The construction of this convent and church was granted by D. João I in 1400, and was quite laborious, lasting throughout the 15th century.
D. Constança de Noronha, second wife of D. Afonso de Bragança and first Duchess of Bragança, a highly devout person, dedicated herself to various charitable works after the death of her husband, devoting special attention to this Convent and its growth, and was buried here in front of the main altar. The great reforms of the 18th century took place inside the church, transforming the sober Franciscan temple into a Baroque style church, with one of the most notable gilded altarpieces of Joanine carving (Baroque period) in Guimarães, combined with the admirable tile panels, evoking the life and miracles of Saint Anthony.
The Sacristy is also worth a closer look, with a ceiling made up of painted panels and housing a valuable collection of sacred art. Another space worth mentioning is the Chapter House, a Gothic building from the 14th century, where the doorway and the windows facing the outside stand out. An austere and harmonious cloister, a work dating from 1591.
With the extinction of the religious orders in 1834, the church passed into the hands of the Third Order of St. Francis. However, the convent served as a barracks, court and also a military hospital until, in 1875, it was again handed over to the Third Order of St. Francis, to which it still belongs, with part of the building serving as a residence for the elderly. In front of the church, there is a cross and two sculptures, one of St. Gualter, patron of the city’s Gualterian festivals, and the other of St. Francis, two Franciscan disciples who lived in Guimarães in the 13th century.