The University of Santo Tomas is one of the oldest existing universities and holds the oldest extant university charter in the Philippines and in Asia. It was founded on April 28, 1611, by the third Archbishop of Manila, Miguel de Benavides, together with Domingo de Nieva and Bernardo de Santa Catalina. It was originally conceived as a school to prepare young men for the priesthood. Located Intramuros, it was first called Colegio de Nuestra Señora del Santísimo Rosario and later renamed Colegio de Santo Tomás in memory of Dominican theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas. In 1624, the colegio was authorized to confer academic degrees in theology, philosophy, and arts. On November 20, 1645, after representations by Vittorio Riccio, Pope Innocent X elevated the college to the rank of a university and in 1680 it was placed under royal patronage.
Through the centuries, the university was given the following titles: Royal, Pontifical, and Catholic University of the Philippines. In 1785, for the loyalty shown by the administration and students who volunteered to defend Manila against the British invasion, King Charles III of Spain granted it the title of "Royal University". Pope Leo XIII made the University of Santo Tomas a "Pontifical University" in 1902 and in 1947, Pope Pius XII bestowed upon it the title of "The Catholic University of the Philippines". Thus its complete name is Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, Manila.
In 1927, with the continuing increase in enrollment, the university moved from Intramuros to its present site which covers an area of 21.5 hectares in the district of Sampaloc, Manila. Since its foundation, the university's academic life has been interrupted only twice: 1898 to 1899, during the Philippine revolution against Spain; and 1942 to 1945, during the Japanese occupation of Manila, when the campus was transformed by the Japanese military into an internment camp.
Founder
Although a few Dominican missionaries worked together to establish the university – including Miguel de Benavides, Bernardo Navarro, and other old professors from the higher colleges and universities in Spain – the founding of the university is attributed mainly to Miguel de Benavides, the first to give a fund for the maintenance of the institution.
Miguel de Benavides was born in 1550 in the Castilian town of Carrión de los Condes, province of Palencia, Spain, in the heart of the austere, grain-producing Tierra de Campos. Benavides was steeped in the theological principles of Francisco de Vitoria and Bartolomé de las Casas, who exchanged the prestigious professorial chair for remote and difficult new missions of the Philippines. He was chosen to govern the newly created Diocese of Nueva Segovia (now Vigan) as its First Bishop (1595–1601). He wrote the Doctrina Christiana in Chinese, the first book printed in the Philippines.
Later, he was promoted to be the third Archbishop of Manila (1602–1605). On July 26, 1605, Benavides died.
In an appearance before King Philip II, he obtained a royal decree ordering the holding a referendum in the Philippines towards political self-determination. It took place in 1599. The people chose to be under the sovereignty and protection of the monarch. This event was the only plebiscite known in the entire colonial history before the 20th century.Villarroel, Fidel. (2005). Miguel de Benavides, O.P., Friar, Bishop and University Founder, UST Publishing House, Manila.
Benavides monument
In December 1878, the rector conceived the idea of erecting a monument with a statue of the founder in the Plaza de Santo Tomás in Intramuros. The Benavides statue was made in Paris in 1889 through funds collected by the faculty, students, and friends of the university. It was inaugurated on July 2, 1891 – opening of the school year. The statue is a bronze figure of Benavides on a pedestal facing the old campus in Intramuros. The base of the statue has the name of the sculptor and year of the make: Tony Noël, 1889. The pedestal was decorated with the seals of the Dominican Order and the university, as well as plaques on which were written the history of UST and a brief biography of the archbishop.
The statue was blown from its place by an artillery shell during the 1945 Battle of Manila, completely obliterating its marble pedestal. It was re-erected on November 13, 1946, inside the UST campus in Sampaloc, Manila.
The present bronze statue of Benavides is in front of the Main Building of the Sampaloc campus, rising on top of a granite pedestal flanked by four lions each bearing the coat of arms of Philippines, Spain, Holy See, and the Dominican Order. He dons the rugged habit of the pioneer Dominican missionaries. His right hand is elevated in the preaching fashion, his index finger pointing to the heavens. His left hand rests on his chest holding a book bearing the words Santo Evangélico on its cover. A skull cap covers his head, and a pectoral cross hangs from his neck, the symbols of Episcopal dignity.
Establishment
The university seems to have originated from the Dominican Conventual School of Santo Domingo (known often by the name of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary) with which it carried a common existence until 1611. The Dominican Order arrived in 1587. A program was held to solemnize the feast of St. Dominic, an old university student at Palencia and the founder of Order of Preachers. The celebration was held in the main hall of the cathedral in the presence of prominent dignitaries of all religious orders and of the civil authorities. The academic act was directed by a professor of theology, Pedro de Soto.
