History of the University of Santo Tomas

The University of Santo Tomas is one of the oldest existing universities and holds the oldest extant university charter in the Philippines and in Asia. It was founded on April 28, 1611, by the third Archbishop of Manila, Miguel de Benavides, together with Domingo de Nieva and Bernardo de Santa Catalina. It was originally conceived as a school to prepare young men for the priesthood. Located Intramuros, it was first called Colegio de Nuestra Señora del Santísimo Rosario and later renamed Colegio de Santo Tomás in memory of Dominican theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas. In 1624, the colegio was authorized to confer academic degrees in theology, philosophy, and arts. On November 20, 1645, after representations by Vittorio Riccio, Pope Innocent X elevated the college to the rank of a university and in 1680 it was placed under royal patronage.^[1][2][3]

Through the centuries, the university was given the following titles: Royal, Pontifical, and Catholic University of the Philippines. In 1785, for the loyalty shown by the administration and students who volunteered to defend Manila against the British invasion, King Charles III of Spain granted it the title of "Royal University". Pope Leo XIII made the University of Santo Tomas a "Pontifical University" in 1902 and in 1947, Pope Pius XII bestowed upon it the title of "The Catholic University of the Philippines". Thus its complete name is Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, Manila.

In 1927, with the continuing increase in enrollment, the university moved from Intramuros to its present site which covers an area of 21.5 hectares in the district of Sampaloc, Manila. Since its foundation, the university's academic life has been interrupted only twice: 1898 to 1899, during the Philippine revolution against Spain; and 1942 to 1945, during the Japanese occupation of Manila, when the campus was transformed by the Japanese military into an internment camp.^[3]