The church dates back to the second half of the 13th century and was founded, together with an adjacent hospital, by the teutonic Knights, thus explaining the name "Alemanna", by which it is still known. The knights set up their priory here and used the hospital to receive and tend veterans from the Holy Land. Only a small trace of the ancient hospital remains, in the form of a lancer arch and a fragment of wall near the apses of the church. The church itself, abandoned by the knights at the end of the 14th century, was struck by lightning at the beginning of the 17th century, and was  further damaged in the earthquake of 1783, which caused the facade to collapse.
Today it is under restoration, after having been dismantled stone by stone to allow consolidation. The regional museum contains a fine portal from this church which is the purest example of Gothic architecture in Sicily, since it was built using entirely German methods.
The knights hospital, which later passed to the Confraternita dei Rossi, admitted a famous patient after the battle of Lepanto in 1571, in the person of the great Miguel Saavedra Cervantes.