city of Mexico an ecclesiastic college under the name of San Pedro y San Pablo, for which the viceroy had granted a site, and a number of persons subscribed the necessary funds to meet expenses and to support the scholars, of whom there were eight in the beginning.[1] This institution soon became very flourishing, and was followed by the founding of others.[2]
The society had a casa profesa, or house of novices, in the city of Mexico, which was built with borrowed money. In 1585 the house was free from debt, and in 1592 the viceroy granted permission for founding the profesa. Juan Luis Rivero and his wife built the church. Four members of the order were assigned to the institute on the day of its foundation. Hardly had the Jesuits begun work on the building, when the three mendicant orders instituted opposition, on the ground that the work would be injurious to them. The case went to the audiencia, who ordered the suspension of the work. The matter was referred to the council of the Indies, whose decision was against the Jesuits, who appealed to Rome. The case was finally
- ↑ Villaseca purchased the houses adjoining the old ones, which he also conveyed in 1576, and upon them was begun the building of the Colegio Màximo, which in after years has been known as the San Gregorio; the ground being a square of 110 varas; the building of the college and the church was prosecuted simultaneously. Ramirez, Not. Mex., in Monum. Dom. Esp., 333-4. Villaseca, the founder, donated for the purpose '4,000 pesos da oro comun, en plata diesmada.' Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus, i. 113-14, also 75-8. A law of November 2, 1576, provided that no literary degrees should be given in that college. Recop. de, Ind., i. 205. A later one, April 14, 1579, made studies pursued in the Jesuit college serve for graduating at the university. It was the king's wish that the colleges should be fostered. Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus, i. 160-1. The first rector was Father Diego Lopez, a good preacher, and a man of learning as well as virtue. His death occurred April 9, 1576. Florencia, Hist. Prov. Jesus, 279; Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 34; Medina, Chrón. S. Diego, 10. The fathers' labors in that institute were, nevertheless, discontinued in 1580, because they had established seminaries. They were notified by the patrons of the San Pedro y San Pablo that they must either close their seminaries or give up the management of the college. To this demand Father Plaza, the then provincial, and his companions responded by surrendering its keys and retiring from the building, which was in 1582 returned to them. Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus, i. 171-2. Ramirez, Not. Mex., in Monum. Dom. Esp., MS., 334.
- ↑ In 1580 the order opened a seminary in Tepotzotlan, with the approval and aid of Archbishop Moya of Mexico, in charge of fathers Hernan Gomez and Juan de Tovar, who knew the Otomí, Mexican, and Masagua languages. Alegre, Hist, Comp. Jesus, i. 188-90.
