The church follows the Roman or Latin rite and functions as the seat of the Apostolic Vicariate of Thessaloniki (Vicariatus Apostolicus Thessalonicensis or Αποστολικό Βικαριάτο Θεσσαλονίκης).

The crypt was completed and consecrated on 30 May 1897, it was dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and decorated by Michael Bucar, a Lazarist brother from Slovenia.

On 3 May 1900 the church was consecrated by Archbishop Augustus Bonetti of Palmyra[4] and Fr Francois Xavier Lobry, the Lazarist provincial in Turkey.

[3] In 1926, the church became the seat of the Apostolic Vicariate of Thessaloniki; which is composed of the Roman Catholic communities in northern Greece.

Although the church survived the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917, it was heavily damaged during World War II.