Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco
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| Type | Catholic |
|---|---|
| Established | 1536 |
| Location | Tlatelolco, Mexico |
| Campus | Urban |
The Colegio de Santa Cruz in Tlatelolco, Mexico, the first European school of higher learning in the Americas, was established by the Franciscans in the 1530s with the intention, as is generally accepted, of preparing Native American boys for eventual ordination to the Catholic priesthood. In any event, the colegio soon ceased to function in that capacity and no student there was ever ordained; Indians were banned from ordination to the priesthood in 1555, along with mestizos and blacks. Students trained in the colegio were important contributors to the work of Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún in the creation of his monumental twelve-volume General History of the Things of New Spain, often referred to as the Florentine Codex. The failure of the colegio had long lasting consequences, with scholar Robert Ricard saying that "[h]ad the College of Tlatelolco given the country even one [native] bishop, the history of the Mexican Church might have been profoundly changed."
The colegio was built by the Franciscan order on the initiative of the President of the Audiencia Sebastián Ramírez de Fuenleal, Bishop Don Juan de Zumárraga, and Viceroy Don Antonio de Mendoza on the site of an Aztec school, for the sons of nobles (in Nahuatl: Calmecac). It was inaugurated on January 6, 1536, however, it had been a functioning school since August 8, 1533.
While Bishop of Santo Domingo, Ramírez de Fuenleal had encouraged the Franciscans to teach the sons of Indians grammar in their native language of Nahuatl. Franciscan Arnaldo de Basccio began the task with considerable success, which gave support to the project of establishing an institute of higher learning. Ramírez de Fuenleal urged the crown to provide funds to establish and support such an institution. The Franciscans had already established primary schools prior to the colegio, one at Texcoco, established by Fray Pedro de Gante in 1523 and the other by the leader of the First Twelve Franciscans, Martín de Valencia in Mexico-Tenochtitlan in 1525. Still others were founded by Franciscans in this early period. These schools for Indian and mestizo boys taught basic literacy, but also singing, instruction in how to help with the mass, and sometimes manual labor. The primary education of Indian girls was also a concern and schools were established in Mexico City, Texcoco and six other locations lasting only for a decade.
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