VALLADOLID, ARCHDIOCESE OF — The Fifth Sorrow of the Virgin, sculpture by Gregorio Fernández (17th c.) — Valladolid, church of S. Martino.
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Valladolid, ARCHDIOCESE OF — The Holy Virgin, sculpture by Gregorio Fernández (17th c.) — Valladolid.
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VALLADOLID, ARCHDIOCESE OF. — Chief city of the homonymous province in Spain.
The archdiocese covers an area of 2,400 sq. km with a population of 220,000, almost all Catholic, distributed across 94 parishes served by 200 diocesan priests and 135 regular clergy; it has a conciliar seminary, 20 male religious communities and 64 female (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 441).
At the request of Philip II, who was born in Valladolid, Pope Clement VIII established the diocese of Valladolid on 25 September 1595 by separating the southern part of the diocese of Palencia; it became a suffragan of Toledo. The name Valladolid first appears during the Arab domination as Belad Valed (Land of the Wali). From the 13th century it was the seat of the governors of Castile and favored by the kings of Spain; three provincial councils were held there. The cathedral was built on the site of the ancient collegiate church of the 11th century; work was begun in 1580 by Juan de Herrera at the behest of Philip II and later continued by Churriguera and then by Ventura Rodríguez, but never completed. Of the four towers originally planned, only one was finished, but it collapsed in 1841 and was rebuilt in 1880–85; it is now surmounted by a statue of the Sacred Heart, which is illuminated at night. Inside, the three-aisled structure houses on the high altar a retable by Juan de Juni and the Assumption by V. Velázquez; at the end of the right aisle is a Transfiguration by Luca Giordano. In the sacristy is a silver tabernacle, a masterpiece by Juan de Arfe (1590). The church of S. Maria la Antigua or dell’Assunta was founded in 1695, altered in the 14th century and restored in 1932; its bell tower and cloister are Romanesque, while the interior, with its three naves, combines Romanesque and Gothic elements.
The church of Nuestra Señora de las Angustias was built between 1597 and 1604 and contains in a chapel on the right the image of the Virgen de los Cuchillos by Juan de Juni. The church of S. Michele dates from the late 16th century; that of S. Nicola from the 17th; S. Lorenzo, from the 15th but altered in the 17th, houses an ancient image of the Blessed Virgin crowned in 1917; the church of the Passion has a Baroque façade (1666). The church of S. Benito el Viejo was altered in 1583; those of the Madalena, S. Filippo Neri and S. Salvatore Maggiore are from the 16th century. On the spot where the Sacred Heart appeared to Bl. Bernardo de Hoyos stands the National Shrine of the Great Promise, a pilgrimage destination. The church of S. Giacomo (1490) contains a retable by Berruquete depicting the Adoration of the Magi. The Colegio Mayor de S. Cruz was built between 1487 and 1491; its portal features an image of the founder, Cardinal P. González de Mendoza. Inside are the Provincial Archaeological Museum and a Library rich in over 50,000 volumes, including precious manuscripts. The Dominican College of S. Gregorio, founded by Innocent VIII and built between 1488 and 1496, enjoyed great renown; Valladolid was the site of the famous debate between the Dominicans and the Jesuits. Valladolid was also the place of death of Christopher Columbus in 1506, in whose honor a monument was erected at the Madrid gate in 1595. The house where Cervantes lived in 1605 now houses the Public Library. A Benedictine branch known as the Congregation of S. Benito de Valladolid was established in 1390 and flourished especially from the 16th century until its extinction in 1835; most of the relevant documents are preserved in the monastery of S. Domingo de Silos. — See pl. LXXXIX.