[1] The church was built on top of the Monte Santo (Holy Hill), between 1597 and 1602 by Augustinian friars who landed in Goa in 1587.

The body collapsed soon after and by 1871, the bell was moved from the tower to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church in Panjim, where it remains to date.

[1][4] In the late 1980s, archaeologists from the Soviet Union and Georgia began efforts to trace the relics of Ketevan the Martyr, a Georgian queen who had delivered herself as a hostage to Shah Abbas I and was martyred on 13 September 1624 for refusing to deny her faith; the relics were believed to be in Goa.

The studies showed the presence of the U1b Human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup in the bones, which is absent in India, besides revealing that it belonged to a woman.

[3] A multimedia board game about the excavation project, called The Travelling Hand was made by documentary filmmaker Gayatri Kodikal.