The original name refers to a lost icon from a chapel which was found among some high grasses -referred to as tocha- during the time of the Reconquista.

The site was given to the Dominican order in 1523 by concession of Pope Adrian VI.

The old church was in disrepair and rebuilt in the 1890s in a Neo-Byzantine style designed by Fernando Arbós y Tremanti.

Adjacent to the church is the Pantheon of Illustrious Men or Panteón de Hombres Ilustres of Madrid.

It holds the remains of only a former president of the council of ministers, José Canalejas, however it also contains a number of interesting monuments from and just after the turn of the 19th century.