After two years, however, the church and monastery passed to Irish Franciscans, who had fled Ireland due to British persecution, and it became the Saint Isidore's College, Rome ( or ) They were led by
Luke Wadding OFM, who also founded a school of studies which was recognised by Urban VIII's 1625 bull, becoming the
Pontifical Irish College, Rome.
Saint Patrick was also added to the monastery church's dedication. Wadding was able to attract to the college as professors some of the ablest members of the order at the time, all of them his countrymen. These included such men as
Hickey,
Patrick Fleming, and Ponce, and some years later Bonaventure Baron.
Francis O'Molloy succeeded Wadding at St. Isidore's. A Franciscan
novitiate was established in 1656 in Capranica near Sutri. The monastery was
dissolved for a time by Napoleon I and from 1810 to 1820 its monastic buildings housed the artistic colony known as the
Nazarenes. It became a monastery again after his defeat and it remains so to this day. The name of the street
Via degli Artisti, which runs along the convent, still commemorates its use by the artists' colony. At one point virtually every member of the Irish Franciscans (and Australian Franciscans which were part of the Irish Province) would have studied at some point in St Isidore’s. In 2008, the Master General of the Franciscan Order transferred the convent and activities of St. Bonaventure in Grottaferrata, with an important library, here. However, is to be maintained if possible. Today, while maintaining an Irish Franciscan presence, thirteen Franciscans from six countries reside at the monastery. ==Church==