The Pope Urban V was a native of the region, which had been previously known as the County of Gévaudan, located within the far northern extreme of the Province of Languedoc.

The locale around the Diocese of Mende was redrawn as the Revolutionary Department of Lozere, named after a nearby mountain peak.

The small bell tower was commissioned simultaneously by agreement of the Cathedral's administrative clergy who did not consult their Bishop on this matter.

The building was partially destroyed during the Wars of Religion by Mathieu Merle in 1581 and then rebuilt, "identically but without fashions or ornaments" between 1598 and 1620.

Housed in the Cathedral are many other treasures of the Church, including Virgin of the Twelfth, A portrait of Pope Urbain the XIV, an original pipe organ and furnishings dated to the seventeenth century, and a Tapestry of Aubusson created in 1707.