[1] By 1631, the Society of Jesus had established itself next door with the Collegio Romano, and sought to expand nearby to accommodate the active sodalities and lay congregations regularly meeting in the College.

[1][4] The oratory was originally dedicated to Santa Maria della Pietà (Our Lady of Pity) in addition to the great Jesuit missionary Saint Francis Xavier.

[1][5] One of the first purpose of the Oratory of St. Francis Xavier was the Missione Urbana, a Jesuit outreach funded by charitable donation, focused on the evangelization and catechesis of farmers and others who came into the Roman markets from the outlying farmlands, which lacked proper pastoral care.

Another that quickly gained appeal for the students of the Collegio Romano, and which met at the Oratory del Caravita, was the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin, founded in 1563 by a Belgian Jesuit, Jean Leunis.

Each had its own meeting space in the Oratory, but on Friday evenings all would come together for common devotions and formation with the Jesuits who studied or taught at the neighboring Collegio Romano.

Whereas monasteries and convents of monks and nuns were in the countryside, Ignatius and the early Jesuits were in the heart of the city where, alongside the elegant palazzi of Rome’s nobility, there was suffering and need.

It was here that Ignatius developed a strategic program for Jesuit ministries: hearing confessions, preaching, teaching, but also caring for the poor and victims of the plague, as well as ministering to prostitutes and steering them into houses of reformation.

[5] The second level has windows surmounted by unusual quadrilobal oval apertures and is crowned by a balustraded attic in which an iron cross is in the middle of four flamboyant travertine vases.

Caravita was completely rebuilt between 1670 and 1677, probably under the guidance of architect Giovanni Antonio de’Rossi, and was once again dedicated to Saint Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies, and the Madonna della Pietà as indicated in the inscription about the entrance on the Oratory’s façade.

[1] In the year 1670 as part of the restoration and in honor of the sacred image of the Mother of Mercy (Mater Pietatis), a fresco attributed to Baldassarre Peruzzi which came from the ancient Church of San Rocco all’Augusteo was donated to Caravita.

Caravita is mentioned in two ironic sonnets composed by Giuseppe Gioachino Belli: L’ineggno dell’Omo written in dialect (Romanesco) and Li frateli Mantelloni, on 18 and 19 December 1832.

In 2000, the Jesuits responsible for the Church of Sant’Ignazio sought to begin an English-language liturgy for pilgrims coming to Rome during the Great Jubilee Year.

Rather than simply offer an English Mass near the pantheon, the community's founding members sought to revive the original mission of the Oratory for the support and development of lay formation and ministry with an Ignatian spirituality and vision for outreach from the center of Christ and the Church to the frontiers and margins.

[19] The Caravita Community is known primarily for its commitment to hospitality for pilgrims and visitors, to quality liturgy marked by noble simplicity, and to ecumenical partnerships and outreach.

It has served as the site of services and welcome and farewell for the representatives to the Holy See of both the Anglican Communion and the World Methodist Council since 2008,[22] and other receptions such as that following Pope Francis' audience with the International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference in Rome in 2014.