It is a gift because for a people unsure about their national identity and bereft of institutions to reflect their worth and pride as a people, UST has been a paragon of institution-building. Older than the Philippine republic and practically the oldest institution in the country after the Roman Catholic Church, UST is the alma mater of the founders of the Philippine nation (Jose Burgos, Jose Rizal, Apolinario Mabini, Emilio Jacinto, Felipe Agoncillo and nearly all the framers of the Malolos Constitution) as well as of four presidents (Manuel L. Quezon, Sergio Osmeña, Jose P. Laurel and Diosdado Macapagal), and of patriots and nationalists (Claro M. Recto and Fernando Ma. Guerrero), several Supreme Court chief justices, jurists and lawmakers.
UST was founded by the intrepid Dominican order. The small seed that was to become UST was sown on the death-bed of the third archbishop of Manila, the Dominican friar Miguel de Benavides who, before dying in 1605, bequeathed his personal library and his meager personal fortune of 1,500 Spanish pesos for the establishment of a college-seminary for the training of priests. It was only five years later that his Dominican confreres were able to gather enough extra donors and start the college.
Starting as a school for the sacred sciences, UST later branched out to the civil disciplines so much so that today, UST sports proudly all of the superlative titles as far as age is concerned—oldest law school, oldest medical school, oldest school of pharmacy and of other health sciences, oldest journalism school.
Of course, it has become a cliché to call UST “older than Harvard,” a tag invented not by the Dominicans but by the American governor-general, Cameron Forbes who wanted to measure every Spanish-bred institution in the Philippines based on Anglo-American yardsticks.
Some critics pigeonhole UST as a Spanish colonial relic that hasn’t kept up with the times. But even the Jesuit American historian John Schumacher has noted that the quality of education provided by UST in the Spanish period was comparable to that of Europe, else how could Rizal and the other Filipinos who continued their studies there have adjusted very well to the European curriculum? Else how could UST have given the Church the Dominican theologian Ceferino Gonzales, who became cardinal-archbishop of Toledo and primate of the Spanish church, and who became the adviser of Pope Leo XIII in the universal revival of Thomism in the late 19th century? Else how could UST have provided Europe the Dominican thinkers Norberto Prado and Francisco Marin Sola, who occupied one after the other the theology chair of the University of Fribourg and who became top theologians of the first half of the 20th century?
Moreover, while Harvard is heavily subsidized, UST is not. In fact, it has not historically received any subsidy—not from the Spanish monarchy or colonial establishment, not from the Americans, and not from the Philippine republic. Despite all this, UST is, according to the Professional Regulation Commission, the best performing private school in licensure exams and the biggest provider of Filipino professionals. Among private schools, too, it has the highest number of programs declared as Centers of Excellence and Centers of Development by the Commission on Higher Education.
Amid the vicissitudes of history, UST has forged on, with its overriding vision of Christian humanism and Thomist optimism, which looks at nature and everything as vehicles and bases of grace. But when one looks today at UST’s sprawling campus in Manila—with its classic earthquake-proof Main Building, its two hospitals, one of which is the biggest private charity hospital in the country, and its magnificent art-deco church—one comes into contact with a sight not Thomistic, but Augustinian: it is the vision of the City of God on earth. It is a vision that all Filipinos should aspire to.
Happy birthday, Uste!
In case you are still wondering what Philippine university is oldest in Asia, this is what a good friend had say.
Yet, it is these superlatives that give people, places and institutions distinction.
The University of Santo Tomas (UST) is one of these institutions. It is recognized as the oldest in Asia, older in fact than Harvard in the United States.
In addition to this claim to fame along with the titles “Royal” and “Pontifical” and “The Catholic University of the Philippines,” UST boasts of a historical continuity with its original owners and administrators—the Dominicans.
But its reputation as the “oldest university” was challenged by the University of San Carlos in Cebu which, in 1995, officially celebrated its “400th Foundation Day.” The Cebu institution traced its beginnings from the foundation of a Jesuit-run school, Colegio de San Ildefonso de Cebu, in 1595 to the present.
San Carlos’ assertion dates back to 1948 when the college was elevated to a university. Since then, newspaper articles published this “fact,” the latest in 1995 when writer F.C. Borlongan reiterated in a newspaper article that “San Carlos, not UST, is the oldest university.”
As well-respected historian and former UST archivist Fr. Fidel Villarroel, O.P. pointed out in a journal article, “UST or San Carlos of Cebu? A Question of Age”: “This is not the first time that newspapers, periodical publications and even an occasional history book have come out with such a claim which, in our considered judgment, is totally erroneous.”
With the ongoing quadricentennial celebration of UST, this contention must be resolved with available historical data. Several questions are to be answered: Which educational institution is the oldest? What are the evidences? And, why argue about these claims?
Looking through facts
UST’s history remains unquestionable: The Dominicans were at the helm of higher learning in Spanish-colonial Philippines. It is a tribute to their roles as stalwarts of education that their legacy—UST—still remains today as a bastion of higher learning.
Its foundation on April 26, 1611, happened more than three decades after the founding of the City of Manila. It was from Manila Archbishop Miguel de Benavides, O.P., that a school of higher learning came into being through his last will that provided a library and funds to erect a “seminary-college.”
Its name was Colegio de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, later to be renamed as Colegio de Santo Tomas de Nuestra del Rosario, and, finally, to Colegio de Santo Tomas.
Through the years, the colegio underwent major changes that raised its stature. In 1619, Pope Paul V authorized the granting of degrees of Philosophy and Theology to all colleges administered by the Dominicans in the “Occidental Indies.”
In 1645, Pope Innocent X raised Santo Tomas to the rank of university. In 1785, the title “Royal” was given by Charles III in recognition of their loyalty to Spain during the war against England.
