[1] According to tradition, the church received its name, from the picture of Our Lady which forms its coat of arms (the Blessed Virgin between two souls).

The church found its origin in 1350, when Johannes (Jan) and Katharina Peters of Dordrecht bought three houses and turned it into a private hospice for pilgrims, at the occasion of the Jubilee of 1350.

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Santa Maria dell'Anima became the national and religious centre as well as burial place in Rome of the Holy Roman Empire.

[5] Johann Burchard from Strasbourg joined the Confraternity of Santa Maria dell'Anima and rose to be its provost at the end of the 15th century.

Under the influence of the era's nationalism, in 1859 a priest college was founded, named the Collegio Teutonico di Santa Maria dell' Anima.

A project led by Tamara Scheer and Nikolaus Rottenberger with the support of the Austrian Ministry of Defense, has started in 2021 aiming to identify these soldiers.

[7] Later the institution served as a ratline to aid Nazi war criminals such as Gustav Wagner and Franz Stangl in their flight from justice.

Dutch Catholics retained the Anima as their national church, but after extended conflicts left it in 1939 (since 1992 the San Michele dei Frisoni near the Vatican has taken that role).

The inscriptions found in Santa Maria dell'Anima, a valuable source illustrating the history of the church, have been collected and published by Vincenzo Forcella.

[8] During the Second Vatican Council, Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, attempted to find lodging at the German pilgrim hostel at Santa Maria Dell'Anima, but was turned away due to no vacancy.