Wow, I can’t believe it, found me a gem in my vault of pictures of my dear Madrid, Glad to share it with the world for me and you, This is of course, new text,links, pics in my blog and glad to find it, Part of my ever ending walks in the City stumbled upon this beauty and now in my blog, This is really visitable, the Church of the Immaculate Conception and Saint Pedro Claver or Iglesia de la inmaculada Concepcion y San Pedro Claver, Hope you enjoy it as I
The Church of the Immaculate Conception and Saint Pedro Claver is located in the former College of Areneros, and is today the headquarters of ICADE of the Pontifical University of Comillas located at Calle de Alberto Aguilera, 23,Madrid. This building was built by the Society of Jesus in neo-Mudejar style, characterized by the use of brick to form creative decorative figures. The building suffered a fire in 1931 and was rehabilitated for teaching after the Spanish Civil War. On October 11, 1941, the new church was inaugurated. The building occupies the entire block bounded by the streets Mártires de Alcalá, Alberto Aguilera, Baltasar Gracián, and Calle Santa Cruz de Marcenado which is the main facade of the temple.
The church, under the invocation of the Immaculate Conception and Saint Pedro Claver, is arranged in three naves, a central one 33 meters long, and two lateral ones, with the presbytery and the two altars of the lateral naves raised above the floor of the naves. and at the same level as the rest of the church. Among the solemn austerity of the interior, the neo-Gothic altarpiece stands out, in which the image of the Immaculate Conception presides and is the patron saint of the old school and is made up of eight levels guarded by pinnacles and sheltered by golden Gothic canopies, in which the scenes are narrated. main aspects of the life of the Virgin Mary. Also noteworthy is the tabernacle of the Santísimo chapel
We all know the Virgin Mary and the Immaculate Conception but who is Saint Pedro Claver? Well he is known as the slave of slaves, a person dedicated to the most vulnerable of his time. The story of Pedro Claver Corberó (b Verdun France,1580 ;d, Cartagena de Indias,Colombia 1654), transports us to the Cartagena de Indias of his time, a veritable hotbed of slavers, pirates and inquisitors. St Pedro Claver is an example of love for the poorest and most marginalized. He heroically faced human trafficking, and gave his life to attend to the slaves that arrived at the port, recognizing Jesus in those who were not even considered people. He went to the holds of the ships where they were brought overcrowded and to the warehouses where they were put, to help them, heal them and teach them catechism. When making his perpetual vows, he stamped next to his signature the motto of his life: “Pedro Claver, slave of blacks forever.”
A bit on what is there today,of course not travel related but still can be visited. The current configuration of the Comillas Pontifical University has its origin, on the one hand, in the Comillas Pontifical Seminary and University in Santander, and on the other, in the Catholic Institute of Arts and Industries, ICAI, in Madrid. On December 16, 1890, several personalities and His Holiness Leo XIII welcomed the projects, erected in the Cantabrian town of Comillas, to create a seminary for the formation of candidates for the priesthood from the Spanish and Latin American dioceses. and from the Philippines, whose management was entrusted to the Society of Jesus. In the early sixties, the representative of the Holy See in Spain, as high patron of the institution, in the name of the Holy Father, suggested the transferring the university from Comillas to Madrid and promoted the realization of this project, with the intention of expanding its influence in the up-to-date formation of candidates for the priesthood and offering the possibility for lay Christians to also benefit from the study of ecclesiastical sciences and others related to them Since January 24, 1969, the transfer is done gradually, The Catholic Institute of Arts and Industries (ICAI) in Madrid, for its part, has its origins in a School of Mechanics and Electricity that began in 1908. Its purpose was to train the personnel who work in factories in this specialty Christianly and technically. The proximity of both institutions in Madrid, the fact that they are both run by the Society of Jesus and the complementarity of their studies gave rise to the idea of their union, through the incorporation of ICAI-ICADE studies to the Comillas Pontifical University., and then many more additions until 2020,latest info.
It has the main campus in Madrid, but also branches in Cantoblanco and Ciempozuelos (both in the Comunidad de Madrid region) . It is one of the best-known private universities in Spain. Thus, of the 50 best CEOs in Spain according to Forbes, 20% were Comillas alumni. In 2021, of the CEOs of IBEX 35 companies (sort of dow jones), 17% studied at Comillas, 3% at ICAI and 3% at ICADE, The univ is at no 21, 23, 25, and 32 Calle Alberto Aguilera st and no 26 Calle Santa Cruz de Marcenado street, Also, sides at no 4 Calle Rey Franciscoand 2 Calle Francisco de Ricci. The Cantoblanco campus occupies numbers No 3-5 Calle Universidad de Comillas, The Ciempozuelos campus is located at no 1 Avenida de San Juan de Dios.
The official museum of the Cathedral of Almudena on the Church: https://museo.catedraldelaalmudena.es/iglesia-de-la-inmaculada-y-san-pedro-claver-de-icade/
The official Comillas University has a lot more https://www.comillas.edu/en/university/about-us/history-and-company-of-jesus
There you go folks, a dandy off the beaten path monument of my dear Madrid, Never tired of finding these gems in my vault or while visiting, Madrid to heavens and a hole above to look down on it everyday, YES !! Hope you enjoy this interesting monument ,the Iglesia de la Inmaculada Concepcion y San Pedro Claver de Madrid as I
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 
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