In 1902, it was given the title of “Pontifical” by Leo XIII and, in 1947, the title of “Catholic University” was granted by Pius XII.
What about San Carlos?
The university’s fame also provided the impetus for the Spanish government to assign it as the Bureau of Education in the mid-19th century when the secondary school system was revamped. This is the reason many student records of different schools, such as Ateneo and Letran, are found in the UST archives.
The case against San Carlos’ claim was made in two scholarly articles written by Villaroel and a professor of the San Carlos Seminary itself, Aloysius Lopez Cartagenas.
Villarroel wrote that the historical problem of San Carlos is this: “The case of the University of San Carlos is an entirely different story. Different in the sense that its origins have yet to be established solidly on the basis of unquestionable historical documentation. But whatever date may be fixed and conventionally accepted as the foundation date, it cannot be the year 1595.”
San Carlos has its roots tied with those of another institution—the Jesuit-run Colegio de San Ildefonso. What made it troubling is that this school has a spotty past.
San Ildefonso opened in 1595 and closed down in 1608, leaving only a primary school (similar to an elementary school) for boys. There was a lack of students as many Spanish residents left Cebu to settle in Manila.
The school closed down after the Jesuit expulsion from the Philippines in 1768. Its buildings, however, were used by the Diocese of Cebu for San Carlos Seminary, which was established in 1783.
In 1867, the seminary opened a government-authorized secondary school that became known as “Colegio de San Carlos.”
In 1924, during the American period, the colegio separated from the seminary and, in 1948, was given university rank by the Philippine government.
In its entire existence, the school changed administration from the diocese to the Vincentians and, finally, to the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) order.
Based on these facts, Cartagenas wrote: “The earliest roots of the University of San Carlos in Cebu are not the Jesuit Colegio de San Ildefonso of 1595 but Seminario de San Carlos which, under the Vincentian Fathers, began to admit lay students in 1867. The year 1867, not 1595, as claimed, appears to be the auspicious beginning of an educational institution that would later become a university.”
Conclusion
It seemed that University of San Carlos’ history does not come from one but three different schools—the 1595 Jesuit Colegio de San Ildefonso that began as an institution of higher learning but was reduced to a primary school that later closed down; San Carlos Seminary, which educated and trained the diocesan clergy; and, from this seminary, Colegio de San Carlos was founded in 1867, recognized in 1912, and becoming a university only in 1948.
Three different schools. Three different histories with a break in its timeline. This historical discontinuity and the institutions that were founded lacked what Villarroel called San Carlos’ “homogenous growth.”
“You do not call a mango tree an orange tree just because the mango tree has grown in the place where formerly an orange tree was planted, grew and died,” he wrote.
Accident of age
Why argue about superlatives?
At first glance, such arguments and contentions may be trivial to the reader. After all, both universities enjoy a reputation of excellence. But, as Villarroel said, “the accident of age may add luster to the institution.”
This has been true for UST throughout its 400 years of existence.
If we research, study and interpret the historical facts well, the honor of being “the oldest university” belongs to the University of Santo Tomas.
House resolution
Perhaps the issue was settled last Dec. 1 when the House of Representatives passed Resolution No. 51, “Resolution Congratulating the University of Santo Tomas (UST) on the occasion of its Quadricentennial University in 2011.”
The resolution was officially presented to UST Rector Magnificus Fr. Rolando V. de la Rosa, O.P., surrounded by proud UST alumni among the lawmakers, in a special session of the lower chamber on Jan. 18.
On Wednesday, Jan. 26, at the opening of the 10th biennial conference of the International Council of St. Thomas Aquinas Universities (Icusta) headed by UST, with presidents and administrators of several prestigious international universities present, the resolution was read by Rep. Magtanggol Gunigundo of Valenzuela City.
The resolution leaves no doubt as to which is the oldest university in the Philippines and Asia. It describes UST as “founded on April 28, 1611 by Archbishop Miguel de Benavides” and “has the oldest extant university charter in the Philippines and Asia.”
The UST charter and other historic documents, preserved in the UST archives, should show the historical and documentary validity of UST’s claim as the oldest university in this part of the world.
UST events
UST has been celebrating its 400th anniversary this week. On Monday, Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales blessed the UST Jubilee Door at UST Santisimo Rosario Church and gave an apostolic blessing in a High Mass on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI, who has proclaimed 2011 as UST Jubilee Year.
Yesterday, UST formally opened the 10th biennial conference of the International Council of St. Thomas Aquinas Universities at UST Santisimo Rosario Church after a High Mass presided over by Archbishop Karl Adams, apostolic nuncio to the Philippines.
President Aquino addressed the conference, an international federation of higher-education institutions taking after the principles of St. Thomas Aquinas, the universal patron saint of Catholic schools. The UST Conservatory of Music later mounted the opera “Cavelleria Rusticana” at the UST College of Medicine Auditorium.
Today, the Quattrromondial, the UST Quadricentennial Memorial Monument, a 10-meter sculpture in bronze and glass by internationally renowned Filipino sculptor Ramon G. Orlina and modeled by actors Piolo Pascual and Charlene Gonzales, will be unveiled at UST Quadricentennial Park.
On Friday, a High Mass marking the UST Quadricentennial and the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas will be held at the UST Grandstand and Football Field, at 5 p.m. The principal celebrants are Cardinal Zenon Grocheleweski, the special papal legate sent by Benedict XVI, and Fr. Bruno Cordore, master general of the Dominican Order.
The alumni homecoming party follows.
( Jose Victor Torres was a former senior historical researcher of the Intramuros Administration. He has a doctorate in History and has won the National Book Award for his Intramuros history guidebook.)
Clear blue sky and a busy square.
