The cathedral complex includes a bell tower and the episcopal residence, and is listed as a province-level cultural heritage and protected site.

In 1629, Francesco Sambiasi founded the first Catholic church in Kaifeng, but it was destroyed by the flood of the Yellow River in 1642.

[2] In the autumn of 1916, Tacconi went to the United States to raise funds for a cathedral because European countries were involved in World War I.

[3] After he returned to Kaifeng in 1917, he purchased local residences around Lishiting Street (理事厅街) for the site of the cathedral, and went to Tianjin to hire a French building company.

[4] In August 1946, during the Chinese Civil War, the Communist forces took control of northern Henan, southern Hebei, and eastern Shandong.

Some clergy and believers from these areas fled to Kaifeng and lived in the dormitory building of the cathedral complex.

[5] On 13 April 1947, Gaetano Pollio [it] was consecrated as the bishop of Kaifeng at the cathedral by Antonio Riberi, Apostolic Internuncio to China.

[7] During the Cultural Revolution, the cathedral was damaged: stained glass windows were broken,[8] and the roof tiles were disarranged.

I fight against the storms, I weep for the dead, I call the people, and I remind of devotion.The former episcopal residence is 4 metres (13 ft) to the west of the cathedral.