Completed in the 18th century, the church belongs to a monastery founded by Franciscan friars from the island of Visovac (see p.62). The monastery was an important centre of learning, teaching philosophy and theology from 1669. One of its former teachers was Andrija Kaćič-Miošić (1704-1760), the Franciscan friar famous for penning Pleasant Conversation of the Slav People, one of the first popular histories of the Croatian nation. Just west of the monastery along Kačićeva and up some steps is the Lourdes Grotto, an artificial cave holding a statue of the Virgin Mary. It was built in imitation of the cave near Lourdes in France where the Virgin is said to have appeared to a local girl in 1858.