The present church was designed by the Italian architect Julio Conti in the Neo-Manueline style and consecrated in 1932.

It is owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of São Salvador da Bahia, is dedicated to Our Lady of Help, and houses numerous original works of art of the early colonial period.

[2][3] Chapel of Our Lady of Help had to be rebuilt by the mid-16th century; a structure of stone and lime was completed in 1579 by Bishop Sardinha.

The colonial-period church was demolished in 1912 under the direction of Archbishop Jerônimo Tomé da Silva (1849-1924) during a large-scale urban reform of Salvador.

It has a small fenced-in church yard; the statue of Father Nóbrega sits outside of the fence.

An image of Christ, titled Nosso Senhor dos Passos (Our Lord of the Stations of the Cross), is located in the sacristy and is the work of Félix Pereira Guimarães.

A second image of Christ of the same name is located in the lateral chapel of the church; it is of unknown authorship but likely from Portugal.