A writer who may be said to have spanned the gulf between the old and the new order of things was Felipe de Vergara y Caycedo, who was born in Bogotá on May 20, 1745. He was educated in the college of Rosario, received there the degree of Doctor, accepted a professorship of theology, and while holding this position gave instruction also in mathematics. He visited Spain, carrying letters from the viceroy, the audiencia, and the archbishop. He returned as contador of Panama, and later he became contador of the Royal Tribunal of Accounts in Bogotá. After the Revolution of 1810 he was a member of the Assembly and of the electoral college of Cundinamarca, and later was secretary and counsellor of state to President Nariño. He died December 18, 1818. The long list of his work is evidence not only of his vast erudition but also of his indefatigable industry.[210] [Sidenote: Bogotá a centre of reform] Bogotá as the centre of the intellectual movement in New Granada was already provided with institutions competent to further this movement. The University of Santa Fe was under the direction of the Dominicans in the Dominican monastery. The college and seminary of San Bartolomé had been for a century and a half under the control of the Jesuits, but after the expulsion of the Society it was placed in charge of the archbishop. The college of Rosario, like that of San Bartolomé, was by royal decree made equal in privileges to the University of Salamanca, the type of the Spanish university. In these institutions the early curriculum, limited to Latin, theology and philosophy, was increased by the addition of courses of instruction in jurisprudence, medicine and mathematics. [Sidenote: Change in the religious orders] Throughout the greater part of the colonial period the religious orders had in many instances been true to their mission as advocates of the Christian faith. Many of the members had led lives of devotion and heroism in their efforts to impart to the Indians a new and higher conception of life. But in the course of time the zeal of their militancy declined. With the contributions of the faithful they built imposing edifices and filled them with books and works of art. A few still became writers, and all, in virtue of the history of their institutions, continued to hold a high place in the esteem of the public, even when many of them had fallen into indolence and were leading more or less useless lives. [Sidenote: Reaction and Progress]