Just after the reconquest of the city to the Moors, the main mosque was decreed to be stripped of its Islamic past[1] and consecrated as the parish church (named Santa Maria la Coronada y San Bernardo[2]).

Due to the building being severely damaged during the 1779–1783 Great Siege, in 1790 the then governor of Gibraltar, Sir Robert Boyd, offered to rebuild the cathedral in return for part of the land on which the building originally stood in order to re-route Main Street.

The clock tower was added in 1820 and in 1931 restoration work was carried out on the cathedral and the current west façade erected to replace the poorer one built in 1810.

When the new force came to the church they found it was occupied by 200 men and the police had to make four dozen arrests to establish order.

[5] Not only did Canilla now have possession of his church but he was also the owner as the governor arranged for the title deeds to be given to the new titular Bishop.