History of the Ateneo de Manila
The Ateneo de Manila University (Filipino: "Pamantasang Ateneo de Manila") is a private research university in Quezon City, Philippines. Founded in 1859 by the Society of Jesus, the Ateneo is the third-oldest university in the Philippines.
The founding of the Ateneo de Manila University has its roots in the history of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) as a teaching order. The first Spanish Jesuits in the Philippines, Alonzo Sánchez and Antonio Sedeño, arrived in 1581 as missionaries. They were custodians of the "ratio studiorum", the Jesuit system of education developed around 1559. Within a decade of their arrival, Sedeño and the Jesuits had founded the Colegio de Manila ("Colegio Seminario de San Ignacio") in the historic core of Manila, Intramuros, in 1590. The Colegio formally opened in 1595, the first school in the Philippines.
Ateneo Law School
The Ateneo de Manila opened its law school on June 6, 1936, with Ateneo alumnus Manuel Lim as its first dean. Freshmen and sophomore classes, and eventually, junior and senior classes were opened. In 1939, the first Ateneo law graduates took the bar examinations. In 1940, the Ateneo Law School produced its first bar topnotcher, Claudio Teehankee, who would eventually become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines in 1986.