The Temple of Santa Catalina de Siena, located in Mexico City, was vandalized and partially burned down a few weeks ago, according to news via Twitter. Apparently, a man in a street situation is responsible for the vandalism and fire that damaged cultural heritage.
The fire caused damage to the main doors, characterized by magnificent woodcuts. The right wing, in the Herrerian style, is the original one and was placed in the 17th century, while the left wing dates from a century later.
The building, inaugurated in 1623, has great historical value as it is the first temple and convent of the Dominican nuns in the city. Important historical figures such as the Corregidora Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, who was locked up there in June 1815, passed through its walls.
The construction of the site was motivated by an event considered by Catholics as a miracle. This is the discovery of an image of the Virgen del Rosario with the border of the dress stained with mud, on the site where the temple was later built, during a great storm that caused the capital to flood in 1629.
The waters began to drop after the painting was found, so the fact was attributed to the Virgin and a year later the church and convent of Santa Catalina was erected. It is worth mentioning that the catastrophe that triggered the foundation of the religious site, claimed the lives of 60 thousand people and destroyed many buildings.
The promoters of the project were three nuns known as Las Felipas: Ana, Isabel and María Phelipa. It was decided to dedicate the cloister to Santa Catalina, one of the great mystics of the 16th century, who became famous for its “invisible stigmas”, and for its inauguration a grand event was organized, attended by the viceroy.
Catherine of Siena, to whom the temple is dedicated, was a Catholic saint protector of firefighters, nurses and people ridiculed for their faith. It is said that a prodigious and cheerful girl who had her first vision of Christ at the age of five died of a stroke at the age of 33 and was canonized in 1461.
Later, the cloister became famous for being the setting for the legend of the Lord of the Rebozo. The story is about a nun who on her deathbed, during a night of heavy rain, was visited by the wooden Christ who was in the church and covered with water by wrapping him with his shawl. It is said that the next day they found the dead nun and the figure of Jesus Christ on the altar, covered with the garment that the woman wrapped him in.
In addition, the building was used for purposes other than religious purposes at various stages of Mexican history. Thus, although it was not initially disenloyed during the term of Benito Juárez, the nuns were exclaustrated and in 1863 it functioned as a blood bank while the Second French Intervention was taking place.
It was until 1867 that, with the fall of the Second Mexican Empire and the definitive application of the Reformation laws, the Dominican nuns were definitively expelled. The presence of the Dominican order in Mexico dates back to 1575, when its first convent was built in Oaxaca, under the orders of Pope Pius V.
KEEP READING