Note 6 — Ecclesiastical Survey of the Philippines

The fathers of the Society went to the Philippines in 1581. Their principal residence was at Manila, and was named the college of San Ignacio. Those fathers had so prospered in the Philippines that they had eight other residences scattered throughout the islands. They were the spiritual masters of the Marianas. They had twenty or thirty livings in the archbishopric of Manila. Monsieur de Caseins6 took them all to Cadiz in 1770, on the “Santa Rosa,” except five or six who remained, and whom Don Joseph de Cordova took with him the following year on the “Astrea,” and with whom I journeyed from the isle of France to Cadiz. The Augustinians have inherited their possessions. The college of San Ignacio is a very beautiful building;7 in spite of its defects, it is without doubt the best built and the most regular in Manila. The exterior of the church (which fronts on the Calle Real) offers an order of architecture very rustic, be it understood. The front, by way of retaliation, is frightful, without order or proportion. The interior of the church is very well planned; but the principal altar, although overloaded with gildings, does not correspond at all to the building; it is as poorly executed as the front.8 There was a university, to which Pope Clement XII had granted, by a brief of December 6, 1735, rights without number. Beside the college of San Ignacio is that of San Jose; it was founded in 1585, by Felipe II, for the teaching of Latin. But since the existence of the two universities, that college is almost deserted.