This was the house and hospital of the Antonine order, established in the city around the year 1215, making it one of the oldest in the Iberian Peninsula. This order, officially recognized from 1218, was dedicated to caring for those afflicted by the ergotism or Saint Anthony’s fire, a common ailment in that period. In 1278, the Commandery of Sant Antoni was founded on the same site where the former hospital stood.
It became a prestigious institution, favoured by monarchs, some of whom even stayed there; records mention rooms known as the king’s chamber and the queen’s chamber. However, the house entered into decline from the 14th century, and there was even an attempt to relocate it to Barcelona, which led to ongoing legal disputes. In 1434, under the leadership of Commander Berenguer Blanca, the institution played a decisive role in the foundation of the Convent of Sant Antoni de Barcelona.
The order remained in Cervera until 1787, although it had ceased all activity as early as 1738. The hospital, along with its income, was transferred to the Hospital of Castelltort, an old institution founded by Berenguer de Castelltort († 1393). According to the date inscribed on its façade, the current church was built in 1787, reusing earlier elements, at a time when the convent had already been dissolved and the church was under the care of the administrators of the Sant Crist.
Detail of Planta de la Ciudad de Cervera y de sus Contornos (1712)
Biblioteca Virtual de Defensa
Attached tower
South portal
Saint Francis of Paola
- CORTS, Josep (1723-40). Estado antiguo y moderno de la ciudad de Cervera. Manuscrit. Arxiu Comarcal de la Segarra
- DURAN I SANPERE, Agustí (1977). Llibre de Cervera. Barcelona: Curial
- FELIU DE LA PEÑA, Narciso (1709). Anales de Cataluña, vol. 2. Barcelona: J. Surià
- GAVÍN, Josep M. (1987). Inventari d'esglésies. Vol. 20. Segarra, Urgell. Barcelona: Arxiu Gavín
- SABATÉ, Flocel (1997). Sant Antoni. Catalunya romànica. Vol. XXIV. Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana
Today, the Church of Ant Antoni stands next to the University, just north of it