Formación académica de un Prelado criollo en la época Colonial [The Academic Training of a Creole Bishop in the Spanish Colonial Era]

Abstract

" El joven Hernando Arias de Ugarte (16 años) viaja desde su ciudad natal Santafé de Bogotá hacia el puerto de Cartagena de Indias, acompañado por un peninsular amigo de la familia, con la finalidad de preparar su viaje hacia Salamanca, la Atenas española, en cuya célebre universidad habría de formarse durante los años 1577 y 1583, en la facultad de Leyes. Allí, y en plena época dorada de la institución (siglo XVI), el criollo podrá ampliar sus horizontes intelectuales y culturales, se compenetrará de los ideales humanistas y éticos de la Escuela de Salamanca y su defensa de los derechos de los naturales en el Nuevo Mundo, semillas que darían fruto en el desempeño de diversas funciones civiles y eclesiásticas del oidor y obispo Arias de Ugarte, el Borromeo español, gran patrocinador de las fundaciones universitarias indianas (Javeriana en Bogotá y san Francisco Javier en Charcas, además de la coautoría de los primeros estatutos de la Tomista en el Nuevo Reino). El santafereño culminará sus preparación jurídica y su bagaje intelectual en la España de Felipe II, obteniendo el doctorado en Utroque Iure (Universidad de Lérida, 1586)." "When he was 16 years old Hernando Arias de Ugarte travelled from Bogotá, his home town, to Cartagena de Indias. He was accompanied by a Spaniard, a friend of his relatives. Both went there to prepare their travel to Salamanca, the Athens of Spain, where the young man was going to get his formation from 1577 to 1583, as a lawyer. Once in Spain, the young creole found himself in the golden era of this institution (the 16th century) widening his intellectual and cultural horizons; he got acquainted with ethical and humanistic ideals in the School of Salamanca where the rights of the natives of the New World were defended. All this appeared to be the seeds which were going to give their fruit later on, when he was in charge of several civil and ecclesiastical duties on behalf of the bishop Arias de Ugarte, considered then as the Charles Borromeo of Spain. This bishop was the promoter of the foundation of universities in the New World (such as the Javeriana in Bogotá and the University of Saint Francis Xavier in Charcas. He also coauthored the first statutes of St. Thomas University in the New Kingdom). The young man from Santa Fe de Bogotá finished his studies as lawyer and got other academic achievements during the reign of Philipp II, being awarded a doctorate Utroque Iure, in the University of Lérida, in 1586."