San Francisco de Val de Deus is a Franciscan monastery founded in the early 13th century in Santiago de Compostela, located outside the walls of the old town of Santiago de Compostela, province of La Coruña, in a place known as Val de Deus. It was declared a Historic-Artistic Monument on 16 August 1896.
Tradition has it that Saint Francis of Assisi, on a pilgrimage to Compostela in 1214, was taken in by a family from Compostela. He was commissioned to build a monastery but when it was replied that there were no resources, a treasure near the hermitage of San Paio do Monte was shown that would allow him to carry out the work. Val de Deus was a piece of land owned by the Benedictine monastery of San Martiño Pinario, which was given in exchange for an annual basket of fish and which continued to be given until the end of the 18th century.
The original convent collapsed at the beginning of the 18th century and all that remains of it are the five pointed arches in the main cloister and the tomb of Cotolai. These arches were in the Chapter House, where Charles V held the Cortes de Santiago in 1520. The reconstruction, which entailed changing the orientation of the church, began in 1742, and it was not without problems, as the neighbours (especially the monks of San Francisco) complained about the magnitude of the work, which would take away light and ventilation and would also occupy land belonging to the monks of San Martín. The dispute was settled by lowering the height of the Franciscan church.
The work on the new church followed the plans given by Simón Rodríguez, although the slow pace of the work meant that the participation of the other masters meant that some substantial changes had to be made.
The ground plan of the church corresponds to the "Jesuit" type, in the form of a rectangle in which a Latin cross is inscribed. The Baroque façade was designed in the 18th century by Simón Rodríguez and its size makes it stand out in the surrounding area. The atrium is several metres below street level at one end, and in front of it, flush with the street, stands a monument to San Francisco by Francisco Asorey in 1926.