Carmelites in Mancera

Mancera de Abajo is privileged to have given refuge to three key figures of the Carmelite order and Christianity: St. Teresa of Jesus, St. John of the Cross and St. Maravillas of Jesus.

The participation of the Fourth Lord of Mancera and the Five Villas, Luis de Toledo, who lived in the town's palace and who frequently went to pray and confess at the Duruelo monastery, was fundamental in relocating the first male order to Mancera from Duruelo in 1570. Seeing the poor conditions in which they lived, he convinced St. John and Friar Antonio to settle in Mancera, on land he owned, and paid for the work on the new monastery himself.

The Carmelites remained in Mancera until 1600. During that time, St. John of the Cross lived in the town for about a year and St. Teresa visited on several occasions on her way to Salamanca. Following the departure of the Carmelites, the monastery was occupied by the Order of the Minims of St. Francis of Paola until it was definitively abandoned in the 19th century. In 1944, St. Maravillas de Jesús refounded the Carmelite convent, now for women, on the ruins of the original one.