The Church and Convent of los Dominicos of the Colonial City of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, is the oldest Catholic building in continuous use in the Americas, and also, according to the UNESCO, it was the headquarters of the first university in the Americas, [1] which was called the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino. Today it is part of the Colonial City complex, as a World Heritage Site.
The Church and Convent of los Dominicos is one of the oldest European buildings in the American continent. Its construction begins with the arrival of the Dominican Order in Santo Domingo, around 1510.
By 1517, the convent was inhabited by the friars, although it was not yet finished. In 1530 the church was in the completion stage, between the years 1531–1532, [3] [4] by Carmonese architects Antón and Alonso Gutiérrez; [4] its official inauguration took place, with the presence of the friars Pedro de Córdoba, Reginaldo de Montesino, Bartolomé de las Casas and Antonio de Montesinos, [4] the latter, he was the one who said the famous Sermón de Adviento [4] in 1511, and who reprimanded the court of Diego Columbus for the mistreatment of the Natives, thus beginning the so-called Derecho de Gentes, which became one of the main controversies of the 16th century. thus generating the first controversy of the New World.
In 1534 the convent began its classes, and in 1538 it became the first university in the Americas, which was called the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino and later the Primate University of America, which today we know as the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo. (UASD). This began under the mandate of the Bula In Apostolatus Culmine, which was blessed by Pope Paul III, this university also had the characteristic of the University of Salamanca.
One of the main specialties of this university was Theology, from which great important figures of the colonial life of the time emerged. Great personalities from the Antilles and Mainland were trained at this university. During the 1540s, the church reached one of its greatest peaks, in this area of study and university education and training.
The church and convent have a beautiful façade, with great splendor, since the Gothic, Isabelline Gothic and Baroque architecture stands out, which greatly predominated in the constructions of the time, not only in the country but also throughout Americas. In the building there are valuable images and statues, which were the work of the Sevillian brothers Jorge and Ajejo Fernández, and at the beginning of the 16th century, it had five altarpieces by one of the most famous Spanish painters of the colonial era, Juan Martínez Montañés.
Over the years, to this day, the church has undergone major changes and severe damage to its architecture, one of which was in 1545 with the passage of a hurricane, [4] and during the passage of the pirate Francis Drake, it was the only building that did not suffer any damage, since the famous pirate of the time respected the sanctuaries. [5] [4] During the years 1684 and 1673, two earthquakes occurred on the island, respectively, which hit the island hard, destroying its roof and some rooms. [4] In 1746 the building was restored again, with a different structure on each of its facades, thus imposing the Baroque style. In 1825, the church was closed by the Haitian government, although some time later it was a shelter for several religious orders and in 1954 the Dominicans returned to the country and recovered their old home.
Inside the Church is the Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary, which was built in 1649. In this chapel, the Virgin of the Rosary, who is the patron saint of the Dominicans, was venerated.
High on the wall of the eastern length, a grave (the only one on the island) is a further echo of Isabeline Gothic. [4]
In the modifications of 1746, the chapel was rebuilt by the new owners of the chapel, the Campuzano Polanco family, who replaced the wooden frame of the nave with the current barrel vault. This vault of the chapel was decorated with the twelve signs of the zodiac around the sun, and for this reason it is also called the "Chapel of the Zodiac". Also in the vault there are other characters such as the Twelve Olympians who represent the four seasons. This chapel is unique in the Americas of its kind and one of the three vaults with astrological representations that currently exist in the world, together with the Chapel of Salamanca and Río Seco. [6] [ failed verification ]
The Church and Convent of los Dominicos is located on Calle Padre Billini, in the Colonial area, in the city of Santo Domingo de Guzmán, Dominican Republic.
Santo Domingo, once known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, known as Ciudad Trujillo between 1936 and 1961, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. As of 2022, the city and immediate surrounding area had a population of 1,029,110 while the total population is 3,798,699 when including Greater Santo Domingo. The city is coterminous with the boundaries of the Distrito Nacional, itself bordered on three sides by Santo Domingo Province.
Ciudad Colonial is the historic central neighborhood of the Dominican Republic's capital Santo Domingo. It is the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in the Americas. The area has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It is also known as Zona Colonial or more colloquially as "La Zona".
Fray Domingo de Santo Tomás, O.P. was a Spanish Dominican missionary, bishop, and grammarian in the Viceroyalty of Peru. He compiled the first Quechua language grammar and dictionary, both published in 1560.
Monasterio de San Francisco in Santo Domingo de Guzmán, Dominican Republic, is a monastery that was built between 1508–1560, with the arrival of the Franciscan fathers. The ruin is one of the most important of the city. It is located in the Colonial City of Santo Domingo and are part of UNESCO's 1990 declaration of the Colonial City as a World Heritage Site. The monastery was recognized by UNESCO for being the first and oldest monastery built in the Americas.
