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<img src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-23/ateneo.avif" alt="Ateneo de Manila" loading="lazy" />
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<h2>
Founding and Early Years
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<p>
The first Spanish Jesuits arrived in the country in 1581. While primarily missionaries, they were also custodians of the Ratio Studiorum or Ratio Atque Institutio Studiorum Societatis Iesu, the system of Jesuit education formulated about 1559. In 1590, they founded one of the first colleges in the Philippines, the Colegio de Manila (also known as the Colegio Seminario de San Ignacio) under the leadership of Antonio Sedeño SJ. The school formally opened in 1595.
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<p>
In 1621, Pope Gregory XV, through the archbishop of Manila, authorized the San Ignacio to confer degrees in Theology and the Arts. Two years later, King Philip IV of Spain confirmed this authorization.
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<h2>
Jesuits Expulsion
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<p>
However, by the mid-18th century, Catholic colonial powers, notably France, Portugal, and Spain, had grown hostile to the Society of Jesus. The colonial powers eventually expelled the Society, often quite brutally, from their realms.
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<p>
The Jesuits had to relinquish San Ignacio to Spanish civil authorities in 1768, upon their violent expulsion from all Spanish territories. Finally, under pressure from Catholic royalty, Pope Clement XIV formally declared the dissolution of the Society of Jesus in 1773.
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History of Ateneo de Manila University