Convento de Sant Bernardí

Religious | Petra

It was founded in 1607 at the request of Pedro Santandreu, guardian of the convent of San Francisco de Palma, born in Petra. In 1609 a small temple had already been built, whose space corresponds to the current Bethlehem chapel. Due to the good reception by the people, in 1657 the construction of a new temple was begun under the direction of the master Rafael Poquet, which was completed in 1677. Here, Fray Junípero Serra began his studies, in fact the names he gave to the missions he founded are related to most of the invocations of the chapels that the church houses as the city of Los Angeles or San Francisco. With the disentailment (1836) the Franciscan community was exclaustrated and the convent was divided into enclosures to be sold. In 1969, the Franciscans returned to the convent with smaller dimensions than before the confiscation. The church is of Renaissance style with a basilica floor plan with a single nave with barrel vault and six side chapels on each side that house baroque altarpieces made between the late seventeenth century and the first half of the eighteenth century. The most outstanding altarpieces are the main altarpiece, the altarpiece of Santo Cristo, the altarpiece of the Virgin of the Angels and the altarpiece of San Francisco. The chapel of the Bethlehem stands out for containing figures of Gothic period (the angels) belonging to the old manger that was in the convent of Jesus de Palma. The pavement of the chapel is lower than the others and is covered by a barrel vault lowered as if it were a cave. The convent houses two rooms displaying antique furniture and liturgical objects, objects related to the life of Fray Junipero Serra and a series of glass paste paintings depicting passages from the life of Father Serra. The main façade located on the main street preserves a semicircular arched doorway and a coffered vault. On the sides there are two niches where the disappeared images of the Franciscan saints would be.