History of University of Santo Tomas - Early Years

Early Years

The University of Santo Tomas building in Intramuros.

The institution started its operation with courses in Theology, Arts, and Philosophy as the College of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary (Spanish: Colegio de Nuestra Señora del Santísimo Rosario). In 1617, the College was renamed as College of Santo Tomas (Spanish: Colegio de Santo Tomás) 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, Fr. Domingo Gonzalez, O.P., 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.

The campus stood in Intramuros opposite the old Church of Santo Domingo. It is a site which was bounded on the north by Calle Aduana, on the east by Plaza España, on the south by Plaza Santo Tomás, and on the west by the Ayuntamiento. The edifice had a lower and upper floor and area of 6,239.6 square metres (67,162 sq ft).