The Cathedral of Santa María la Menor in the Colonial City of Santo Domingo is dedicated to St. Mary of the Incarnation. It is the first and oldest cathedral in the Americas, begun in 1504 and was completed in 1550. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Santo Domingo who has the honorary title of Primate of the Indies because this cathedral was the first diocese and the oldest cathedral established in the New World.
St. Thomas Aquinas University was a university in Dominican Republic. It is arguably the first institution of higher education in the Americas. It was founded by papal bull in 1538 in Santo Domingo, in the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, present-day Dominican Republic, although it didn't have the official certification by the king of Spain until 1558. The headquarters of the university was the Church and Convent of los Dominicos. It was closed in 1801 and in 1823, being reopened as a new iteration in 1914, named Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo.
The Convent of St Dominic is a former Dominican monastery in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain.
The Santo Domingo Convent, or Basilic of Our Lady of the Rosary and Convent of Santo Domingo is a convent for Our Lady of the Rosary located in the Monserrat neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Built during the colonial times, it was the scenario of a military conflict during the British invasions of the Río de la Plata. It holds as well the tomb of the Argentine national hero Manuel Belgrano.
Ángel Martínez Casado and died in Virgen del Camino, León Province, Spain, 03/04/2024) was a Dominican friar and PhD in History and Theology. He received humanistic and religious education at La Virgen del Camino College, from where he entered the novitiate in the Dominican Order in October 1965, in Palencia. He began his religious studies in Las Caldas de Besaya (Santander) and Salamanca, where he made solemn religious profession in 1973.
Santo Domingo Church, formally known as the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of La Naval de Manila, is a Roman Catholic national shrine and parish church in Quezon City, Metro Manila in the Philippines. Dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus under her title Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary — La Naval de Manila, it was founded by the Dominicans in 1587.
The defunct Convento de Santo Tomás was a set of buildings belonging to the Dominicans, under the patronage of St. Thomas Aquinas, in Madrid.
Campuzano-Polanco was a prominent family from the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo with origins in Santiago de los Caballeros. During the colonial era of the Hispaniola, their members and descendants went on to occupy high political, military and ecclesiastical positions, locally and outside the Island, as well as in the metropolis of Spain. Their merits extend since the beginning and until the end of the colony.
The Convento de Santo Domingo is a convent established from the 16th century in the city of Cartagena de Indias, in Colombia. Its canonical name was "Convento de San Daniel". Until 19th century maintained a community of friars of the Dominican Order. The building was then expropriated and handed over to the diocese of Cartagena, serving as a seminary, college and then institute of fine arts. It is one of the most important tourist sites in the city.
The Basilica and Maximus Convent of Nuestra Señora del Rosario, popularly known as the Convent of Santo Domingo, is a Catholic religious complex located in the city of Lima, Peru.
The Santa Bárbara Military Cathedral is a colonial Eclectic Catholic cathedral dedicated to Saint Barbara that is located in the Ciudad Colonial of Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic. Its official name is Santa Iglesia Catedral Castrense Santa Bárbara de los Hombres de la Mar. It is located in the Santa Bárbara de los Hidalgos Canteros sector, at the intersection of calle Isabel La Católica with calle General Gabino Puello, right on the edge of the Wall that protected the first Spanish viceroyalty in the New World.
The Chapel of la Tercera Orden Dominica is a colonial church building located in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. It was first constructed around 1514 by the Third Order of Saint Dominic, originally part of the Church and Convent of los Dominicos that together were the headquarters of the colonial Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino. It was rebuilt in 1729 in its current aspect. It is currently home to Casa de la Juventud.
The Church of Santo Domingo is a Catholic church in the historic center of the city of Quito, capital of Ecuador. The complex of convent, church and chapels is located on the Plaza de Santo Domingo, itself named after the church.
The Dominican priory of La Guardia de Jaén, known from its dedication as the Convent of Santa María Magdalena de la Cruz, was founded for a community of friars of the Dominican Order in the town of La Guardia de Jaén in the province of Jaén in Andalusia, Spain. Construction at the current location began around 1539. The priory was shut down and confiscated during the Trienio Liberal (1820–1823), and the buildings are now mostly ruined. The church however remains in use as the present Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción. At first Gothic in style, its layout initially followed a design by Domingo de Tolosa. It was later extensively revised by Andrés de Vandelvira, who imprinted his personal Renaissance stamp on the church and the cloister loggia.
Catalina de Jesús Herrera was an 18th-century Ecuadorian nun and writer. She belonged to the Monastery of Santa Catalina de Siena in Quito. Herrera is categorized as venerable within the Catholic Church due to the multiple miracles and prophecies attributed to her. Her autobiography titled Secretos entre el alma y Dios, rewritten in 1760, was published in 1895 in the collection Antología de Proseistas in honor of the centenary of her death. Her mystical poetry was represented in the Real Audiencia of Quito.
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