[3] The 17th-century chronicle of Bydgoszcz by Wojciech Łochowski as well as historical researches suggest that prior the construction of the parish church, an older temple dedicated to Saint Giles had already been standing in the suburbs of the old city of Kujawski.

[3] The church exterior was completed in 1466: the same year, interior decoration began with the altars being set up: In 1497, Krzesław Kurozwęcki, bishop of Włocławek, organized there a synod for clergy of Kujawy.

In 1585, a Gothic rectangular sacristy was erected, abutting the northern chancel wall: an inscription from 1585 was discovered after the Second World War beneath the plaster of the window sill.

The catastrophe brought other diocesan parish priests, from 1712 to 1763, to write about the state of quasi-ruin of the temple and its associated buildings, which contrasted with the good condition of other city monasteries and conventual churches: the Carmelites, the Bernardines, the Jesuits.

On the church cemetery premises stood: On the western side of the cemetery, on the area between today's tenement house at Przyrzecze street 2, and the memorial to the Virgin Mary Immaculate Conception of Lourdes, stood a series of buildings comprising the Bydgoszcz parish school building and three houses inhabited by the vicar, his helpers and secular representatives of the church staff.

During the period of the Duchy of Warsaw (1807–1815), Russian armed forces used it for military purposes: most of the side altars and removable elements were destroyed at that time.

For instance, the image of the Virgin Mary with the Rose, identified as a masterpiece, could have been spirited off on July 23, 1943, during the night, to the church of Mąkowarsko, 35 km north of Bydgoszcz.

[7] Fighting for the liberation of Bydgoszcz (January 1945) caused serious damage to the church: artillery shells burned the roof and destroyed stained glass windows.

On June 7, 1999, during a Mass celebrated in Bydgoszcz in front of 600,000 people Pope John Paul II granted the parish the title of co-cathedral of the Archdiocese of Gniezno.

On the west side is a double-decker porch with arcades, which gives onto the main entrance to the church with the Renaissance oak door (17th century) decorated with Bydgoszcz's coat of arms and bearing the initials of city guilds and townsmen (1925).

Initially separated from the main building by a grille, the entrance to the chapel was changed in 2002 to glazing, allowing daily adoration of the Sacrament of Penance.

It also inherited religious articles from no longer extant churches in Bydgoszcz, especially the Carmelite and Bernardine ones, after the secularization of monastic convents decided by the Prussian authorities in the 1830s.

It is not certain whether the organ was built for the cathedral: Lech Łikki states in his Bydgoszcz guide that parish authorities transferred the instrument from the demolished Jesuit church in 1940.

[15] In 1762, municipal authorities financed the Lamp to St. John Nepomucene, which allowed the sculpture to be illuminated in the same way as more famous representations at the time, in Prague or Kowary.

The relocation of the statue to the bank of the Brda river happened in the 1950s after a restoration work led by Father Franciszek Ksawer Hanelt, then parish priest.

Ground levelling in 1954 necessitated the demolition of the original brick pillar, replaced by a granite pedestal; during these works, the star crowning the figure was removed.

[15] Today the statue is located on a square, north of the cathedral, on a bridle of the Brda river, nearby the Parish weir (Polish: Jaz Farny).

The saint is dressed in priestly robes, featuring Baroque style: a cassock and a surplice -similar to those reserved for prelate and canon, a Roman amice and a biretta on his head.

As a mark of thankfulness, items were hung on them: votives, coral strings, jewels, earpieces, chains, medals, scapulars, pendants or ribbons.

The Virgin Mary with a Rose was twice crowned: This second coronation influenced the image's popularity, spurring the clergy to organize a permanent mission of confession in the cathedral to satisfy the constant presence of people praying before the picture.

[17] On March 25, 2004, Pope John Paul II created the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bydgoszcz, with Our Lady of Beautiful Love and Michał Kozal as co-patrons.

The history of the cult of the image is related to the presence of the Carmelite Monastery in Bydgoszcz since 1397, whose pastoral activity was centred on conducting Marian services and the promotion of religious confraternity.

[18] In the second half of the 17th century, the Brotherhood of the Scapular became a mass organization, with influence extending far beyond the Bydgoszcz premises, reaching lands south of Wągrowiec and north of Warmia and Kwidzyn.

[19] In 1888, thanks to the efforts of the parish priest, Józef Choraszewski, the Archdiocese of Gniezno granted the Brotherhood the responsibility to maintain the altar and the paintings.

[21] In the 17th century, the school declined, a victim of the competition from the newly opened Jesuit College and established academic institutions in Gdańsk, Elbląg, Toruń or Chełmno.

In 1982, the newly appointed Vicar of Bydgoszcz, Jan Viktor Nowak, inaugurated in the house the Primate Institute of Christian Culture – Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński (Polish: Prymasowski Instytut Kultury Chrześcijańskiej).

A small portion of the library's resources were used daily: mainly copies of the Bible and liturgical or musical books (about 27 volumes of Missals, agendas, breviaries, antiphonaries, graduals, psalms).

Other book addressed predominantly works of theology, philosophy, ethics, canon law, clerical topics, including collections of sermons, hagiographies, comments on the Old and New Testaments, and apologetic writings directed against Lutheranism and Calvinism.

[25] Bydgoszcz mayor Wojciech Łochowski reported in his Chronicles that they were hung in the bell tower at the beginning of the 16th century, and also, by 1660, in a small ridge turret, tin-covered, standing by the edge of the roof temple.

Eventually, at the beginning of the 20th century, thanks to the work of Ryszard Markwart, four large bells were still in the parish church, three of which had been founded in the last 50 years: Mikołaj in 1864 and smaller ones, Marcin and Maria, cast in 1904.