When the Venetians landed on Crete as conquerors, they found the town of Chandax seat of the Archdiocese of Crete, with the imposing cathedral church of St. Titus dominating the town centre.

As bearers of the Catholic faith ever concerned at the power of the Orthodox population, the new colonists built Catholic churches and founded numerous Latin rite monasteries, which rapidly became centres for the propagation of the new doctrine they attempted to impose.

Venetian Candia was thus adorned with over one hundred churches of both faiths. An inventory dating from the closing years of Venetian rule lists 113 Orthodox churches and 17 Catholic ones.