The church was located in Rome's Borgo rione, on the east side of Piazza Scossacavalli, its facade facing west and opposite the Palazzo dei Convertendi.

When Helena (mother of Constantine the Great) returned from her trip to the Holy Land, she brought back two stone relics: one from the presentation of Jesus at the Temple and one on which Abraham bound Isaac.

[3][5] The church had an ancient origin: during the Middle Ages it was dedicated to the Redeemer (Italian: Salvatore), and was called San Salvatoris de Coxa Caballi in the papal bulls of Sergius I (r. 687–701) and Leo IV (r.

[3] According to some sources, the church could be identified with San Salvatore de Bordonia; a bordone was the staff borne by pilgrims coming to St.

On a windy evening of 1506, a Carmelite coming from the old Santa Maria in Traspontina church (lying near Castel Sant'Angelo), followed by a lay brother bearing a candle, was bringing the sacramental bread to a sick person.

The Carmelites assigned it to a chapel in Santa Maria in Traspontina, and in 1513 Pope Leo X (r. 1513–21) acknowledged the association, which in 1520 moved to San Giacomo.

[9] The confraternity was committed to provide a doctor and barber to the poor of the parish, and each Holy Thursday in the church it exhibited a wax sculpture of the crucified Christ.

[9] The association's duties and privileges increased; each year beginning in 1580, the brothers gave four poor parish girls a white dress and twenty-five scudi as a dowry.

[9] In 1590, Pope Sixtus V (r.1585–90) gave the archconfraternity the privilege of setting free each year a person condemned to death..[9] Shortly after their assignment to San Giacomo, the brethren started to reconstruct it, choosing as architect Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, but due to lack of funds its facade was still unfinished in 1590.

[13] The church's artistic importance is primarily due to its design by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and its frescoes and paintings, particularly those by the Piemontese mannerist painter Giovanni Battista Ricci and his students.

[5] When Antonio da Sangallo was commissioned to rebuild the church, his main problem was its shape; its width, facing Piazza Scossacavalli, was longer than its depth (along Borgo Vecchio).

[10] When the facade was completed high plinths, consisting of a tympanum with a large panel adorned with frescoes and outlined by a mixtilinear frame, were added at the base of the pilasters.

[10] The facade was adorned with frescoes of sacred subjects, including "faked figures of yellow Saints made of golden metal" attributed to Giovanni Guerra or Cristoforo Ambrogini.

On its vault were paintings of four Doctors of the Church (Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine and Gregory the Great), and its walls were adorned with frescoes by Cristoforo Ambrogini[11][14] (or Ambrogi).

[16] The second chapel, dedicated to San Giacomo, had a statue (later replaced by a painting) of the saint above the altar[12] and was the burial place for members of the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament.

[12] The Ardicini cardinals had the image painted on the facade of their palace in Borgo Sant'Angelo,[12] and it was venerated by the local people because of a number of miracles attributed to her intercession.

[12] On the altar was an African-marble tabernacle by Giovanni Battista Ciolli,[12][15] and to the right of the entrance was a holy water font presented to the church in 1589 by Francesco Del Sodo (a member of the archconfraternity).