The Capuchin Monastery with the Church of St. Anne was built in Škofja Loka in 1707. A few years later, the church was consecrated.

The main guiding principle in the life of the monastery was to contemplate the Christ’s suffering. The Capuchins used the popular Passion processions and Lent sermons to bring their religion closer to the congregants.

From the very beginning, the library formed the part of the monastery. Its collection was significantly extended in 1786 when it was supplemented with the books from the then shut down Capuchin monastery in Kranj. Apart from numerous rare and valuables items, it also keeps the famous manuscript of the Škofja Loka Passion Play (Processio Locopolitana) which was written by the Capuchin father Romuald Štandreški – Lovrenc Marušič (1676–1748) in 1721. Born in Štandrež near Gorica, the Father Romuald worked as a preacher and magister processionis in Škofja Loka between 1715 and 1727.

The Škofja Loka Passion Play is considered the oldest preserved drama text in the Slovene language. It is a unique testimony to the medieval-baroque dramatisation of the formal language of that time. The manuscript is also the only fully preserved directorial Passion book in Europe from the beginning of the 18^th century.

The Passion is written in the form of 863 rhyming verses which in 13 images depict the Easter scenes and other stories from the Old Testament as well as various allegoric themes.
13 images of the Škofja Loka Passion Play: Paradise, Death, Last Supper, Samson, Way of the Cross, Flagellation, Crowning, Hieronimo, Ecce Homo, Crucifixion, Lady of Seven Sorrows, Ark of the Covenant, Holy Sepulchre.

It is written in three languages: the roles to be performed by the actors are written in the Slovene language, the annexes and stage directions are written in Latin, and the notes are written in German.

The Passion Play took place in the streets and squares. Individual groups depicting the scenes moved forward – partially on foot, partially on carts or horses – through the town centre of Škofja Loka. The play required at least 278 actors in costumes who came from the Škofja Loka guilds and nearby villages.

In the beginning, the lion’s share of the organisational activities was taken over by the author of the Passion Play himself. He was appointed the steward of the procession meaning he had to prepare everything, appoint the actors for individual scenes, send the invitations to parish priests and determine the order of the procession scenes.

The procession convinced the congregants with its glorious and colourful nature as well as with the multitude of those involved in the making of it. In the period of the Catholic renewal, it was used as means of encouraging religious enthusiasm with the aim to underpin the morality of the Church and its preachers.

The text of the Škofja Loka Passion Play was created on the basis of tradition of penitence processions taking place in towns. These evolved from the medieval liturgy processions which were known across Europe as early as in the High Middle Ages. The Škofja Loka Passion Play combines the medieval and baroque performance elements.

Just like in the times of Father Romuald, nowadays too, the Škofja Loka Passion Play is performed in Lent and Easter time in the form of a procession taking place in the streets and squares of the old town centre of Škofja Loka. The groups of performers move through the town performing individual Easter scenes and other stories from the Old Testament as well as other allegoric themes.

In the 20^th century, the performances of the Passion Play were halted by World War 2. After the War, the political situation was not inclined to this type of performances. Despite this, the Play was performed a few times in the 20^th century, namely in the Slovene theatres and among the Slovene communities in Trieste, in the Carinthia Region in Austria and in a Slovene village in Buenos Aires. It was also broadcast on the Ljubljana Radio station.

 In 1936, the Škofja Loka Passion Play was performed in the courtyard of the town’s school in Škofja Loka. Entitled Škofja Loka Passion Procession it was prepared by Tine Debeljak and the director Pavle Okorn. There were 165 amateur actors from the town and the surrounding villages that participated in the performance, and around 5000 spectators watched it.

In the 70s and 80s of the previous century, they started reviving the Škofja Loka Passion Play. In the beginning, they only performed individual scenes. Later, however, they performed the entire text in the Church of St. Anne.

After Slovenia had gained independence, in 1992 the Škofja Loka Museum Society prepared the Blaznik’s debate evening to discuss the Škofja Loka Passion Play. A few years later, the Town of Škofja Loka adopted a decision to perform the Škofja Loka Passion Play in 1999.  In 1997, under the helm of the director Marjan Kokalj, extensive preparations began for the performance of the Passion Play in the old town centre of Škofja Loka with numerous participants. The Play was performed under the direction of Marjan Kokalj in 1999 and 2000, in 2009 it was directed by Borut Gartner, and in 2015 by Milan Golob.