Saint Peter of Alcántara was the great reformer of the Franciscan Order in the 16th century and a revolutionary thinker within the Church, to such an extent that he and Saint Teresa of Ávila are the only Spaniards to have their own statue in the Vatican. For this reason, and because of his Alcantarine origins, he is also the patron saint of Extremadura.

His apostolic work and his legacy were immeasurable, travelling throughout the Iberian Peninsula and even as far as Rome, and founding new convents wherever she went. But The Church of the Immaculate Conception in Palancar is his magnum opus, and not because of its size — in fact, it is known as the smallest convent in the world — but because of to symbolise its austere spirit like no other and for having conceived his *Treatise on Prayer and Meditation* here.

It really is striking to see just how tiny the cell was where he used to sleep and meditate, of his bed and the original cloister which is still preserved.