Santa Catalina de Siena Church. Paseo Avenue, between 23rd and 25th streets. Vedado, Havana. Cuba.
These are the most recent photos I took of this neo-Gothic building. I was passing by and stopped for a while to contemplate the details of this temple and convent of the Order of Saint Dominic.
On further research I learned that it was founded on 29 April 1688 and this was not its first location. It seems that the first building dedicated to this purpose was located in Calle O'Reilly in Old Havana.
So, this building dates back to 1918 and it was on 13 May of that year that the community of Dominican nuns was moved to remain here until this day.
In order to talk about the beginning of the Dominican nuns' convent in Havana, it is necessary to consult the historical documents in which it is mentioned that its settlement was made possible by the determination of the daughters and sons of Doña Manuela de las Casas and Don Juan de Aréchaga, a Basque merchant, who was also the treasurer and accountant of the royal coffers of Havana from 1633 to 1655.
Specifically, it was his daughters, Teresa, Ana and Francisca, who felt the call of a religious vocation and it was difficult for them to enter the Convent of Santa Clara, because by that time the community of Poor Clare nuns there was already very large. This convent had been founded in 1644 with nuns from Cartagena de Indias.
Faced with this situation, the sisters requested permission for the foundation of the new convent, offering their houses and a large sum of money to adapt the space to the needs of a convent building. After obtaining permission, which apparently was not so simple, they were supported by their brothers and father, who also offered property and money and devoted themselves to the cause.
During his lifetime, Don Juan de Aréchaga y Casas frequently interceded on behalf of the nuns, defending and requesting whatever they needed from the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. This man who had studied at the University of Salamanca, Spain, was a professor, doctor, chancellor and former oidor of the Royal Court of Mexico. He was also the first Havana native to publish a book in Latin.
The cloister was made up of women who, in order to join it, not only had to have a religious vocation, but also had to meet certain family and descendant requirements. They also had to bring a dowry with them so that the community could support itself, although, in the event of death, this amount would be returned to the heirs of the deceased.
It should be noted that this building has also undergone several modifications and restorations, after suffering serious damage during hurricanes, although it still retains its essence.
The history of this temple and convent is very long and its community also faced the consequences of the non-recognition of Catholicism, after Fidel Castro proclaimed the socialist character of the Revolution in April 1961 and defined the new government as Marxist-Leninist.
But well... things changed and for a long time now all religious people, whatever their faith, have been living freely on the island and practising their rituals and so on.
Without wishing to judge, and there are practices that I don't particularly understand, these photos below are irrefutable proof of the amalgam of beliefs that exist and that you come across on a daily basis as something normal. Right in the parterre of St. Catherine of Siena Church I found this.
😐
They are objects of the Yoruba religion. And I think there are works in them... I don't know. I'm not an expert in these matters.
Even on the fence at the entrance of the church they placed one of those pots.
And now I ask licence to 
;)
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And that concludes my participation in this #Monomad Challenge.
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