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Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico
 Coat of arms of the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico | |
| Type | University of the Catholic Church |
|---|---|
| Founded | September 21, 1551 |
| Closed | 1865 |
| City | Mexico City |
| Country | Viceroyalty of New Spain |
| Motto | Patriae scientiae que amor salus populi est (Love of the Homeland and of knowledge is the health of the people) |
The Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico (Real y Pontificia Universidad de México) was a university of the Viceroyalty of New Spain created by a Royal Decree of the Emperor Charles V, signed in his name by Prince Philip in the city of Toro on September 21, 1551, and inaugurated on January 25, 1553.
Although the papacy granted a bull giving its authorization, it never reached New Spain, since the King and his Council of the Indies considered that it exceeded the privileges granted to the university; the bull therefore remained in Seville. It was not until the 18th century that the designation "pontifical" began to be used, which the researcher Enrique González González has called a "mark of honor."
Traditionally, the National Autonomous University of Mexico[1] and the Pontifical University of Mexico[2] are considered its institutional heirs. However, a debate has arisen about the continuity between the viceregal university and UNAM. This idea originated on the occasion of the celebrations of the Fourth Centenary of the University of Mexico in 1951, which differed from the intentions of Justo Sierra, who sought in 1910 to create a new university, different from the viceregal one; even so, it is common to see formal events adorned with banners bearing the current university coat of arms flanked, among others, by that of the Royal University of Mexico.[3]
On the other hand, on January 25, 2012, the Congregation for Catholic Education granted the Pontifical University of Mexico recognition as being the same institution as the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico.[4] Its first rector and professor was Don Francisco Cervantes de Salazar.
History
Founding
Unlike what we understand today by a university, under the Ancien Régime it was a collegiate body, that is, it was made up of groups of students, doctors, or both. The opening of a university was the decision of the Pope, the Monarch, or both, and its purpose was to grant privileges to scholars concentrated in a city; they were recognized by the ecclesiastical and royal fuero, and the university had the power to devote itself to studies and to their certification, which was done through the granting of degrees, such as bachelor, licentiate, or doctor.[5]
The university was conceived as a corporation; therefore, those who belonged to it had legal protection and other rights, such as being tried by the corporation's tribunal, although they also had to follow a code of conduct set out in the constitutions or statutes. Likewise, being conceived as a body of students, it did not necessarily have material property, since what mattered, at least under the Ancien Régime, was the corporation and those who formed it; hence it is said that the University was constituted not by the classrooms, but by the body of scholars licensed to study.[5]
The Royal University of Mexico was founded by royal decree in 1551, issued by Charles V and signed by his son, the Prince of Asturias (the future Philip II), although courses did not begin until January 25, 1553, with professors such as Alonso de la Veracruz and Francisco Cervantes de Salazar. In this context, it is understood that the university was founded as an organization and operation of schools which, moreover, had the same privileges as the University of Salamanca, among them self-government through claustros (assemblies of university members), each of which would have a specific function; the most notable were those of the rector, of the councilors, of the deputies, and the plenary.
It should be noted that since the King was the founder, he held the right of patronage, and the support of the corporation depended on the annual subsidy he granted it. The right of patronage gave him the authority to dictate the statutes for its internal regime. Despite the autonomy the Royal University of Mexico enjoyed, it always remained tied to the Spanish Crown through the Council of the Indies, or else through the Viceroys and the judges (oidores) of the Real Audiencia.
The Royal University of Mexico was inaugurated not only as the corporation that granted degrees, but the estudio was also opened, that is, it had schools for teaching in five faculties: Theology, Canon Law, Civil Law, Medicine, and Arts.
Internal organization
Faculties
The university was organized into major faculties, which were Theology, Laws, Canons, and Medicine; and a minor faculty: that of Arts. The principal chairs were Prima (because it was given at the first hour of the morning) and Vísperas (held in the afternoon). These were usually either temporary or proprietary and were present in all the faculties. There were also independent chairs, that is, without a faculty, such as astrology and mathematics, rhetoric, grammar, and indigenous languages. The degrees granted were those of bachelor, licentiate, master, and doctor. Armando Pavón Romero points out that a graduate of the University was certified only to teach, and not for a professional activity. That recognition was obtained in the institutions devoted specifically to that work.
Government
The rector was the head of the University; among his duties were the administration of the estudio, presiding over the collegiate bodies, and representing the members of the corporation. He was elected every year, and on occasion the reelection of one could be sought.
The maestrescuela was one of the five dignitaries of the Metropolitan Cathedral, and was in charge of overseeing the existence of teaching centers for the training of clerics; consequently, he was entrusted with the power to grant the major degrees.
