The construction of this temple, one of the oldest in Mexico City, began in the middle of the 16^th Century, when a small hermitage was founded by the Dominican friars in the place where the indigenous population of Tenanitla used to be, and which later became the town of San Angel, now immersed within Mexico City.

In 1580, said hermitage became a church and its functions were separated from the ones of the Temple of Saint John the Baptist which stood in the near village of Coyoacán, also founded by the Dominicans. These friars also installed several systems that used the waterfalls close to San Angel to activate the thread-spinning machines.

This church has a large but austere nave, common for the time, which contrasts with the colorfulness of the beautiful gardens of its atrium, in which one of the first stone crosses built in Mexico can be found, and in which Christian and pagan elements combine as interpreted by the pre-Hispanic people, giving us a glimpse of their artistic traditions.