Monastery of Santa Catalina de Siena (Arequipa)

The Monasterio de Santa Catalina de Siena, or Convento de Santa Catalina, is a religious tourist complex located in the historic center of Arequipa, department of Arequipa, Peru.

Location

The citadel was located in the south of Peru in the city of Arequipa, founded on September 10, 1579 and located in an area that stands out for its natural beauty, welcoming climate and that has great material with which it is built. and the architecture of this city continues to be made, the ashlar. In the monastery there are two types, the white ashlar, which comes from the Chachani volcano, and the pink Misti one, the latter emblem of the city.

The citadel occupies an area of 20,000 square meters and is absolutely isolated from the city, despite the fact that it is located in the heart of it. A large, solid wall 4 meters high isolated the lives of the women who lived in the monastery.

Historical review

The viceroy Francisco de Toledo grants the necessary license for the foundation of the much desired monastery that requested citizenship. Doña María de Guzmán, widow of Diego Hernández de Mendoza, decides to seclude herself in the monastery under construction, giving up all her assets for this purpose. On September 10, 1579, the memory of the founding of the monastery was made, signed by the Cabildo, the regiment of the city and the bishopric of Cusco, naming María de Guzmán as the “First settler and prioress of said Monastery.” On October 2, 1580, a high mass was held in the city so that from that day on the habits could be taken.

The women who entered the monastery as nuns were Creoles and mestizas belonging to wealthy families. The story tells of the entry of the so-called “poor nuns” who, without having money to pay a dowry, entered to exercise their virtues. It is known that, in the middle of the XVIII century, the citadel had more than 300 women in habit and servant maids.

On June 13, 1747, a group of four nuns from the Monastery of Santa Catalina moved to the newly built Monastery of Santa Rosa, located on the corner of San Pedro and Santa Rosa streets, to found a new religious community, which is still there to this day.

The Convent of Santa Catalina was shrouded in a veil of mystery and silence until 1970, when a large part of the convent opened its doors to the public. The nuns allowed a private company to manage it. Nuns still live in the northern area of the complex.

Architecture

The charm of this citadel lies in the solidity and plasticity of its volumes, and the beauty that master builders and builders achieved in the architecture of these enclosures through solutions such as flying buttresses or the construction of strong arches set on pillars.

In the interiors, the domes and vaulted roofs considerably expand the space and increase the feeling of strength of the buildings. Likewise, especially in the area of the alleys, the intervention of masons who, lacking a properly architectural design, were building walls, roofs, cells, patios and doorways with a simple approach can also be perceived.

The current building houses splendid pieces of art, such as a baroque altar of carved and gilded wood, with one body and three streets, which adorns the chapel, and several paintings from the Cusco school.

Due to the constant earthquakes that affected the monastery, the families of the nuns chose to build unique and private cells for each of them. Which caused there to be orderly sectors and, in the absence of a plan, others with notable disorder. For almost two centuries during the viceregal era, the cloisters and cells of the monastery have undergone various modifications, additions and new constructions that have made Santa Catalina a human-scale showcase of Arequipa's colonial architecture.

Dependencies

It was largely restored to achieve better public appeal, preserving its original floor plan and characteristics. The small streets and cloisters are full of colorful flowers and the walls are painted in fresh dyes. Narrow alleys lead to the various parts of the convent, passing through picturesque places and living and sleeping areas with original furniture.

• Cover of the monastery

The entrance cover is adorned with a relief of Saint Catherine of Siena, under whose patronage the convent was founded. It is covered in the solid chair wall that borders the entire block. The sober simplicity of shapes and color of this cover, contrasts with the joyful colour that the visitor will find in the interior environments.

• Patio de Silencio

It was the place where the nuns gathered to pray the Holy Rosary and read the Bible in complete silence.

• Cloister of the Oranges

It's 1738. It owes its name to the presence of orange trees. The three crosses located in the middle of the cloister are part of a tradition of the Monastery of Saint Catherine, where the nuns represent the Passion of Christ all Good Fridays.

• General Claustro

Built between 1715 and 1723, it is the largest cloister of the Monastery. On the left side there are 5 confessionals that had the required privacy. Around are paintings for the preparation, teaching and catechization of religious, as in the other two cloisters. There are a total of 32 paintings, 23 refer to Mary's life and 9 to Jesus' public life.

• Kitchen

This kitchen attracts a lot of attention for the particularity of its environment that goes back centuries. Some experts believe that their roof so high and dome was due to that it was or was intended for a chapel. The kitchen worked with coal, firewood and other fuels, which is why all the walls are shy and the utensils that are appreciated are original from that time.

• Laundry

It was built in 1770, when Arequipa was supplied with water by acequias. In it we find 20 socks, which are large containers of mud, used old to store grains, corn or wine, which served from batons. The water ran through a central canal, which diverted to each tina by placing a stone and at the bottom of the robe they put a plug, which after washing they removed and the water ran into the underground channel that carried the wastes to the river.

• Torre del Campanario

The distinguished tower of the Monastery of Saint Catherine was built in 1748 as President of the Council, the suprior Sister Catherine of Saint Joseph Barreda and Bishop Juan Bravo de Rivero. Its bell tower has four bells arranged in front of the streets surrounding the monastery:

• In front of Santa Catalina street (to the east), an old bell without any registration.
• In front of Ugarte Street (South) is the oldest bell with the inscription “Santa Catalina Ora Pronobis, 1749”.
• In front of Bolivar Street (to the west) there is the bell with the inscription “R.M. María de Villegas, 1787”.

• Church

Beautiful and ancient church of long nave and dome of medium orange, which has a basic plant construction of approximately 1660.

Its main altar is made of silver that represents a very emerald work, with beautiful and delicate religious motives, of the ancient craftsmen to whom the work was entrusted. In it we find interesting rooms for the confessors of the nuns who were at the close. There is also a beautiful altar dedicated to Blessed Sister Anna of Los Angeles Monteagudo. There is a large metal fence between the church and the lower choir, which is where the religious stood and continue to do so for the celebration of the Holy Mass, to separate the closing of the outside world. At the top is the high choir where there is a large and ancient European organ of very beautiful manufacturing.

In the interior you can see the cloister of Blessed Sister Anne of the Angels Monteagudo who was beatified in the visit of John Paul II in 1985 due to his exemplary conventual life and the attribution of some miracles. One of them approved by the Church was a cure for a verified uterine cancer in the first third of the last century. The favored woman, Maria Vera of Jarrín, lived more than thirty years after the prodigy.