Folio, (300 x 215 mm). 1 ff., [2], 14 ff., [3] index, 112 pp., [8]. Pagination error: jumps from p. 106 to p. 111., 1 plate with portrait of Cristóbal deTorres, engraved by Villafranca. Contemporary vellum, partially detached, endpapers damaged, with loss of paper and old manuscript annotations, retaining part of the original ties. Full-page engraving of Fray Cristóbal de Torres with small loss of paper atlower right corner not affecting, light toning, oxidation stains more noticeable on pages 75–82, 99 of the second part, and one leaf of the index, loss of paper to margins of a few leaves not affecting text.

The Constituciones constitute the foundational and normative text that established the institution’s organization and functioning. The work includes a full-page engraving of Fray Cristóbal de Torres, engraved by Pedro de Villafranca in Madrid, 1664, which doesnot appear to be recorded in other copies. Torres was the first cleric to allow Indigenous peoples to receive communion in 1636, after being persuaded by Jesuit priests of the importance of improving relations between the Church and Indigenous communities.Accordingly, in 1636, he issued a decree ordering parish priests and other evangelizers to prepare Indigenous peoples to receive the Eucharist. The Constitutiones of the Colegio de Jacobo Zebedeo in Salamanca, Spain (pp. 1–3, 6–64), and the Index rerum (pp. [1–8] at the end) are in Latin; the remaining texts are in Spanish.

In April 1645, he formalized his plan to establish a new Colegio Mayor in Santa Fe, as a means of ending the rivalry between the Universidad Santo Tomás and the Academia Javeriana (today the Universidad Javeriana) and of introducing Thomist doctrine intothe New World. To this end, he acquired a property a few blocks from the main square, where he ordered the construction of an academic cloister, and purchased several estates to secure the financial resources for the new educational institution.

The Constituciones regulate the election procedures for the university authorities, requirements for holding office, and the functions to be fulfilled. They also address the administration of property, participation of students and alumni, the instructional system, among other matters. The document also explains how the College provided for its own sustenance by describing its investments in land, livestock, and agricultural products. These resources were used both for the institution’s culinary needs and for sale in order to increase the College’s funds.

It regulates the Superiors of the College, their powers, and the manner of their election. The Rector and the Vicerector were entitled to provisions among their meals: “entre el regalo de la comida; queremos que a los Rectores y Vicerrectores se les dé a cada unoun cuarto de ave” (“among the provisions of the meal; we wish that the Rectors and Vicerrectors be given a quarter of a bird each”). The Collegians who originally founded the College were described as “hombres ilustres de sangre, sin hacerles información, por la gran notoriedad de su nobleza” (“men of illustrious blood, without the need for investigation, because of the well-known notoriety of their nobility”); however, those appointed thereafter were required to provide proof of limpieza and lineage. The document also regulates the food provisions they were to receive and specifies: “Noqueremos que los Colegiales tengan criados Indios particulares de cada uno, por ser esto materia ocasionada de grandes disturbios, y de infidelidades” (“We do not wish the Collegians to have private Indian servants for each of them, as this has been a cause ofgreat disturbances and acts of disloyalty”). For this reason, it was established that four attendants would serve both the College and the Collegians.

The rules included strict provisions concerning bedrooms, communal life, schedules, dress, and the prohibition against leaving the College without permission. They also described the games permitted for recreation: “ajedrez, damass, tablas más no bolos, argolla ni pelota” (“chess, checkers, and tables [backgammon], but not bowls, hoopgames, or ball games”).
On page 5, the text describes the hiring of “100 Achaguas útiles, sin mujeres y niños” (“100 useful Achaguas, without women or children”), who were to be provided with the sustenance they required, both Morenos and Indigenous people, with the necessary maize to be sown for their maintenance. It further notes that the service of theAchaguas was considered of better quality, and therefore recommends selling the slaves belonging to the estate.

It includes a curious section titled “Dias de Toros” (“Days of Bulls”), which determines the manner in which the participants were to attend, their dress, the order and arrangement of seating, always giving precedence to the Rector. It also specifies the food to be provided to those attending, as well as to those who remained in the College, making it an important source for understanding the diet in Santa Fe during the seventeenth century.

The Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario remains one of the most prestigious institutions in Colombia today. It has preserved its medieval culture and traditions in the election of its authorities and in its system of governance, while simultaneously becoming a modern institution of higher education dedicated to forming future social leaders, thus representing an institution with more than three and a half centuries of history.

Exceptionally rare, we locate copies at the JCB, Newberry and Suny at Buffalo.

Palau 336352; Alden, European Americana, 666/155; Medina, Biblioteca Hispano-Americana, 1418.