In 1759 the Jesuits — implicated in a revolt of the nobility against King Joseph I and his prime minister, the Marquis de Pombal (1699–1782) — were expelled from Portuguese territory by Pombal and the Igreja de São Roque was confiscated along with the attached buildings and residences. Nine years later, by a Royal Charter dated 8 February 1768, the property was given to the Lisbon Holy House of Mercy, whose original church and administrative buildings were destroyed by the 1755 earthquake.