OLD ILLUSTRATED STUDENTS OF THE SCHOOL OF Nª Sª DE LA ANTIGUA: D. PEDRO FERNANDEZ DE CASTRO

In an article entitled Cervantes and the Jesuits, Fr. José Martínez-Escalera SJ wrote:

PEDRO FDEZ DE CASTRO- VII CONDE DE LEMOS -Alumno del Colegio de Nª Sª de la Antigua

“Let us remember at last that Cervantes dedicated his Exemplary Novels to the” great Count of Lemos “, his true patron, to whom he also dedicated the Eight comedies and eight hors d’oeuvres (1615), the second part of Don Quixote (1615) and the works of Persiles and Sigismunda, four days before he died. As we know, D. Pedro de Castro had been, together with his two brothers, a student of the Monforte school, founded by his uncle-grandfather, the archbishop of Seville and cardinal. “

He was the son of Fernando Ruiz de Castro Andrade and Portugal, VI Count of Lemos and III Marqués de Sarria, and his wife Catalina de Luna Sandoval y Rojas, daughter of the Marquis of Denia, Francisco de Sandoval y Rojas and Isabel de Borja y Castro .

Known habitually as “The Great Count of Lemos,” he was President of the Council of the Indies, Viceroy of Naples, President of the Supreme Council of Italy -according to the Count of Gondomar, the “greater and more useful position given by the King in Europe” -, Commander of the Order of Alcántara, and famous Spanish statesman and diplomat. He was also extraordinary ambassador in Rome and Alguacil Mayor of the Kingdom of Galicia.

Monastery? Convent? School?

We observe that the building of the College of the Cardinal or of Nª Sª de la Antigua, is denominated of several forms, most of them incorrect. There is no more to surf the internet and we will see that they call us MONASTERY or CONVENT, sometimes COLEGIATA … All those forms are incorrect.

• A MONASTERY is the building where the members of the monastic Orders live: formed by monks or nuns who live and work in the monastery are cloistered and are linked to the monastery for life, among these Orders we can quote Benedictines, Cistercians, Trappists , Poor Clares …

• A CONVENT is the house of the mendicant Orders, inhabited by friars or sisters who have active participation in the apostolate and live on alms. Among them are the Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians and some of their female branches.

• A (HOUSE) CASA is where the Regular Clerics live in communities formed by priests who live under a rule – hence the denomination of regulars – with solemn vows, and have a more active and concrete apostolate. In this case there are Jesuits and Piarists, the two orders that have lived and worked in Nª Señora de la Antigua.

The School Nª Sª de la Antigua was founded, from the first moment in 1593, as a SCHOOL, with a house of religious who attended it. The essential thing is the School and therefore the appropriate denomination is that of COLEGIO. Being also one of the oldest colleges in Galicia and probably the oldest working in the activity for which it was created. It was never a monastery or convent.
Let us name our building as COLEGIO DEL CARDENAL, popular name, but valid, or with its official name COLEGIO DE NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LA ANTIGUA. Never convent or monastery

Translation of our WEB into English

To complete the project of our WEB and to better disseminate our purposes and our cultural heritage, we have begun with the translation of it into English. Texts and links are still provisional but we hope that they can be definitive soon. With this we intend to give visibility to our page in many of the countries where there are Monfortinos, Escolapios and friends of the College of the Cardinal.

Signature, in the altarpiece of Moure

One of the curiosities that emerged with the cleaning of the altarpiece of our church was the appearance of a signature, made in ink on wood, about 5 meters high on one side of the altarpiece, specifically the right. At first glance it is impossible to see such a signature. The doubt that arose was whether or not this signature would be D. Francisco de Moure.

Once analyzed both signatures, the one of the altarpiece and another one of a document signed by Moure, it is necessary to conclude that no, that it is not of D. Francisco de Moure, being the mystery opened on who could sign that board, that had to be signed with ink and pen, in the workshop and horizontally, not vertically as it is now …

To illustrate the curiosity of whoever reads this, we attach a photo of both signatures

Galician translation of our WEB page

The CNSdlA Foundation is undertaking the translation of its WEB page into Galician, in collaboration with the Languages Department of the Calasanz PP School. Escolapios de la Coruña and with a group of volunteer students from the center. Little by little we will have all the information in Galician, informative entries, pages, except the documents that will be kept in their original language.

Stamp of the Cardinal and of the College Nª Sª de la Antigua

The Royal House of the Currency, National Factory of Currency and Stamp, commercialized on June 1, 2001 a stamp of Correos commemorating the four hundred years of death Cardinal Rodrigo de Castro. The issuance of the stamp was part of the commemorative acts promoted by the City Council of Monforte to vindicate the figure of the Cardinal. According to the Real Casa de la Moneda, the circulation was 1,200,000 copies. The stamp was printed in gravure from a design by José L. Suárez, from the drafting team of the National Currency and Stamp Factory. Its economic value was 40 pesetas (0.24 euros). In the adaptation the prayer statue of Cardinal Rodrigo de Castro is reproduced by Juan de Bolonia. At the bottom of the stamp appears the facade of the College of Our Lady of Antigua, founded by him.

Documentation

We have just added a new option in our “Architecture” menu, it is the “Documentation” option where you can find PDFs of some theses or articles of architectural congresses that deal especially with the College of Nª Sª de la Antigua. You can also find many other facts and curiosities about the building, the architects, biographies and celebrations in its history.

Facade elevation of the College Nª Sª de la Antigua.

We publish an elevation of the facade of the School Nª Sª de la Antigua made with graphic design techniques, made by Edith Nieves. This elevation is serving to illustrate the project of Infantile on the building of the Cardinal and its history, that the little ones are getting to know these days, training to be authentic tour guides of their school.

Supporting the Winter Road … in spring.

The School Foundation N.S. de la Antigua collaborates with the Winter Road Association in the events and events scheduled to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the aforementioned Association.
Thanks to this collaboration, Amancio Prada will perform in Monforte on April 27th in our Church, in a concert organized by the Winter Path Association in Ribeira Sacra. The concert of Amancio Prada will take place on April 27 at 9:00 p.m.

“Cantigas no Camiño de Inverno” is the name of the concert that will integrate classical pieces by the Berciano cantautor with pieces by the minstrel Xoán de Requeixo and music poems that Federico García Lorca dedicated to the Sil river.
The 400 tickets will go on sale one hour before the price of 5 euros.

Expansion of the Tourism and Culture menu

We have expanded the menu of our WEB, in the Tourism and Culture section, with a new page that gives information on two curious elements of our building: This is LAS MONTEAS, which our RAE dictionary defines as: “Life-size drawing that on the floor or on a wall is made entirely or part of a work to make the break, remove the templates and point out the cuts. The two monteas that can be seen today, miraculously survived over the years and serve for admiration of visitors and as a source of study for engineers, architects and stonemasons ..

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