d, and of which mention is made in
libro i, titulo xxii, law ii, of the _Recopilacion de Indias_. [61]
Wherefore it appears that the holy Society gave degrees in Manila
by pontifical and regal authority. Later his Holiness, Gregory XV,
by his brief _Apud S. Mariam Mayorem_, conceded, on August 8, 1621,
the same privilege, but with the following restriction, _praesentibus
ad decennium dum-taxat valituris_, and that decennial was completed
in the year 1631. Then on May 12, 1653, a royal writ of execution was
issued, granting authority to graduate students from the college of San
Ignacio or that of San Joseph. In the year 1718, the royal university
was started in these islands, and it was maintained until the year
1726. As one of the professors was promoted to the royal Audiencia
of Mexico, the chair of the morning classes in canonical law was
given to the very reverend father Pedro Murillo Velarde, of the same
Society, who had been professor of these branches in the universities
of Granada and Salamanca, as a collegiate in the imperial university
of San Miguel of Granada, and of the chief [college] of Cuenca at
Salamanca. But on account of the increased expenses occasioned by
this royal university, and as the benefits derived therefrom, as
experience demonstrated, were little, this royal Audiencia of Manila
determined that these professorships should be located--as it were, in
trust--in the college of San Ignacio of Manila. That was in fact done,
the Society showing this courtesy to his Catholic Majesty--until, by a
decree dated July 26, 1730, those professorships are now suppressed,
and other provision has been made. Now, very recently, the chief
college of San Ignacio has, besides the privileges above cited,
two new chairs--one of canonical law, without a salary, directed by
a religious; and the other of institutes, under a layman, with four
hundred pesos of income, in accordance with a decree from the Escorial,
dated October 23, 1733. The college is authorized to grant degrees
in canons, laws, and other branches by his Holiness, Clement XII,
by his brief of December 6, 1735. Many are taking those studies, and
are deriving great advantages therefrom. Their literary exercises are
very excellent, and continue [throughout their course of study] under
the careful guidance of the holy Society, which is not a new thing.

572. The royal college of San Joseph, contiguous to the above college
of San Ignacio, and near the royal g