The church was built between 1695 and 1714, by the Society of Jesus, in line with the plans for the church of Gesù in Rome. It is the church of the College connected to it that the Jesuits owned in the city between 1650 and 1767, the year of their expulsion from Spain. This former Jesuit church was consecrated on 14 July 1714.

The choice of the site for the construction of the church was made in 1685. Pedro Monteagudo made the project, with the template of the church of Gesù (Rome). The church was transformed into a parish church in 1836, when it replaced the church of San Bartolomé el Viejo, which occupied the place where the main theatre of Pontevedra is today.

It is a large, solemn building and one of the few existing examples of Italian Baroque architecture in Galicia, very different from the Galician Baroque. With this church, the so-called international baroque was introduced in Galicia.

It has a Latin cross plan inscribed in a rectangle. The church has three naves with three sections and a transept with a main chapel between two sacristies. It is reminiscent of Italian churches such as the Gesù in Ferrara, the Gesù in Lecce or the Church of the Company in Venice, among others. The side naves are covered with groined vaults in sections and the main nave with a barrel vault. The dome is in pendentives. Inside, there are important sculptures from the Valladolid school, such as the Madalena Penitente and the Baroque school of Santiago de Compostela.

On the façade, the six large Doric columns, the towers and the upper pediment are characteristic of the Jesuit baroque style. The coat of arms of the Pimentel family is also exhibited here, as well as a large coat of arms of Spain in stone on the upper part.