The construction of the San Francisco de Chelva convent dates from the end of the 14th century, being one of the first places where the Franciscan Observance was established in Spain. Its history must be placed in relation to other convents that constitute the origin of the Observant Custody of Aragon, the first in the peninsular territories. The cases of the proto-observant convents of San Francisco de Chelva (1373-1390), Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles de Manzanera (1373-1390), Santo Espíritu de Gilet (1402-1404) and Santa María de los Ángeles de Segorbe (1413-1415) is undoubted of extreme interest.
Among them, the case of Chelva deserves special attention, both for the importance of the architectural remains of the convent and for the interest in the original caves or hermitages that have survived to the present day. The church of San Francisco, attached to the convent, dates from the 16th century, in late Gothic style with a Renaissance façade. The monastery and the caves were connected by a spiritual path, which the monks walked in search of tranquillity and meditation in intense contact with nature.
All these proto-observant monasteries form a homogeneous model. They are original observant foundations with an early implantation chronology, linked to the will of the queens María de Luna and María de Castilla and of the Franciscan leaders Francesc Eiximenis first and Mateo de Agrigento later. The policy of royal patronage, the involvement of the friars as advisors to the royal family and also the interest of the medieval municipalities in these communities allow us to study how the Observance was promoted in the Crown of Aragon between the end of the 14th century and the beginning of the 15th century.