what is now known as San Juan Loma. Its early founding makes it one of the oldest monasteries in the Americas, and one of the first four Franciscan monasteries established in New Spain. It was dedicated to the Archangel Michael, who would eventually become the patron of the Spanish settlement of Huejotzingo and is the current patron of the modern municipality.

The current building is the third to have been built on the site. The first was a very modest construction that lasted from 1524 to 1529. In 1529,