During the French Revolution the old cathedral of Cambrai was destroyed, but the abbey church survived because it was used instead as a Temple of Reason.

The cathedral was severely damaged by fire in 1859, but at length restored, with advice from Viollet-le-Duc, and consecrated on 12 May 1894.

It was raised to the status of a basilica minor by Pope Leo XIII on 17 March 1896.

The cathedral now takes its dedication name "Notre-Dame de Grâce" or "Virgin of Tenderness" from this painting, from the Eleusa icon type it exemplifies.

In the same chapel is a memorial erected by Hilaire Belloc to commemorate his son who was killed nearby in the last days of World War I.