Convent of San Carlos Borromeo

The convent of San Lorenzo (called, strictly speaking, convent of San Carlos Borromeo) is a religious establishment that belonged to the Order of Friars Minor located in the town from San Lorenzo, Province of Santa Fe to 31 km from Rosario, Argentina.

Begun in 1792 to replace the one inherited from the Jesuits, which was located near the Carcarañá River, in the current Aldao district. Since 1796, the convent housed the religious in a colonial-style building; and it was still unfinished in 1813, when on February 3 it was used by the troops of the then Cavalry Colonel José de San Martín to shelter before the combat of San Lorenzo, the first confrontation in the Argentine War of Independence and the only combat fought by San Martín in what is now Argentine soil.

The church, begun in 1807, is the work of the architect Juan Bautista Segismundo, also the author of the Recova of Buenos Aires. In addition to this, the complex includes the buildings of the convent, the seminary and two schools. The field hospital was installed in the main refectory after the combat, and Sergeant Juan Bautista Cabral died there; The dead were buried in the garden.

Today the Historical Museum of the San Carlos Convent operates in the facilities, with exhibitions of religious art, a cemetery in which an urn contains the ashes of those who fell in the battle of San Lorenzo, and several rooms preserved as historical monuments: a cell that housed Colonel San Martín, the refectory, and exhibitions on the construction of the convent and the work of the friars.

The Convent of San Lorenzo also has other antecedents that illustrate its historical merit:

• In one of its rooms the first public school which opened in the country after the May Revolution; the San Carlos College
• It signed on April 12, 1819 the armistice of San Lorenzo, between the representatives of Manuel Belgrano and those of General Estanislao López.
• In front of the convent, the French squad was won in 1840, which sought to trace the Paraná
• On January 16, 1846, General Lucio Norberto Mansilla faced a large convoy composed of units of the government of Montevideo, escorted by English and French warships.

By law No. 12,648 of October 2, 1940, the convent and the adjacent field were declared a National Monument, which is called 'Field of Glory', in honor and reference to the battle of San Lorenzo, although that was not the exact location of it.

The San Carlos convent no longer exists as such in the Order of Friars Minor, since it was suppressed and its religious were relocated. The San Lorenzo Mártir Parish, which is located next to the historic convent, was handed over to the Archdiocese of Rosario in 2020, so it is currently attended by a diocesan priest.

Image gallery

Historical Museum of the Convent of San Carlos Borromeo

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  Central Patio
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  Chapel
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  Cemetery
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  Corridor at the historical museum of the Convent of San Carlos Borromeo (at the bottom painting of San Martín).
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  Plano de la estancia de San Miguel de Carcarañá subsequently Convento de San Carlos Borromeo.
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  Cannon bullets launched by the Spaniards in the battle of February 3, 1813.
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  Campana de la estancia jesuítica de San Miguel del Carcarañal, brought on May 6, 1796 to the Museum of the Convent of San Carlos Borromeo.