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Friar Anthony of Lisbon

In the Convent of Christ, the Order´s reform ordered by King John III had as its main figure Friar Antonio Moniz, better known as Brother Anthony of Lisbon.
This reform led to the largest campaign of works ever seen in the Tomar Convent, bringing back the Order of Christ to the purity it had walked away from, and imposing a new religious orientation from 1529.

The Order of Christ then became basically a cloistered order with a more appropriate rule to meeting rigorist requirements. The new rule imposed by Friar Anthony and a new charter were inspired by the Rule of St. Benedict, while adapted to the new times which heralded a need for renewal and betterment of the orders behaviour, so as to bring them back to a monastic purpose.
To carry out this project it was necessary to greatly expand the monastic spaces. Friar Anthony of Lisbon would closely supervise the works that King John III commissioned, on 6th of March of 1530, by letter to João de Castilho.
Three years later, João de Castilho signs the contract which included ten design plans and elevations.

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