[3] In the middle of the Qing dynasty, anti-Catholic forces in Chinese society and the Catholic Church constantly clashed.

Bishop Meng Zhensheng rebuilt the establishment into a tall Gothic building at the original site of the North Church in 1864.

In 1887 the Gothic building was moved and rebuilt at its current location, at the request of the Guangxu Emperor, who needed the original space near the Forbidden City to create the Zhongnanhai Park.

The cathedral's present cast iron Gothic architectural style and elaborate grey marble facade was built in 1890, under the direction of Lazarist missionary Bishop Pierre-Marie-Alphonse Favier (1837–1905), who designed it.

[9][10][11] Its defence was led by Pierre-Marie-Alphonse Favier (1837–1905), the Vicar Apostolic of the Roman Catholic Church's North Chihli Province, and architect of the cathedral.

[14] Martin explains: Not until the siege was raised, however, had we any conception of the severity of the conflict that devoted band had to wage in order to keep the enemy at bay; for from us, though separated only by an interval of two miles in a direct line, they were cut off from communication as completely as if they had been situated at the north pole.

Believing the church would be attacked by the Boxers, from mid-May Favier was able to collect huge stores of food, weapons and ammunition, but the large numbers of refugees necessitated severe rationing until the siege was lifted on 16 August 1900 by the Japanese military.

[16][17] During his trip to China in the summer of 1901, the missionary statesman Arthur Judson Brown (1856–1963) interviewed Favier, who gave detailed description of the damage inflicted during the siege: I called on the famous Bishop.