M. Lima claims to be unaware of the date of its foundation, although he adds that the parish was created in 1600 by Diogo Rixão and Beatriz Alvernaz, precisely at the time of the parish's creation.
This church, which presented itself as a beautiful and exotic temple that had been inaugurated in 1934, was destroyed by the strong earthquake of July 9, 1998, which caused a lot of damage, not only on the island of Faial, but also on the island of Pico and on the island of São Jorge.
It dates back to a primitive church, certainly smaller in size, about which nothing is known other than that it was very old, as it is mentioned in a document from 1568, which deals with the elevation of the congrues of the island of Faial. It was one of the temples looted and burned down in Horta, in August 1597, by Sir Walter Raleigh, of the fleet under the command of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and was rebuilt at the expense of the Royal Treasury.
It dates back to a primitive thatched hermitage, built on land belonging to Jorge Withon, a coeval member of the island's settlement. It was one of the temples looted and burned down in Horta, in August 1597, by Sir Walter Raleigh, of the fleet under the command of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex.
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