Convent of San Blas Community of Dominican Mothers

The convent was connected to the Palace by a passageway with three arches until the 19th century. The foundation of the Dominican monastery of San Blas was the proudest of all the religious buildings erected by the Duke in Lerma. As he held the patronage of the Order and according to the dispositions of the Council of Trent, in 1612 he transferred the Community that lived in Tovar (Cifuentes) to his town. Fray Alberto de la Madre de Dios made the traces of the convent and the main altarpiece is the work of Juan Gómez de Mora, who took advantage of some pieces of an old altarpiece. It is distributed in four architectural bodies, with columns, pilasters, niches, all gilded. The canvases are by the Duke's painter Pedro Antonio Vidal. In the center, a niche with a seventeenth century carving of San Blas with the relics of the Saint in the chest; very venerated on February 3 with the blessing of the typical donuts of sweet or bread. In the transept stands out the Crucified Christ, of the Castilian School of Gregorio Fernandez of the XVII century, and the Virgin of the Rosary of great beauty and artistic quality. The dome of half orange and lantern, whose duplicated pillars raise four toral arches with their pendentives and with stripes between squares and triangles. The large vaulted room behind the monastery church houses a valuable reliquary donated by the Duke. It is currently inhabited by the cloistered Dominican Sisters and they make colorful hand-painted ceramic works. The Community is also known as "the nuns of Whatsapp", since thousands of people receive every morning a message with experiences and teachings of the Dominican Sisters of Lerma, called "Challenge of love". The schedules of the offices of the Church of this convent are: daily 08:00 h, and Sundays and holidays: 11:00 h.