It contains the tomb of Madeleine Sophie Barat, a French saint of the Catholic Church and founder of the Society of the Sacred Heart, a worldwide religious institute of educators.

The church takes its name from Saint François Xavier (1506-1582), who was a professor in Paris when he met Ignace de Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit Order in 1553.

Inspired by Loyola, he was ordained as priest, and became a foreign missionary, travelling to Italy, India and Japan, and died in Canton, China in 1552.

In 1637, as part of the Counter-Reformation movement, a seminary to train missionaries was organised on the rue du Bac in Paris by Bishop Dubal, with the support of Pope Urban VIII.

The proposed site was an elongated hexagon, long enough for the church but very narrow at the west front, with no room for a proper portal and towers.

Uchard asked Haussman's city planners to alter the new street plan to allow a wider west front.

[3] The interior is dominated by the massive theatrical arch over the choir and the altar, painted with a frieze by Romain Cazes (1808-1881), depicting "Two Angels supporting the Book of the Evangelists."

A chapel in the church displays the shrine and reliquary of Saint Madeleine-Sophie Barat, (1779-1865),the founder of the Society of the Sacred Heart dedicated to the religious education of young women.

The shrine was transferred to the church in 2009, to be close to her Paris home, the site of the congregation (now the Rodin Museum), and one of her early schools, now the Lycée Victor-Duruy.

[5] The most famous work in the church is "The Last Supper" by Tintoretto (1518-1594 It depicts the moment that Christ reveals to the Disciples that Judas has betrayed him.

[6] The chapels on the left aisle also contain notable works, including "The Apotheosis of Saint Gaetan of Thiene", by Claude Audran the Younger (1639-1684).

Audran was a classicist like Le Brun, but used warmer colors and lyrical arrangements which recalled the baroque art of Simon Vouet.

[6] Another important Baroque work found in the church is "The Virgin and Child with John the Baptist and Saint Genevieve", by Lubin Baugin (1612-1663), located in the Sacristy of Masses.