Unlike the University of Salamanca, which had four types of claustros, the Royal University of Mexico is distinguished by three: that of the councilors, the plenary, and that of the deputies. The first was in charge of the chairs and the election of the rector; the second was made up of all the governing bodies of the corporation, that is, the rector, the maestrescuela, the claustros of deputies and councilors, and all the doctors; at first it was the most important, but over time the claustro of deputies gained much more weight. Finally, the claustro of deputies dealt with financial matters.[6]
Professors
Professors could take possession of chairs once they held the minor degree of bachelor. Those in charge of a proprietary or perpetual chair received a higher salary than those in temporary chairs. Chairs were awarded through the provisiones de cátedras. In these, the chair was declared vacant, and the candidates registered. The reading was then assigned, and it was delivered the following day before the Archbishop, the rector, the Inquisitor, the dean, the maestrescuela, and two professors of the respective faculty. After the discussion, they met in a voting assembly and elected the new professor.
Students
At first this university had few students. Its graduates were clergy, professionals, and academics in theology, law, and medicine. Knowledge was grouped for study according to the seven medieval arts: the trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and logic) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy). The language of study was Latin. Because of the designation "pontifical," in order for academic degrees to be granted, the maestrescuela or Magister scholarum had to attend to grant them in the name of the Pope.
Most of the students were criollos and Spaniards. They enjoyed certain privileges before the colonial government, such as not paying taxes or tithes and being tried by university authorities. Enrollment (or registration) was annual and indispensable for taking courses in the faculties. Although indigenous people were admitted, they were a minority within the student population.
Degrees
Unlike today, the characteristics of each degree were associated with the certification of teaching. That is, the university was a guild of professors recognized through the doctorate. The degree, therefore, did not certify any other professional capacity. Thus, recognition of what we would call "professional practice" was approved by other guilds that held that privilege.
Academic degrees fulfilled, in sum, three primary functions: one related to teaching, another corporate, and a last one of job placement and promotion. The doctorate was an indispensable requirement for remaining in the regency of the chairs; it was also the gateway to the corporation. The doctor had full rights to make decisions about his guild and to receive all the benefits it could obtain; finally, the major degrees became a platform for reaching high posts in the royal and ecclesiastical bureaucracies.
The Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico granted in each of its faculties the minor degree of bachelor and the major degrees of licentiate, master, and doctor. The first was the only one obtained after taking the chairs indicated by the respective faculties, or "cursatorias" as they were known at the time; therefore, one can find bachelors in arts, theology, canons, laws, and medicine. To earn the major degrees it was not necessary to attend new courses; on the contrary, in this new stage it was necessary to demonstrate teaching ability, and for this reason a series of "lessons," also called repetitions, had to be carried out.
Graduation ceremonies
To obtain any degree, an application was made and a lesson given, and then an examination was taken. However, the ceremonies and the level of formality varied according to the degree requested. For the bachelor's degree, the application was addressed to the rector. Once granted, a sponsor was appointed, generally a professor or a university official, and the fee (propina) was paid. The ceremony and the lesson took place within the university's premises. By contrast, for the degrees of licentiate and doctor, the ceremony began with a procession from the house of the graduand, that of the rector, and that of the Viceroy to the cathedral, where the lesson took place.
Geographic location
The first seat of the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico was located in the Historic Center of Mexico City, on the present-day streets of Seminario and Panamá, in front of the ruins of the Templo Mayor.[7] It was later located on what is now Bula street (Chapultepec, between Carranza and Copiadora), in front of the Plaza del Volador (today the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation). Later the university was established in houses located on Escalerillas street (now Guatemala) and finally in the palace of the Marquis of the Valley, now the Monte de Piedad.[8]
The Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico in the 18th century
The 18th century is characterized as the century of the Enlightenment, in which religious and political ideas were questioned and new explanations were sought about the universe, man, and the spirit, giving a place to reason. This led to new experiments, theories, and discoveries in various areas of human knowledge. But it also produced some changes in the political ideology of some European monarchs, from which the concept of "enlightened despotism" arose, with which King Charles III of Spain is identified. He carried out economic, political, and cultural reforms in institutions of the Hispanic peninsula and of the American colonies.
In the educational sphere, other institutions of higher education were created, which had interests different from those of the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico, as they contrasted with the scholastic and orthodox tradition of the university. Among them are: the Royal College of Surgery, founded in 1778, the Royal College of Mining, in 1792, and, two years later, the Academy of San Carlos of Fine Arts.
