On Ash Wednesday, February 24, 1132, the original twelve, along with sixty others who had joined them, made their profession of vows and received the habit.

They adopted the customs of the Canons Regular of St. Ruf and in addition to the choral office undertook the pastoral care of neighboring parishes.

In 1158 the Monastery of the Holy Martyr Romanus was burned by the Moors; the community of eight canons and their Prior perished.

Attempts at reform were made sporadically throughout the 15th and early 16th centuries, the result of which was the suppression or transference of many canonical houses to other orders.

By the end of the 18th century, the congregation had slipped into decadence, several houses had been suppressed and in 1791 the Commission to Examine Religious Orders closed almost all novitiates in Portugal.

In 1993, the Brazilian priest Frederico Cunha was found guilty of the murder in Madeira of a 15-year-old who resisted his homosexual advances and was imprisoned.

[7] In April 1998 he absconded to Brazil, from where he, as a Brazilian, could not be extradited to Portugal, but could have been subjected to a new trial, if the Portuguese government had requested it.