It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Huelva since 1954.

It served as the chapel of the adjacent former Convent of Our Lady of Mercy, occupied by the Mercedarian Order until it was abolished during the ecclesiastical confiscations of Mendizábal of 1835.

[3] It was elevated to the status of a cathedral on 15 March 1954, a year after the Diocese of Huelva was created as a division of the Archdiocese of Seville.

[1] The church was declared a National Monument on 12 March 1970,[4] On 28 February 1969 a new earthquake damaged the building considerably, having it closed down for renovations between 1970 and 1977.

Restoration works were headed by architect Rafael Manzano Martos.