In her study entitled “The effects of the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 on the monumental heritage of Galicia”, her author Dª Begoña Ces Fernández two gives the following news story of the difficulties that were encountered in the construction of the College of the Cardinal:
“But the works had to continue throughout the seventeenth century, since the master Simón de Mosteiro worked in 1620 in the” front room that is now being done “but left the works in November 1622 because he lacked the school of funds to complete them ( Bonet Correa, 1984: 181-182) and among the documents kept in the Archive of the College, are mentioned some provisions of the Royal Court, dated April 14, 1625, January 5, of the effects of the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 on the monumental heritage of Galicia 1653 and August 22 of the same year so that the timber needed was sold to the College and it was not prevented from passing the carts of stone through the accustomed sites.
The monks have repeatedly come to the Royal Audience to request their intervention. In 1625 the difficulty was that some laborers were preventing the passage of the stone chariots for the work of the church by the exits of their houses and fields, which meant that works were still being carried out in the temple after their consecration. In 1653 the problem had arisen because the College needed much wood to proceed with the enlargements they were making “for the increase of the generals in the said school for the public studies there and for the necessity of the subjects attending the said College” and the neighbors no longer wanted to sell it. The work they refer to is a bedroom in the north-facing cloister, from which the walls were already made but lacking beams and wood due to the difficulty of finding who was selling them. “
