The Association for the Revitalization of Old Centers (ARCA) expressed its “indignation” this Wednesday at the demolition of the Ca ses Monges convent in Portocolom. In a statement, the association criticized that neither the Felanitx Town Hall, nor the Consell de Mallorca, nor the religious order that sold the building “They were up to the task” to defend “an important part of the history” of Portocolom.
According to ARCA, This is a “disastrous” precedent for all the Ca ses Monges in the different municipalities. who, he assured, see their history linked to the memories of the spaces where they went to school, to receive health care or to encounter danger.
“A sad day due to the lack of sensitivity and urban planning which always causes harm to tangible and intangible heritage, that of personal victims,” they lamented, adding that The association asked the Consell to catalog the building but “no measures have been taken to make the protection effective”.
In January 2022, Ca Ses Monges de Portocolom closed its doors due to lack of vocations. The three nuns of La Caridad who still remained in Portocolom said goodbye to the parishioners after the community would have remained in the commune for 108 years. They were mainly dedicated to teaching the little ones and to health tasks.
Later, the convent was bought by a private developer to build houses and this Tuesday it was demolished to the great regret of the population.
This is one more episode in the gradual disappearance of nuns’ convents in Majorca. It was an emergency health center for the entire city, it was a nursery, the place where children took their first steps. They were also a meeting point, a sewing workshop and a corner to receive information, a vaccine and some advice in exchange for alms.
At noon the Angelus, in the middle of the afternoon the rosaries and a visit to the Virgin of Lourdes in the garden. An unmissable Christmas nativity scene and a distribution of impeccably made palm trees on Palm Sunday. These were the convents, the Ca Ses Monges of all the towns which were disappearing at a forced pace because Majorca lacked nuns.
Convents close and their chapels, cells, refectories and patios remain silent. The garden fills with leaves while awaiting the arrival of the speculators. With the disappearance of the nuns, the villages lost much more than a convent, they even lost a way of living and a way of communicating with neighbors.
The latest data from the Bishopric of Majorca indicates that There are barely 400 nuns on the island and in the last five years, just over 200 have disappeared. confirming a downward trend recorded for decades. The majority is over 70 years old and there is no generational renewal. This is the same trend observed throughout Spain where at least two convents are closed every month.
Muro, Sa Cabaneta, Marratxinet, Sineu, Mancor, Binissalem, Valldemossa, Petra y Porreres, Costitx, Sant Llorenç, Esporles, Búger, Sant Joan, Pòrtol, Portocolom…. These are just a few of the towns that have closed their convents due to lack of nuns.
Today there are six cloistered convents throughout Mallorca, most of them in Palma: Santa Clara, las Tereses, Santa Magdalena, Sant Jeroni de Inca, las Salesas and Caputxines.
