At the same time the King of Portugal, Manuel I (reigned 1495–1521), sent to Venice for a relic of St. Roch, the patron saint of plague victims, whose body had been translated to that city in 1485.

The king wanted a new monumental building with three naves but the Society favored a plan more in keeping with the principles enunciated by the Council of Trent, emphasizing simplicity and functionality.

The plan of church is simple and spacious — a wide single nave, a shallow squared apse, virtually no transept, and raised pulpits between recessed galleries over side chapels.

The simple and sober exterior of the church, characteristic of the Portuguese “plain style” (estilo chão) contrasts with the highly decorated Baroque interior with its glazed tiles, gilt woodwork, multi-colored statues and oil paintings.

Nine years later, by a Royal Charter dated 8 February 1768, the property was given to the Lisbon Holy House of Mercy, whose original church and administrative buildings were destroyed by the 1755 earthquake.

The church continues to function, and part of the Jesuit residence was turned into a museum (the Museu de São Roque) late in the 19th century.

The decoration of the Igreja de São Roque is the result of several phases of activity throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, reflecting the ideals of either the Society of Jesus or, as in the case of the chapels, the respective brotherhoods or confraternities.

Around the upper story of the nave is a cycle of oil painting depicting the life of Ignatius of Loyola (c. 1491 – 1556), founder of the Society of Jesus, attributed to Domingos da Cunha, the Cabrinha, a Jesuit painter of the early 17th century.

The painted ceiling of the nave [8] is a trompe-l'œil [9] designed to give the illusion of barrel vaulting supported by four large arches covered in volutes and other decorative elements.

[10] The Baroque organ (with 1694 pipes) in the choir gallery over the main door was built in 1784 by António Xavier Machado e Cerveira and installed in the monastery church of São Pedro de Alcântara.

[13] The composition of the altar piece, with long proportions and decorative austerity, includes sets of paired Corinthian columns mounted in two levels.

[17] On the upper level is a niche for the exhibition of the Holy Sacrament — the “throne” (a characteristic Portuguese invention) usually covered by a large oil painting of a New Testament scene which changes according to the religious season.

The three martyrs are probably St. Paul Miki, St. John Soan de Goto, and St. Diogo (or James) Kisai (or Kizayemon), Jesuit brothers or "temporal coadjutor" in Japan.

[21] The tomb consists of a lead box covered with a grey marble gravestone with copper inlay, an inscription, and the Almeida coat of arms crowned by the patriarch́s tiara.

[30] The painting on the left side wall, The Appearance of the Angel to St. Roch (late 16th century), is considered to be one of the finest works by the Mannerist painter Gaspar Dias (c. 1560 – 1590).

The breccia marble on the lower third of the walls was executed by the Lisbon master masons José Freire and Luís dos Santos and finished in 1719.

[42] The design revolves around a central representation of “Calvary” surrounded by a “lace” of angels in upholstered wood on a bas-relief background made of plaster painted with tempera and gilt that probably represents Jerusalem.

In this case, these saints act like spectators of the central scene: Calvary and the Pietà against a scenic background painted on the panel that closes the altar piece.

The monumental sacrarium with a painting of Our Lady of Pain[45] and the “lace” of angels surrounding the rays from the crucifix are typical elements of the Lisbon school of decoration.

[46] On the side walls are several niches housing reliquaries from the collection of D. João de Borja, framed and flanked by two pairs of caryatids, allegorical and theatrical figures characteristic of early-18th-century taste.

[49] The assembly of the mosaic panels depicting the Baptism of Christ and Pentecost were not completed until August 1752, two years after the death of John V. The chapel introduced the then new rocaille or rococo style into Portugal.

[50] The decorative elements of rocaille inspiration — festoons, garlands, angels — combined with the classical austerity of the structural composition formed the basis of an evolving taste that would decide the future trends of Portuguese gilt woodwork.

Besides the architectural monument of the chapel itself, other pieces used in worship, with similar high technical and artistic quality, were created: church vestments, ornaments, lacework and books.

The inscription on the present tomb, translated, reads: Here stands the body of Master Francis Tregian, a very eminent English gentleman who — after the confiscation of his wealth and after having suffered much during the 28 years he spent in prison for defending the Catholic faith in England during the persecutions under Queen Elizabeth — died in this city of Lisbon with great fame for saintliness on December 25th, 1608.

D. João was able to assemble a first-rate collection of relics from, among other places, Rome, Hungary, Bohemia and Cologne which he brought back to the Escorial where he drew up a deed of gift to the Igreja de São Roque in 1587.

[58] The reliquaries at St. Roch are of different shapes, generally depending on the relic they house: arms, male and female torsos, urns, ostensories, chests.

The glass cases holding the reliquaries were created in 1898 at the time of the commemoration of the fourth centenary of the creation of the Sacra Casa da Misericórdia of Lisbon.

[64] At the centre of the alar piece is a highly dramatic sculpture with distinct Baroque characteristics of Our Lady of Mercy, or Pietà, in colourful upholstered wood of the 18th century.

The engraved silver manger is in the form of a reliquary and contains fragments of wood from the crib in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, given by Pope Clement VIII (1592–1605) to Fr.

[70] The cycle was completed in 1619, the year St. Francis Xavier was recognized as Blessed, and was part of a Jesuit propaganda program to promote his canonization (which finally occurred in 1622).