The Royal and Pontifical University maintained a conservative position in the face of the reform changes regarding the method and content of its chairs, which is why it was considered an archaic institution and was the target of criticism from those who proclaimed a profound renewal. The Viceroy Count of Revillagigedo wrote to his successor, the Marquis of Branciforte, about the state of the university in 1794:[9]
Much reform is needed, as I understand it, in the method of studies that is followed and in the manner of celebrating degrees and other literary functions. The learned languages are little studied, and there is no cabinet or collection of machines for studying modern experimental physics; the library is lacking in good works, especially modern ones.
Closures
Amid political and economic crisis[[(Mexico)|conservatives]] of Mexican politics considered it necessary to promote education to lift the country out of backwardness and of the they obeyed.
The first conservative proposal was presented by Lucas Alamán in 1830, who was concerned with the administration of resources and with the reorganization of the university establishments and courses, but not with its suppression. Later, in 1833, José María Luis Mora, one of the leading liberal promoters of educational reform during the vice presidency of Valentín Gómez Farías, considered the university "useless, unreformable, and pernicious,"[10] for which reason, like the rest of the ecclesiastical institutions, he condemned it to disappear. However, neither of the two proposals remained in place for long because of the country's political instability.
In 1865, the Emperador Maximilian of Habsburg considered reforming the university, but finally decided to close it (in line with the liberal model) definitively on November 30 of that same year, putting an end to a process and dispute of several decades.[11] With the disappearance of the University, there remained establishments for the study of medicine, engineering, bookkeeping, architecture, and jurisprudence, to which the School of Agriculture was later added.
Library of the Royal University of Mexico (Pública Real Biblioteca)
The library of the Royal University of Mexico was inaugurated by royal decree in the second half of the 18th century; however, this does not mean that one did not exist earlier. The historian Enrique González mentions that at the beginning of the 18th century it had 350 volumes,[12] while Ignacio Osorio Romero states that some donations were made in the 17th century.[13] In 1726 efforts to create it began, as the rector Pedro Ramírez del Castillo requested of the Viceroy Marquis of Casa Fuerte to build a library room in the University, and he approved the request; however, although the plenary claustro agreed, the project did not materialize.
In 1728, Carlos Bermúdez de Castro donated part of his personal library, as he had to leave for Manila to occupy the episcopal see. He left around 100 books, ten shelves, and a table. The library not only housed books; the University's archive was also kept there. Nevertheless, since the number of volumes was small, the Claustro did not concern itself with appointing a librarian to be responsible for them.
In the second half of the 18th century, Manuel Ignacio Beye de Cisneros entrusted the creation of the library to the Monarch Charles III, and in 1761 it became the Pública Real Biblioteca. In that same year the library's statutes, written by the rector Beye de Cisneros, were read in the claustro; among them, it is worth noting that the accounts for its maintenance were kept separately, and the income came from the rents of the shops the University owned on Acequia street and was allocated to the general maintenance of the library.
The Pública Real Biblioteca was established inside the building occupied by the University, on the second floor, above the general hall of ceremonies. Despite the efforts of Manuel Ignacio Beye de Cisneros, the number of books was small, even with donations and the purchase of books by the rector. However, after the expulsion of the Society of Jesus from the Hispanic territories, including New Spain, King Charles III issued the Colección general de Providencias, which explained what was to be done with the property of the Jesuits, and stated explicitly that "donde quiera que huviere universidades podrá ser útil agregar a ella los libros que hallaren en las casas de la Compañía situadas en los mismos pueblos" ("wherever there are universities it may be useful to add to them the books found in the houses of the Society located in the same towns"). Thus, in 1769 the Claustro requested that the books of the Jesuit colleges be transferred to the University, and the former rector, Beye de Cisneros, was entrusted with ensuring this was carried out.
The transfer of the books was complicated, because although the Claustro made the request promptly, the books of the Jesuits, from colleges such as the Profesa, the Colegio Máximo de San Pedro y San Pablo, and even the College of Tepotzotlán, did not begin to arrive until 1774 and the following years; in this way the collection of this library rose to almost two thousand volumes. The holdings continued to grow through the purchase of books made possible by the funds obtained from the rents of the shops the University owned on Acequia street, which were allocated to the maintenance of the library.
In 1778 the library was officially inaugurated; for this, the space and furniture were remodeled, and two librarians were hired, one for the morning shift and another for the afternoon, both tasked with caring for the library and its contents, taking inventory of the books, and keeping it open and clean. Over the years the bibliographic material increased, and the librarians changed.
