At a time when in Portugal the clergy was very numerous, many of its members faced great difficulties throughout their lives, so the concentration of all assistance in a single institution represented a remarkable volume of services and a dynamic that quickly made the insufficiency clear. of the initial facilities, located in a borrowed house: the Igreja da Misericórdia.

The urgent need for a space of its own made it possible to overcome the stigmas resulting from the peculiar neighborhood, and in 1731, when Dean Jerónimo de Távora and Noronha was president, a project for the new church was requested to Nicolau Nasoni, Italian artist from Siena, who worked at the Sé works and at Quinta dos Cónegos in Maia.

The work will start with the Church 1732-1749, with great difficulties due to the slope of the land, and problems with the weight of the façade on the foundations. The Casa da Irmandade and the Torre were built between 1750-1763, on an acquired land called "Adro dos Justiçados ou Enforcados".

With an elliptical centered plant, covered by a dome, it is an example of the granite baroque, already with Rococo influences. The Altar-mor 1767-1780 is made of marble stone of various colors, with the risk of Manuel dos Santos Porto.