The cathedral, in Markham, Ontario, just north of Toronto, is the centrepiece and namesake of Cathedraltown near Victoria Square, an unincorporated hamlet.

Mr. Roman, who arrived in Canada in 1937 from his native Slovakia, donated the land for the cathedral, which "he built as a beacon of religious freedom" for his fellow Slavs then living under Soviet oppression.

[1] Construction of the cathedral began in early 1984, and the cornerstone and altar stone were blessed by Pope John Paul II during his visit to Canada in September 1984, marking the first time that a Roman Pontiff had consecrated a church in North America.

The exterior of the cathedral was used in the 1995 movie In the Mouth of Madness, where it portrayed the Black Church located in Hobb's End.

Although work still remained to be done on the interior, in November 2016, the City of Markham issued a temporary occupancy permit to allow Jesus the King Melkite Greek Catholic Church to use the cathedral as a place of worship.

The mosaics in the pendentives, containing biblical manifestations of the four Evangelists, replace the traditional images of a lioness, eagle and ox with the more Canadian wolverine, peregrine falcon and cow, respectively.