In 1810, when the Viceroy took over the University building to occupy it with his troops, the library remained closed, although it was requested that it be opened in the mornings. The troops vacated the building in 1816; however, with the territory at war, it was difficult to resume academic life, and the library was also affected, since the bibliographic materials and the space in which they were kept were neglected. Nevertheless, its contents were of great richness, since by this time the holdings included books from institutional libraries – such as that of the Jesuits – and private ones – donations from scholars and members of the university.
Pontifical University of Mexico
There were two institutions that proclaimed themselves heirs of the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico:
- The National Autonomous University of Mexico, secular in character, founded on September 22, 1910 under the name National University of Mexico, at the instigation of Justo Sierra Méndez.
- The Pontifical University of Mexico, Catholic in character, which opened its doors on June 29, 1982, at the instigation of Javier Lozano Barragán, among other Mexican bishops.
In 2012 the Congregation for Catholic Education granted the Pontifical University of Mexico recognition as being the same institution as the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico.
Hymn of the current Pontifical University of Mexico
Let us rejoice, then, while we are young. After merry youth, after troublesome old age, the earth will receive us.
Where are those who before us passed through the world? Go up to the world of the heavens, go down to the underworld, where they have already been.
Long live the University, long live the professors. Long live each and every one of its members, may they shine forever.
Our life is short, soon it comes to an end. Death comes swiftly, cruelly drags us away, it spares no one.
Long live our society! Long live those who study! May the one truth grow, may fraternity flourish and the prosperity of the homeland.
Long live the State as well, and the one who leads it. Long live our city, and the generosity of the patrons who welcome us here.
Death to sadness, death to those who hate. Death to the devil, to any other monster, and to those who mock.
May the Alma Mater flourish, which has educated us, and has gathered the dear companions who in distant regions were scattered.
See also
References
- ↑ Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. "Universidad Nacional de México. 1910-2010. Cien años" (in español). Archived from the original on March 25, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
- ↑ Universidad Pontificia de México. "Universidad Pontificia de México. Entre los alumnos más destacados se encuentran grandes héroes de la Independencia de México como Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, José María Morelos y Pavón, Andres Quintana Roo y Jose María Verduzco. Historia" (in español). Archived from the original on March 14, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
- ↑ "Foto de "11 Honoris Causa de la UNAM"" (in español). El Universal. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
- ↑ Historia de la Universidad Pontificia de México Archived March 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 González González, Enrique (2001). "La universidad virreinal, una corporación". La Universidad de México, un recorrido histórico de la época colonial al presente, México (in español). CESU-UNAM. pp. 17–20.
- ↑ Pérez Puente, Leticia (2000). Universidad de doctores, México en el siglo XVII (in español). UNAM-CESU. pp. 29–49.
- ↑ Carreño, Alberto María (1961). La Real y Pontificia Universidad de México, 1536-1865 (in español). México: UNAM. p. 38.
- ↑ Rafael Sánchez Vázquez. "Síntesis sobre la Real y Pontificia´Universidad de México" (PDF) (in español). Retrieved June 16, 2013.
- ↑ "Instrucción reservada que el Conde de Revilla Gigedo dio a su succesor en el mando, Marqués de Branciforte sobre el gobierno de este continente en el tiempo que fue su virey". Imprenta de la calle de las Escalerillas a cargo de Agustín Guiol (in español). 1831.
- ↑ Mora, José María Luis (1963). Obras sueltas (in español). México: Porrúa.
- ↑ Marsiske Renate, coord., La universidad de México. Un recorrido histórico de la época colonial al presente, México, UNAM-CESU, 2001.
- ↑ González González, Enrique (2004). "La Universidad: estudiantes y doctores". In Antonio Rubial (coord) (ed.). Historia y vida cotidiana, tomo II (in español). COLMEX-FCE. p. 267.
- ↑ Osorio Romero, Ignacio (1986). Historia de las bibliotecas novohispanas (in español). SEP-DGB. p. 210.
Bibliography
- Luque Alcaide Elisa, La educación en la Nueva España en el siglo XVIII, Sevilla, Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos, 1970.
- González González Enrique, "¿Era pontificia la Real Universidad de México?" in Enrique González González and Leticia Pérez Puente [coords.], Permanencia y cambio I. Universidades hispánicas 1551-2001, México, UNAM-CESU, 2005.
- Ramírez, González, Clara Inés coord., "Tan lejos tan cerca. A 450 años de la Real Universidad de México". Pavón Romero, Armando. Hidalgo Pego, Mónica (coords.). UNAM, Centro de Estudios sobre la Universidad. México 2001.
