The early Baroque single-nave Church of St. Joseph, is an example of a Protestant tower-less hall church. This construction characteristic reflects the many eventful decades of the fight for religious freedom. The 16th century was a period of religious disputes. The ideas of moderate Catholicism and church reformation affected many townspeople, and thus the first Calvinist preacher was called to Trnava in 1560. Supporters of the new teaching, mostly from among richer Burghers of Hungarian nationality, provided preachers their own houses and set up their own school in 1603. When Gabriel Betlen, the Prince of Transylvania, conquered Trnava in 1619, he tried to establish a Calvinist intellectual centre as opposition to Jesuit re-Catholisation efforts. He set up an academy in order to provide Calvinist youth with university education. However, after several months he had to move it to Košice, where it was eventually closed. However, a lower school existed on Paulínska Street until the 1670s. The Calvinist religious community only had a wooden chapel at the beginning. Construction of the brick church started in 1635, however it was not completed until 1646 as a result of repeated restrictions. In the end, it was taken from the Calvinists due to the town´s intense anti-reformation policy, and was given to the Pauline Order in 1671. Paulists settled in Trnava in the second half of the 17th century, and they at first resided in the house of the Erdödy family on Halenárska Street. At the same time, they bought two houses in the neighbourhood where they built their own monastery in 1719 (which was adapted to a block of flats after World War II.). The former Calvinist church was dedicated to St. Joseph at the end of the century. Sebastian Jäger from Gleiwitz created the main altar in 1699, and a beautiful pulpit - the work of Pauline friar Gregor - was incorporated three years later. The interior was gradually equipped with five Baroque side altars. In 1701, the Chapel of the Virgin Mary of Loreto was added on the northern side, and a small wooden tower was erected later.

 

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