From that moment Domingo de Salazar – first Bishop of the Philippines – was inspired to find a college-university similar to those in Mexico, where religious and lay persons might pursue college studies; and to begin with, a "School of Grammar" was established in addition to the Escuela de Tiples. At that same time, it was determined that Miguel de Benavides and Miguel de Santamaria gave conferences in the Episcopal Palace in the cathedral, and in the Convent-School of Santo Domingo.
Name changes 1611: Colegio de Nuestra Señora del Santísimo Rosario 1616: Colegio de Santo Tomás de Nuestra Señora del Santísimo Rosario 1617: Colegio de Santo Tomás de Manila 1619: Colegio de Santo Tomás de Aquino 1645: Universidad de Santo Tomás 1785: Given the title of "Real" (Spanish for "Royal") 1870: Universidad de Filipinas 1877: Universidad de Santo Tomas 1902: Given the title of "Pontifical" 1947: Given the title of "Catholic University of the Philippines" Present: Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, Manila In his will dated July 26, 1605, feast of St. Anne, Miguel de Benavides made provision for the foundation of the institution by bequeathing his library and goods valued at ₱1,500 which served as the nucleus of funds for the establishment of an institution of higher learning.De Ramos, N.V., 2000. I Walked with Twelve UST Rectors. This was increased to ₱7,140 by donations made by Pablo Rodríguez, Andrés Hermosa, and Juan Morales. After Benavides' death, in the same year, his confreres carried on – albeit with small funds – in order to realize his idea. As Fr. Sánchez wrote in his book, "Few Institutions have begun their lives in this world with such scanty material means as did our University."
In 1609, permission to open the college was requested from King Philip III, which only reached Manila in 1611. On April 28, 1611, the document of the foundation was signed by Baltasar Fort, Provincial of the Dominican Province of the Holy Rosary; Francisco Minayo, Prior of the Santo Domingo Convent; and Bernardo de Santa Catalina, Commissary-General of the Holy Office of the Philippines, which thus converted into university thirty-four years later. Notary Juan Illian witnessed the signing of the act of foundation.
It was Bernardo de Santa Catalina who executed the document of foundation stating that "the residue of his (Benavides') legacy should be applied to the founding and endowing of a college. He carried out Benavides's wishes and was able to secure a building near the Dominican church and convent in Intramuros for the College.
The historians of the university affirmed that it was "the outgrowth of the early educational labors inaugurated by the Dominican Order shortly after the arrival (in this country) of its first missionaries in 1587."
Early years The institution started its operation with courses in theology, arts, and philosophy as the College of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary (). In 1617, the college was renamed as College of Santo Tomas () after the Dominican theologian St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274).
Prior to the act of foundation, King Philip III granted, through the Governor-General, the permission to open a college in Manila. So in 1612, Domingo González, lector of the Santo Domingo Convent, was appointed to work on the completion the organization of the college. In that same year, when classes also began, the Dominican Province of the Holy Rosary accepted the college, an act which amounted to the Dominican Order's assuming the responsibility in the operation of the institution. In 1619, in the name of King Philip IV, the Governor-General of the Philippines, gave his approval. The Holy See granted, although indirectly or implicitly, recognition to the new college in 1619. In 1627, Pope Urban VIII also authorized the college to confer academic degrees, so that the said academic degrees had both royal and papal approval. Although the college had only been in operation for a few years, records show that degrees were already being conferred in 1640.
Upon petition of King Philip IV, Pope Innocent X converted the college into a university on November 20, 1645, in his brief, In Supreminenti, thus conferring upon it the status of university under the patronage of the Holy See. UST was later recognized as a "university for life" by the Real Audencia of Spain. Then on May 12, 1680, King Charles II of Spain extended royal patronage to the university. It was also that year in 1645 that the Master General of the Dominican Order, acting under the authority granted by the Roman Pontiff, assumed the authority to appoint its rector and with to "have charge of the healthy and happy direction of the university". It was thus a confirmation of the fact that the rector of the university became the highest administrator of the university, with the implementation of the different curricula, methods of instruction, and the adoption of "laudable customs of other universities". The course in Canon Law was started in 1732.
Campus in Intramuros
The first campus stood in the walled city of Intramuros opposite the old Santo Domingo Church. It is the site that was bounded on the northwest by Aduana (renamed Andres Soriano) Street, on the northeast by Solana Street and Plaza España, on the southeast by Santo Tomás Street and Plaza Santo Tomás, and on the southwest by the Ayuntamiento de Manila. The edifice had a lower and upper floor and area of .
The oldest discovered floor plan of the campus was made by the Dominican priest Juan Peguero, who was the Procurator of the Dominican Province from 1675 to 1677 and from 1680 to 1684. The plan showed two quadrangles which were properties acquired throughout the 17th century. The upper quadrangle served as a graveyard before it became a plaza where the original monument of Benavides stood in 1891. The lower quadrant marked the main campus site. It also mentioned Puerta del Colegio or the main entrance to the campus, which would later become the Arch of the Centuries.