Sancha and her sisters Teresa and Malfada were very wealthy, having inherited large estates after the death of their father in 1211.

Their brother, King Afonso II of Portugal contested ownership of his sisters' castles of Seia, Alenquer and Montemor-o-Novo and their right to use the title of queen.

Afonso wanted to centralize power and feared that this could create a problem of sovereignty that could come to divide the country.

Upon hearing that they planned to go to Morocco to preach the Gospel, she provided them with laymen's clothes so they could pass through Seville, which remained under Muslem rule.

[6] On 13 December 1705 she was beatified by Pope Clement XI's papal bull Sollicitudo Pastoralis Offici, along with her sister Theresa of Portugal.