Sister Margarita di Domenico of Sant’ Anna, Foligno established a community of female Franciscan tertiaries here in 1431.  It might initially have belonged to the federation based at Sant’ Anna, which was dissolved in 1461. 

The community of tertiaries at Santa Caterina was documented in 1533 in the context of a legal dispute with San Gregorio Maggiore.  In 1539, Pope Paul III transferred the sisters to the Order of Poor Clares and entrusted their spiritual direction to the Observant Franciscans at San Paolo inter Vineas.  Bishop Carlo Giacinto Lascaris suppressed the nunnery in 1717 and transferred the remaining nuns to San Gregorio Minore.

Francesco Collicola bought the site at auction in 1718 and opened a hospice here a dedication to St Charles Borromeo.  It moved to the present site of San Carlo Borromeo in 1747.