The church was built by the University of Goldsmiths and Silversmiths, next to the palace that still houses the Nobil Collegio degli Orefici e Argentieri of Rome, between 1509 and 1575, based on an initial design by Raphael, and completed with the contribution of Baldassarre Peruzzi and Aristotele da Sangallo. The church underwent several reconstructions due to the continuous flooding of the nearby Tiber.
The original façade collapsed in 1601 and was rebuilt in 1620 by Giovanni Maria Bonazzini, completing Flaminio Ponzio's designs.
The interior is in the shape of a Greek cross, with a hemispherical dome on a drum attributed to Baldassarre Peruzzi. The frescoes in the apse are by Matteo da Lecce (Madonna between Saints Stephen, Lawrence and Eligius) and Taddeo Zuccari (Prophets and Apostles); in the side altars are a Nativity by Giovanni de Vecchi on the left, and an Adoration of the Magi by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli on the right.
From 1722 is the funeral monument to Giovanni Giardini di Forlì, academician of St. Luke, silversmith of the Apostolic Palaces and chaplain of the congregation, originally buried in the nearby Church of Death.
In 1730, a copy of the plaque in memory of a valiant and illustrious brother was placed there in memory of Bernardino Passeri, a Roman goldsmith and one of the founders of the sodality, who died fighting with the Landsknechts in the Borgo in 1527, during the sack of Rome. The original is still in Via dei Penitenzieri.