The first Catholic Church in Malacca was "Our Lady of the Annunciation," built by the Portuguese viceroy and military commander Afonso de Albuquerque at the bottom of the Hill near the colonial castle A Famosa in 1511.

Coelho built the chapel as an act of gratitude following his escape from a Chinese fleet during a storm in the South China Sea.

The chapel was demolished in 1566 and the Jesuits built a new church named Nossa Senhora da Annunciada (Our Lady of the Annunciation).

This church had three altars dedicated to Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the Eleven Thousand Virgins, and the Good Infant Jesus.

[1] A burial vault was opened in 1592 and many people of distinction were buried there, including Pedro Martins, the second Bishop of Funay, Japan.

Francisco Peres and Brother Roque de Oliveira, established a school in the premises of the chapel known as St. Paul's College.

This consists mainly of a lantern and gallery mounted on an arched base and is solely accessible from ground level via a small ladder.

It is an approximately 13-metre (43 feet) high, three-storey square white tower, which adopted basic elements from neoclassical architecture with no outbuildings, assuming an angular form different from many of its cylindrical and cone shaped counterparts throughout the region.

[3] In 1953, a statue of St. Francis Xavier was erected in front of the ruins of the church in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of his sojourn in Malacca.