The Dominican order had arrived to Catania by the 13th-century. By 1313 they had a church and convent near the site of the Castello Ursino. Wishing to clear the space adjacent to the castle, by 1405, King Martin I of Sicily, had the buildings razed, and the priests were granted a palace seized from Blasco de Alagona, and the adjacent church at this site called "Santa Maria la Grande", titled to the Marian veneration of Santa Maria ad Nives centered around Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. A convent was completed by 1640. This church and convent were severely damaged by the 1693 earthquake, and reconstruction began in the next century with the patronage of Vincenzo Paterno Castello. In 1866, the order was suppressed and the convent to the right of the church facade was used by the military. After having the buildings restored to the Dominicans, the monks built in 1904 a new convent wing behind the church. In the city of Catania, there was a second Dominican convent, this one for women, dedicated to St Catherine of Alexandria.