Alesius, or Alane as he was still called, being of good abilities, was early sent to the university, and seems to have been one of the first set of students who entered St Leonard's College (the college founded by Prior John Hepburn, with the consent of Archbishop Alexander Stuart) after its opening in 1512. His studies appear to have been prosecuted there in the usual way, and in 1515 he became a determinant, or took the degree of B.A.;[285] and, probably after acting for a few years as a regent in the college, he was drafted as a novice into the priory, and ultimately became one of its canons. When John Major came to St Andrews in 1523 as principal of the Pædagogium, he, like Hamilton and some others who ultimately shared the same opinions, studied theology under him, and made great progress, especially in the study of the schoolmen and the fathers of the Christian church. He was, like most of the young scholastics of his time, fond of disputation; and if he listened to those lectures on the gospels which Major gave to the press some years after, he probably imbibed from his teacher that combative attitude towards the new opinions which at this period of his life he showed. D'Aubigné says: "His keenest desire was to break a lance with Luther.... As he could not measure himself personally with the man whom he named _arch-heretic_, Alesius had refuted his doctrine in a public discussion held at the university. The theologians of St Andrews had covered him with applause.[286] ... Alesius, alive to these praises and a sincere catholic, thought that it would be an easy task for him to convince young Hamilton of his errors.... Armed cap-a-pie, crammed with scholastic learning, and with all the formulæ 'quo modo sit, quo modo nonsit,'" he had various discussions with him. "Hamilton had before him nothing but the Gospel, and he replied to all the reasonings of his antagonist with the clear, living, and profound word of the Scriptures.... Alesius, struck and embarrassed, was silenced, and felt as if 'the morning star were rising in his heart. It was not merely his understanding that was convinced, the breath of a new life penetrated his soul."[287] He continued from time to time to visit the reformer while he lived, and to cherish his memory after he had been so cruelly put to death.