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Located next to the Holy Staircase, the oratory was granted in the late 17th century by the custodians of San Lorenzo in Palatio to the Archconfraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, founded by Pope Alexander VI in 1493, which had not yet found a stable and lasting seat. Renovation work on the premises began immediately by Fortunati, who, however, undermined the foundations of the Sancta Sanctorum, risking its collapse. Only in the middle of the 18th century, by the architects Giuseppe and Filippo Sforza Cesarini, was the construction of the oratory completed.

The interior of the oratory has a rectangular floor plan. A valuable work of art is a 12th-century panel depicting the Madonna of the Joys. Restoration work in the first half of the 20th century brought to light frescoes from the 5th and 6th centuries. Among these is a fresco of a toga-like person reading a series of verses in Latin written at his feet: this figure is interpreted as that of St. Augustine and if so, it would be the oldest image of the African doctor and theologian saint.