Incantato performance venue: Providence College Choir will perform Holy Mass at Santa Catalina Convent - Barcelona, Wednesday May 22, 8:00 pm

Our travelers from the Providence College Choir will start their Incantato performance Tour in Spain in the city of Barcelona, where they will perform Holy Mass at the Dominican Convent of Santa Catalina, on Wednesday 22, at 8 pm.

The Convent of St. Catherine, Virgin and Martyr, in Barcelona was founded in 1219, and according to tradition, during a stay of Santo Domingo in the city.
The Convent of the Preachers of Barcelona was prompted by the Bishop Berenguer of Palou (Bishop of Barcelona between 1212 and 1241).

First Convent site memorial (monastir.cat)

 Returning from Rome and passing through Bologna, the bishop came into contact with the Dominicans and requested the establishment of a Convent in Barcelona. Those efforts were successful and in 1219 the first Dominicans arrived to the city. The location of the first Community of Preachers was in the Jewish quarter (now Carrer de Sant Domènech 39; at the Call old quarter). They settled in some houses in the neighborhood, and made use of the nearby church of Sant Jaume (in the square of this name, and no longer existing), for liturgical celebrations.


In 1221 a bull of Pope Honorius III, asked the Bishop Berenguer to care for the Preachers that were arrivng into the city.  

Saint Ramon of Penyafort, Cathedral of Barcelona (monastir.cat)

In 1223 it became necessary to build a new convent more spacious. King James I favored the initiative and, with the help of many citizens, built a magnificent Gothic building, right in the current Plaza de Santa Catalina.

This Convent became a great center of evangelization, with great social and cultural influence in Catalonia until 1835, when it was sold off and demolished. The Community of the Dominicans was restored in 1889, and since the beginning of s. XX was at Bailen street and Marc Ausiàs.
This Community is a continuation of a long tradition of over 800 years, with such prominent figures as Saint Ramon de Penyafort, Saint Francis Gil de Frederich or Exart Lluis Beat, among others.