Month: May 2021

As we know, Simón de Monasterio committed to the contractual obligation to continue and finish the “third” part of the Church, that is, the flat head with which the Church is finished, which we believe had to be finished before 1613, since this year the dome and one of the two towers were finished, missing the other that was about to be finished.

The technical expertise shown by Simón de Monasterio in terms of covering the space by means of barrel vaults and cupola will be highlighted later in the contract for another Jesuit work, this time it is the Clergy of Salamanca; in one of his clauses “it was foreseen that the Monastery would raise the vaults and the dome of the temple, at which point he had demonstrated his expertise during the construction of the same elements in the Church of the College of Monforte.”

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As we see the good work of Simón de Monasterio and the magnificent result of his work in Monforte were shown for another of the great Spanish monuments of Jesuit trace, whose works began in 1617 under the protection of Margarita de Austria, wife of Felipe III, at to appear as an act of reparation to the order for the prison suffered by its founder, Ignacio de Loyola, by the Inquisition in the mocha tower of the Cathedral of Salamanca. Completing in 1754.

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In fact, it would have to be said that the preparations for the works have begun. At the rear of the church a container with material has already been installed. The work booths will be installed shortly and the area reserved for exterior work will begin in the “tunnel” area, marking sufficient safety margins so that they do not interfere with the presence of students at recess.

In the same way, the entire front of the Moure altarpiece has already been scaffold so that it can be fully protected, before raising the rest of the scaffolding that will completely cover the presbytery.

For a sample we attach three photos that speak for themselves.

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As Fr. Esteban tells us in his book on the Piarist College, “Fr. Rector, aware by some confidence, that the military command had thought to install an Evacuation Hospital in this College, went ahead to offer it to him. ; Offer that was accepted with gratitude and, immediately, the accommodation works began, being inaugurated on March 13, 1937 with the first wounded who arrived from the Somosierra front (Madrid). The military asked that the College of Administration take charge, and Fr. Julio Beltrán began to take it, who was replaced, at the end of October, by Fr. Alfonso Díez Yebra, who continued until the end. Father Desiderio Saiz was in charge of carrying and controlling the ups and downs and Father Alonso Feijoo of the wardrobe. For spiritual assistance, the Bishop sent an Office appointing Father Rector as Chaplain, with the power to delegate, which he did to Father Benjamin Navarro, who carried out his duties with the great zeal and charity that characterized him.

The left part of the College was also taken by the military for Recruitment Barracks, leaving the right part of the façade for boarding and classes, with its cloister and gallery, plus some free spaces that were provisionally enabled. “

There are two books in the archive of the foundation, one on expenses of the aforementioned hospital and the other is a list of the deceased in it.

We are proud of the continuity of educational activity since the founding of the school. Not even the civil war, which interrupted so many things, could interrupt the school’s teaching work.

As is known in the charter of the Foundation of Cardinal Rodrigo de Castro, among other things, he specified the following:

“And he named the Lords of the house of Lemos starting with the Hon. Mr. Don Fernando Ruiz de Castro, who is presently present and continuing those who perpetually succeed him ahead…. “

We attach here the list of those who have been patrons of the Foundation made by Cardinal Rodrigo de Castro in 1593 and that continues to this day …

Days ago we spoke in an entry of this WEB of the inscription that is on the door of the church. We add something about it that may be of interest to our readers.

After the expulsion of the Jesuits from Monforte by order of Carlos III, the Prosecutor of His Majesty Don Pedro Rodríguez Campomanes, ordered that all the arms, emblems and symbols of the Society of Jesus be erased, with the obligation to put in their place the “Royal Arms of the Crown.”

It was, at that time, Corregidor de Monforte D. Bernardo Cayetano Losada y Somoza, who was commissioned by the Government to take over the affairs of this “Royal House of Education” and eagerly assumed the task of making the shields, emblems and symbols disappear of the Company that erased …

– the anagram of the Jesuits of the two main doors of the façade,

– from the upper internal part of the doors that connect the church with the two cloisters,

– from the main altar

– from the pulpit

– and four rose windows in the vault of the main cloister.

There is a tradition among the people of Monforte, according to which this Government Commissioner, after erasing all the insignia of the Jesuits that he could, even wanted to erase the inscription that exists, although somewhat deteriorated, on the main door of the church, But, when he began his destructive work, a gentleman of the town, seeing what the Commissioner wanted to do, could not contain his indignation, he approached determined to prevent him, pulling the ladder where he was standing, causing him a resounding fall, with great damage to their physical integrity.

Given this fact, opinions were divided into two opposing sides and some disorders occurred, but the inscription was never erased, and some damage caused in such an attempt can still be seen.

In an entry on this page of March 12 of this year, entitled “VISIT OF THE COSELLEIRO DE CULTURA” we reported on the restoration works that are going to be carried out in the Cardenal College building, affecting the church, among other areas . After a meeting held last Friday, April 30, and after addressing the intervention and safety studies, it has been decided to provisionally close the church to worship because it is impossible to combine worship and restoration works.

Therefore from next week the service will be closed until next August, we understand that at the end of it.

Since the main works have to be done when there are no children at school and for that, take advantage of the months of June, July and August.

We really feel this circumstance that in some other case has been repeated. In the eighties of the last century because of a lightning strike and at the beginning of the twentieth century due to the restoration works, a circumstance that forced the church to be re-consecrated as stated on the marble plaque that is located in the presbytery.