The first records, dating from the 9th century (833–860), are related to the Frankish king Charles the Bald and the monastery of Sant Medir (Sant Gregori, Gironès). By 1080 it is already documented as a parish, which included, until the 18th–19th centuries, the territory and the castle of Anglès. The church of the Cellera is the most significant historic building, as it is the origin of the formation of the urban centre as a medieval “sagrera” or “cellera”. The Romanesque building appears to have suffered some damage during the earthquakes of 1427.

Among the notable elements inside the church are the funerary tomb of 1348 and the commemorative slab of Galzeran Olmera (1597).

Between 1620 and 1627 there was a temporary parish “independence” of the Doma of Anglès, although the competent tribunal in Rome ruled in favour of the appeal filed by the rector of the Cellera and a canon from Girona, and Anglès lost its own parish status. This is recorded on a rectangular slab located on the south façade of the temple. The parish of Santa Maria de Sales currently includes the Hermitage of Saints Just and Pastor, the oratories of Sant Pelegrí and Sant Benet de Palermo, and also the Chapel of the Carmelite convent at the Carmelite Sisters convent Vedruna. The current appearance of the temple originates from 17th-century reforms (1627–1645), when the building was extended westwards with the present apse, the orientation of the “communidor” of the Tower of the Witches or Bad Weather was changed, and the bell tower and façade were modified.