The Coming of the Franciscans to Venezuela in 1575

My dear friend, Father Carrocera, to whom the history of Venezuela and especially the history of the Franciscan Order in that country owes so much, had the happy idea of uniting in one article all that is known up to now, thanks in great part to the investigations of Father Carrocera himself, concerning the history of San Francisco in Caracas which, during almost three centuries as the center of the Franciscan Province of the Holy Cross of Hispaniola and Caracas, powerfully influenced the spiritual and cultural life of Venezuela. The church and friary of San Francisco not only are the best colonial monuments in Caracas but they are also witnesses of the most notable happenings and events of the republican period. In San Francisco of Caracas Bolivar received on October 14, 1814, the title of Liberator and in this church his remains were displayed in 1842 after they had been returned from San Pedro Alejandrino. The convent served until very recent times as the home of the University of Venezuela and at this moment it is the distinguished Palace of the Academies.