King Afonso Henriques founded the Augustinian house around 1147. Philip II of Spain ordered the present reconstruction after the 1580 succession crisis. The church was built from 1582 to 1629, and the article says Filippo Terzi or Juan de Herrera is thought to have designed it. Baltazar Álvares is credited with the facade, which it calls Mannerist. The interior follows the Gesù in Rome, with barrel vaulting and a large dome over the crossing. The altarpiece is Baroque, by Joaquim Machado de Castro.
The 1755 earthquake damaged the church.
Other monastery buildings were finished in the 18th century, and 18th-century azulejo tiles line the interior and cloister. After 1834 the complex became a palace for the archbishops of Lisbon. King Ferdinand II later turned the refectory into a pantheon for the Braganza kings.
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