Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico

The Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico (in Spanish: Real y Pontificia Universidad de México) was founded on 21 September 1551 by Royal Decree signed by Charles I of Spain, in Valladolid, Spain.[1] It is generally considered the first university officially[2] founded in North America and second in the Americas (preceded by the National University of San Marcos in Lima, Peru, chartered on May 12 of the same year).

Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico

Real y Pontificia Universidad de México
Coat of arms of the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico
Motto	Patriae scientiae que amor salus populi est
Motto in English	Knowledge and homeland love are the health of the people
Active	21 September 1551–1865
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Location	Mexico City , New Spain
Campus	Urban

16th century shield present-day on Palacio de la Autonomía

After the Mexican War of Independence it was renamed University of Mexico. When Mexican liberals were in power at intervals in the nineteenth century, it was closed, since liberals sought to put education in the hands of the state rather than the Roman Catholic Church. Its first closure was in 1833, when Valentín Gómez Farías implemented liberal policies. When Antonio López de Santa Anna returned to power, the university was reopened. It was finally abolished in 1865 during the Second Mexican Empire by Maximilian I of Mexico.[3][4] Scattered institutions, including secularized successors of its faculties of law and medicine, other secular colleges founded by liberals on the model of the French grandes ecoles, and religious establishments outside Mexico City, continued without interruption.

In 1910, during the regime of Porfirio Díaz, Justo Sierra merged and expanded Mexico City's decentralized colleges of higher education, founding the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). UNAM is a public university and considered the institutional heir of the earlier original University of Mexico, but under state rather than church control.

Organization

The university was organized by five faculties: Theology, Laws, Fees, Medicine, and Arts. The principal subjects or chairs (in Spanish, cátedras) were Prima and Vísperas, due to the initial class being in the morning and the second in the evening. The university granted different degrees such as bachiller, licenciado, maestro and doctor, which translate to bachelor, graduate, master and doctor respectively.

Notable alumni

• Bartolomé de Alva, Roman Catholic secular clergyman and Nahuatl translator.
• Joseph A. Lopez (1779–1841), priest and president of Georgetown University
• Agustín Dávila Padilla (1562–1604), chronicler of the Dominican Order and its missions in America up to the end of the 16th century.

Notable faculty

• Juan José Eguiara y Eguren (? - 1763), Roman Catholic bishop and scholar who served as its rector.
• Francisco Cervantes de Salazar (1514? – 1575), a distinguished writer who served twice as rector during its early years.
• Alonso Gutiérrez (1507–1584), Augustinian philosopher, historian, and intellectual figure.
• Don Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (1645–1700), cartographer, historian and philosopher of the late 17th century.

References

1. Olvera Arce, Guillermo (2000-05-20). "Real y Pontificia Universidad de México" (in Spanish). El Universal (Mexico City). Archived from the original on 2008-09-27.
2. Founded by Royal Decree of Charles I of Spain on September 12, 1551.
3. Catholic Encyclopedia (1911), Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 10, Appleton, p. 260, ISBN 9780595392414
4. Charles A. Hale (2014), The Transformation of Liberalism in Late Nineteenth-Century Mexico, Princeton University Pres, p. 193, ISBN 9781400863228

See also

• List of colonial universities in Latin America
• UNAM
• Pontifical University of Mexico