[3] The Jesuits (members of the Society of Jesus) staffed St Francis Xavier's church from its foundation until Easter 2023.

[4] In 1840 the laymen who formed the Society of St Francis Xavier decided at a meeting in the Rose and Crown pub, Cheapside, that, as the number of Roman Catholics in Liverpool was growing rapidly, a new church was needed.

[8] From the 1960s the church went into decline, mainly due to the demolition of housing in the parish and the relocation of the majority of the parishioners to other parts of the city.

With a change of Jesuit staff a new energy amongst the remaining and former parishioners ensured that by 1997, the 150th anniversary of the opening of the church would be celebrated.

A flower festival, celebratory dinner for 600 people in St George's Hall, and an anniversary mass – with the church full to overflowing – helped to overcome the period of decline.

[4] The former schools (Infants, Junior, Senior, and Jesuit College) which had been left derelict from the early 1980s were taken over by Liverpool Hope University in the late 1990s.

Alumni of the SFX schools include: John Gregson, Charlie Chaplin, Bishops Vincent Malone and Paul Gallagher, and the playwright Jimmy McGovern.

Jesuit poet Fr Gerard Manley Hopkins, ministered at the parish for two years and is commemorated by a plaque near to the Langsdale St entrance.

The side wall of Sacred Heart chapel also contains a fine, life-size carving of Christus Consolator – a copy of the famous painting by Ari Schaffer.

The pulpit is made of Caen stone and an elaborate font is situated at the west end of the nave below the organ loft.

[citation needed] The four-manual organ was built in 1849 by Gray & Davison and rebuilt and enlarged in 1907 by William Hill & Son.