After being heavily damaged in 1944 during allied air raids in World War II, the church was rebuilt in the 1950s in a simpler style.

More detailed restorations of the exterior and interior, including original baroque paintings that survived the war, were completed between 1978 and 2005.

In 1343, Wicker Frosch [de], cantor of Frankfurt Cathedral, received land in front of the Bockenheimer Tor of the Staufenmauer to build a hospice centre for the sick and poor.

[2] Two years later Frosch secured a foundation that guaranteed the financing of the hospital, and expanded it in 1354 with a patrician convent dedicated to Saints Catherine and Barbara, organized on the Rule of the Teutonic Knights for Women.

[5] The church was built by Melchior Heßler between 1678 and 1681[2] in the Baroque style and stands 54 metres (177 ft) in height.

[citation needed] The German writer, artist, and politician Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) was baptized in this church in 1749.

[1][7] On 22 March 1944, an air raid destroyed much of the Altstadt, including St. Catherine's, whose clock froze at 09:43 local time.

The walls were kept plain white, and furnishing such as altar, benches and lighting were kept intentionally simple, in keeping with the mood of the 1950s.

The complete set of more than 80 Baroque paintings[6] was shown in 2005 in an exhibition in memory of the 300th anniversary of the death of Spener, in the Franckesche Stiftungen in Halle (Saale).

[14] Only then was it customary, according to the chronicler Achilles Augustus von Lersner [de], to accompany the congregation by the organ.

[16] On a private initiative, a Kirchlicher Gesangverein was founded in 1835, which performed regularly in several churches and halls of Frankfurt.

[17] When the church was restored in 1954, a new organ was built by Walcker, an instrument with four manuals and 55 stops in mechanical traction.

The organ was built on a high level, where the air from the heating system led to pipes getting out of tune.

From 1983, the organist has been Martin Lücker, who was also a professor of organ pedagogy at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst.

[20] In 2004 Lücker and Martin Lutz began a joined venture to present Bach's church cantatas in Bachvespern (Bach Vespers) in their liturgical context: a lecture concert is followed by a service with a cantata related to the occasion, ten times per year, performed in Frankfurt and also in Wiesbaden, in the Marktkirche or the Christophoruskirche.