By the will of Don Rodrigo, signed in Seville on August 12, 1598, it is known that “his factory and work is well advanced” and that the express will of the prelate was “to end and put all perfection according to and by trace , order and form that has begun and continues as and in the way that I have communicated “. In a deed granted a few months later, on April 19, 1600, the cardinal, who should feel his last hours approaching, orders that the church be given preference in the works and especially those of his burial. Don Rodrigo soon died. On September 18, 1600 he went on to a better life. Until 1603 his mortal remains were not transferred from Seville to the sepulcher of Santa María la Antigua, carved by Gregorio Español.
In great pregnancy and hurry he had to put those responsible for accelerating the works of the church the death of Diego Vélez, which occurred a little more or less by the same dates as that of the cardinal. By a document published by García Chico, about which Chueca Goitia attracts attention, it is known that Juan de Nates, the architect of Las Angustias, from Valladolid, and one of the most interesting figures of! group derived from the cathedral of Valladolid, was called to finish the church of Monforte, which left Diego Vélez unfinished. The document says: “I Juan de Nates, the neighboring architect of the city of Valladolid … I say that Diego Belez, master of the saying, my already deceased art took charge of making the third part of the church of the school of Our Lady of the Company of Jesus de Monforte .., in the kingdom of Galicia from which Mr. Rodrigo de Castro was founder. ” Cardinal and late archbishop … and I have been asked to take my charge to finish. … December 13, 1600 “.
Juan de Nates He learned the trade with his father in Valladolid, a city where he lived most of his life and where most of his works are registered. He is the son of Pedro Gómez de Nates and marries María de la Vega, daughter of Juan de la Vega, also a stonecutter and teacher of Juan de Nates himself. Disciple of Juan de Herrera, along with Juan Ribero de Rada, was the greatest diffuser of classicism in the North Plateau.
Taken from Manuel Ángel Feal Antelo THE COLLEGE OF THE CARDENAL DE MONFORTE DE LEMOS. EVOLUTION OF THE UNIVERSAL TRACE.