Bilbao. The Convent of San Francisco de Bilbao was built around 1475 at the of the Guardian of the seraphic convent of San Mamés de Abando. The church was Gothic in style with Mudejar influences. It had beautiful filigree ogives and several burial places. Everything disappeared with the vicissitudes of the last century, ending up as barracks around 1928. It was the initiative of the Franciscan fathers that in 1731 a bridge was built over the estuary, with a single arch and so high that it allowed boats to pass over it. Two years later it was washed away by a great flood. The current convent of the missionaries Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, built in the last decade of the last century, has replaced the old San Francisco convent in the popular Bilbao neighbourhood. The Convent of San Antonio de Bilbao was set up in the Iralabarri neighbourhood after the respective licences were obtained in 1929. The Definitory was convened in San Sebastián by the Minister Provincial and met on 16 September of that year, agreeing to acquire the land suitable for the construction. In another meeting on 31st January, the aforementioned acquisition was definitively agreed. Once the convent was built, it was inaugurated on 2 March 1930 with 2 priests and 1 layman. This inauguration meant the return of the Franciscan fathers to Bilbao after 96 years of forced absence. Two and a half years later, the family of the founder of the neighbourhood offered their own house as a residence because the one they had built was insufficient. The move took place on 24 September 1932, although the inauguration of the new chapel took place the following day with great solemnity. The ever-increasing number of visitors made it necessary to build a new chapel in the garden level, making the three into one, which the provincial prelate inaugurated on 7 December 1933 for the service of the various Franciscan-Anthonian associations. In 1933, the convent had 5 priests and 2 laymen.