The disappeared convent of San José de Padres Capuchinos must have been one of the simplest in the city of Valladolid, and also one of the latest, according to María Antonia Fernández del Hoyo, who discusses the history and description of the building in her study on the disappeared convents of Valladolid. The historian offers the dates 1628-1630 to frame the foundation of the centre. A foundation that seems to have been opposed by the Discalced Franciscans of the convent of San Diego in the city, as well as by the Chancery and the Town Council, difficulties that were overcome thanks to the intervention of D. ª Marina de Escobar. On Saturday 22nd February 1631, the Capuchins settled in Valladolid in ‘an orchard-ribera and recreation house’ owned by the Marquis of Távara, D. Enrique Pimentel. It was located outside the Puerta del Campo and they remained there until a great flood destroyed their house on 4 February 1636. The flooding of the river Pisuerga caused havoc to the building and its furnishings, which is why they were forced to look for a new location. They opened a new convent in 1640, located between the convents of Las Lauras and El Corpus - today the site of the former convent of San José de Padres Capuchinos would be the area occupied by the Plaza Colón in the city of Valladolid, on the banks of the Campo Grande and close to the train station.
The patron of the centre was D. Juan de Zamora Cabreros, and among the gifts made to him was the painting of the main altar, which is currently in the church of Saint Sulpice in Paris. It was foreseen in his patronage that, if he had no descendants, the convent would pass to the city of Valladolid and its City Council, as was finally the case. His will, dated 1639, contains valuable information about his position and his patronage of this foundation: ‘corregidor de la villa de Medina del Campo por SM y su secretario, alguacil mayor del tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición de la ciudad de Valladolid y regidor de ella, patrón y fundador de la casa y convento de San Josephe, religioso Capuchinos de la orden de San Francisco que al presente estoy labrando y edificando fuera de la Puerta del Campo’ (Fernández del Hoyo, 1998, p. 624). 624).
The Valladolid City Council took possession of the convent on 1 December 1661. In the 19th century, its deterioration began due to the effects of the ecclesiastical confiscation of 1835; from that time onwards, the building was put to various uses: correctional prison, Civil Guard barracks, hospital for the insane..., all of which went hand in hand with the progressive deterioration of the building, as in 1848 some of its parts must have been in a state of ruin. The convent's orchard was used by the Town Hall as a nursery, and in 1857, both the orchard and the building as a whole were rented to the Ferrocarril del Norte company, which converted this space into warehouses. Finally, in 1860, given the threat of ruin to the building, it was agreed to dismantle it (Fernández del Hoyo, 1998, pp. 619-638).
Bibliography
FERNÁNDEZ DEL HOYO, María Antonia (1998): Patrimonio perdido. Conventos desaparecidos de Valladolid, Ayuntamiento de Valladolid, Valladolid, pp. 619-638.