[1] The cemetery was founded during the reign of Augustus II the Strong in 1720–1721, who converted to Roman Catholicism in order to be elected king of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Maria Josepha was raised as a staunch Catholic and had her marriage contract declared that "all of her male and female servants should be buried in their own consecrated churchyard, according to the rites of the Roman Catholic church.

At first, the burial ground was intended to inter the remains of Catholics, primarily from Maria Josepha's court, her servants, the local nobility of Catholics from other German states, as well as from Italy and France.

In 1842, Bishop Franz Laurenz Mauermann expanded the cemetery for a last time to its current size of 11,000 m2.

In 1914, the chapel was expanded by an extension to make room for the installation of the Crucifixion scene depicting The Descent from the Cross by sculptor Balthasar Permoser and a portal with a relief of Christ Carrying the Cross by Matthias Corr.