The Convent of São Francisco, originally designated the Convent of Nossa Senhora da Vitória (which pertained to the Order of Saint Francis), located in the Largo of Nossa Senhora da Conceição, in the civil parish of Vila do Porto, municipality of the same name on the island of Santa Maria, in the Portuguese in the Azores. History In friar Agostinho de Monte Alverne's Crónicas da Província de São João Evangelista, the clergyman suggested that Father Manuel da Esperança had indicated that there were three explanations leading to the establishment of the first convent on the island of Santa Maria. In the only one identified, he recounted how Esperança had recounted that immediately after its discovery, clergy were sent to populate the island. These first clergy were joined by others, forming a prelate community. But since they did not have "religious leave" to practice the faith by the Holy See, they approached Pope Nicholas V, who issued a papal writ on 28 April 1450. Yet, the community, being very small and the residents poor, they could not support a formal diocese and the congregation quickly evaporated. The location of the convent was also identified by Gaspar Frutuoso, who believed that the first clergy on the island, remained along the northern coast, around Santa Ana, near Nossa Senhora dos Anjos (since the islets in the north were referred to as the ilhéus do Frade, or islets of the monk). Monte Alverne determined that in the churchyard of the current convent, that an older hermitage dedicated to Nossa Senhora de Nazaré (Our Lady of Nazareth) was constructed of hay and used for religious celebrations, and that the convent was used to lodge the monks. As the population of the island grew, the more the small hermitage became too small to support the growing community. The founders of the Convent, friar Manuel do Corpo Santo and Father António da Piedade, arrived on the island on 17 September 1607. Part of the land used to erect the primitive convent was donated at the end of the 16th century by nobleman António Coelho (a squire in the house of King Duarte), and his wife Catarina Vaz Velho, whom he married in Vila do Porto. The construction of the convent was approved in 1607, and building began on 27 October. As Monte Alverne noted: "It is this convent, dedicated to the Holy Virgin of Victory, whose image