastical cabildo, and another of the tribunal of the consulado. The citizens gave the funds which were to maintain so useful an institution, but being drawn upon, as was the general rule, those funds had the same fate as other large sums of the commerce and charitable funds of this capital, and were lost through the political happenings of the kingdom of Mexico. The assembly having been extinguished for lack of funds, the city took under its charge the charity school. Reading, writing, Christian doctrine, Spanish grammar, and slate-work arithmetic are taught there. The pupils must be Spanish; the children of rich people pay two pesos per month; those of the second class one; and the poor nothing. For admission, a ticket from the president of the dissolved assembly was sufficient. Now it is given by the regidor, who is serving his turn in governing the institution. In that school, there are at present 50 pupils, of whom 26 receive their teaching gratuitously.

Through the repeated instances of the consulado, this school was established in Manila by royal permission in the year 1820. Arithmetic, elementary geometry, plain and spherical trigonometry, cosmography, and piloting are taught by their respective professors; and in addition practical geometry applied to the construction of hydrographical maps and plans, with the method of drawing them. Everything is according to the course of study of the navy, written by royal order for the teaching of said schools by the chief of squadron of the royal fleet Don Gabriel Ciscar. It is directed by special rules. The expenses of that institution have been met hitherto from the funds of averÍa. Its conservation was committed to the consulado, but since the extinction of that tribunal, it has been given ad interim to the present tribunal of commerce by the ruling of the management, inspection in the scientific or teaching portion being reserved for the chief of the military marine. At present it has 51 students in its halls.

The establishment of this school was discussed by the assembly of its name October 1, 1839, approved by the superior government, January 15, 1840. Its inauguration took place, July 15 of the same year. Bookkeeping, and commercial correspondence, the French language, and also the English, when a suitable professor is to be had, are taught in that school.5

It was erected by Governor DasmariÑas, by virtue of an express royal mandate contained in the instructions which were delivered to them August 9, 1589,6 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.7

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 pinagua8 rice of 15 gantas, 25 quintals of wood, and 17 gantas of cocoanut oil for their light.

Since the foundation of the confraternity of the Santa Misericordia, their financial board maintained the management of many poor Spanish orphan girls who were reared in Santa Potenciana, and in private houses; but having bought an edifice in which to gather them, the foundation of this school was accomplished at the end of the year 1632. It is in the immediate charge and care of the purveyor. The first rules for its government were made in 1650, and they were retained with some slight alterations until 1813. In that year they were entirely revised, and these latter are the ones which are observed at present. It has a chapel which is kept very neat and clean, which is dedicated to the Lord of the treasury.

The girl pensioners contribute sixty pesos per year for their fees. In addition, there are some poor young women who are known under the name of supernumeraries [agregadas], who are maintained through charity.

The rectress is the superior of the school, and is subordinate to the purveyor. In grave cases which arise, she consults the financial board, and if that board is not created with power to take action, she convokes the brotherhood and in general council the advisable action is agreed upon with the assistance of theologues and jurists. This school contains:

There are also at present for the interior service of the house one chaplain, one physician, twelve maid servants, and eight man servants; these last do not live in the school.

It was founded in 1696 by Mother Francisca del EspÍritu Santo, a Spanish woman born in Manila, and by the very reverend father, Fray Juan de Santo Domingo, provincial of the Dominicans. Its object is to teach Spanish girls how to read, write, reckon, the Christian doctrine, to sew, etc. In that duty the necessary beatas are occupied. They obey a superior whom they appoint from their own number, and such person takes the title of prioress. At present this school has 26 Spanish girls and 60 supernumeraries and servants.9

It was begun in 1719 by four Filipino girls, who gave themselves exclusively to the service of God, and that of the Virgin of Carmel. In 1735 the beaterio was given form at the petition of the Recollect provincial, Fray Andres de San Fulgencio. The beatas were permitted to take the habit as manteletas of the discalced Augustinians. Their number was not to exceed twelve, and the institution was to remain subject to the vice-patron. In 1754, a measure was started as to whether the beatas ought to pay tribute or not, and the custom which favors the negative was ordered to be followed. They live in community without any vow. Each year they nominate one prioress. They are sustained by alms and by their own work. The priorate of San Sebastian contributes 100 cavans of palay, and 300 pesos annually, because the beatas sew the scapularies of Carmel, wash the clothes of the Church, and of the religious resident therein; and the convent of Manila 200 cavans and 300 pesos more for the washing of the clothes of the sacristy and of the religious. Orphan girls are received and are taught reading, writing, the Christian doctrine, sewing, etc. For the very little girls the beaterio receives what their relatives care to give. Those who can work pay nothing if they work; but if they do not work they pay three or four pesos per month according to their circumstances. Some Spanish women also enter for the [religious] exercises. At present this beaterio has 12 beatas, 24 larger girls who are being educated, 16 smaller ones, and one little girl boarder, with some other widows and married women who also live in this retreat.

It was founded in 1699 under the direction of the Jesuit fathers. Its benefactress and first beata was Mother Ignacia del EspÍritu Santo, a native of Binongo, who died in 1748, at the age of eighty. It has 25 beatas, 59 servants, and 55 wards, [some of] whom pay four pesos monthly for their support, and some two or three pesos, but these latter assist in the kitchen and washing once a week. This institution is supported by the alms and by the products of some sewing and by the washing of clothes. Every year there are exercises held there which begin in October; those who attend it are Filipino women. They are divided into three shifts, and about 300 of them assemble, each of whom pays two pesos. From that sum they meet the expenses of preachers, confessors, and their support. Since the expulsion of the Jesuits, this beaterio has been under the direction of the provisor of the archbishopric, and for lack of a shelter-house, it supplies its place. The object of the foundation was that Filipino girls might be reared in it and taught embroidery, sewing, reading, and writing.

Mother Paula de la SantÍsima Trinidad, native of CataluÑa, had scarcely arrived at Manila in 1750, when she dedicated herself to the education of girls and was the origin of this foundation. By a royal decree of September 22, 1774, his Majesty ordered that the house or beaterio founded by this good woman should take care of the education of every class of girls. It is maintained by alms, by the work of their hands, and by the few small fees which some girls pay for their support therein, where they are taught reading, sewing, etc. Neither their number nor that of the servants is fixed. His Majesty has taken it under his protection, and entrusted it in his name to the regent of the Audiencia, with the fitting powers.

In this village there is a house of teaching, or a beaterio entitled Santa Rita, which was founded in 1740 with the necessary licenses by the calced Augustinian, Fray Felix de Trillo, then parish priest of Pasig. Its primary object is to provide shelter for Filipino orphan girls, and to teach them reading, writing, Christian doctrine, sewing, embroidery, and other employments fitting for their sex. They dress when they go to the parish church in the habit of mantelates of St. Augustine, but they take no vow or obligation. Those educated and sheltered dress as in their own homes. This beaterio is sustained by the work of their hands and by alms, under the care and solicitous management of the parish priests. The latter are not those who give the least alms for its useful preservation, and that from the product of some estates which they have rented out, and which they acquired by their economy. Furthermore, the young women who enter as wards pay when their relatives are able, according to their wealth, up to the sum of two pesos per month. That is the greatest fee, but it is more usual for each one who is educated to contribute a few cavans of palay per year—generally about ten or twelve. But those who are quite poor and orphans pay nothing. This retreat has at the present time sixteen beatas.