Note 6 — PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

It was erected by Governor Dasmariñas, by virtue of an express royal mandate contained in the instructions which were delivered to them August 9, 1589,6 in which section 27 reads: “Upon your arrival at the Filipinas Islands, you shall ascertain how and where, and with what endowment, a convent for the shelter of girls may be founded, so that both those who should come from here and those, born there, may live in it, so that they may live modestly and after being well instructed may go out therefrom to be married and bear children.” That zealous governor, with the efficacy and activity which distinguished his government, did what his Majesty ordered him; for, in a royal order of January 27, 1593, the measures which had been taken with the city are approved and ordered to be continued, namely, that the said convent should be founded in the church of San Andres. Shortly afterward that pious institution must have been completed, as is inferred from another royal order of June 11, 1594: “The rules and regulations,” says his Majesty to the governor, “which you have made for the girls’ school have been examined and are approved, and thus you shall have them observed.” It was further provided how they were to act at the wheel, or in the parlor. The chaplain was also to be the manager and he was to be an approved person of forty years old or upward. The clothing of the collegiates, of the mother superior, and the teacher, was to be modest and cheap, and was sent by his Majesty. The governor was authorized to name the sum which was to be paid annually by any other woman who wished of her own accord to enter the institution, in order to take shelter therein, provided that such sum should be moderate.7