In 1834, when Pope Gregory XVI erected the Diocese of Vincennes, St. Francis Xavier was elevated to a cathedral and served as the seat of the episcopal see from 1834 to 1898.

On 14 March 1970 Pope Paul VI elevated St. Francis Xavier Cathedral to the status of minor basilica, "an honor reserved for only the most historic churches.

[4] The earliest parish record is the marriage between Julien Trattier, of Montreal, Canada, and Josette Marie, the daughter of a Frenchman and an Indian woman; it is dated 21 April 1749.

[8] The parish's first baptism, recorded on 25 June 1749, was John Baptist, the son of Peter Siapichagane and Catharine Mskieve.

[10] During this early period of the parish's history the number of baptisms and marriages, half of which were Indians or slaves that belonged to the garrison commandant or the village inhabitants, small, but increasing.

[9] Following the Treaty of Paris (1763), when the Jesuits were banished from the area, Father Duvernay left Vincennes, but the Diocese of Quebec retained its ecclesiastical jurisdiction over St. Francis Xavier church.

Father Gibault, who returned to Vincennes during the American Revolutionary War, administered an oath of allegiance to its French inhabitants at St. Francis Xavier church in 1788.

On 25 February 1779 British General Henry Hamilton surrendered Fort Sackville to Colonel George Rogers Clark at St. Francis Xavier church.

[17] John Carroll, the first Bishop of Baltimore, sent Father Benedict Joseph Flaget to Vincennes as the parish's permanent priest.

[23] In 1825, at the direction of Bishop Flaget, Father Champomier proposed construction of a new brick church that became the present-day St. Francis Xavier Basilica.

St. Frances Xavier became the cathedral church for the new diocese and served as the seat of the episcopal see under all five Bishops of Vincennes.

[4][28][29] Father Jacques Maurice de St. Palais, the fourth Bishop of Vincennes, was consecrated at St. Francis Xavier on 14 January 1849, and served until his death on 28 June 1877.

[30] In 1857, while St. Palais was Bishop of Vincennes, the northern half of Indiana was erected as the Diocese of Fort Wayne.

[21] On 14 March 1970 Pope Paul VI raised the status of St. Francis Xavier Cathedral to a basilica.

[36][37] On 24 July 1825 Father Jean Leon Champomier held a parish meeting to consider his proposal to erect a new brick church, which became the present-day St. Francis Xavier Basilica.

[46] The small brick building that became known as Old Cathedral Library was erected adjacent to the church in 1840 to house Bishop Bruté's personal collection of more than 5,000 books and other documents.

[38][47] In 1968 the Lilly Endowment provided grant funds to construct a new museum and library building to house the collection, which had grown to contain more than 11,000 rare books and volumes.

[7] The basilica is the main structure in a complex that also includes a Greek Revival-style rectory (1841), the old library (1840), a library/museum building (1968), and an adjacent cemetery.

[34] The simple Greek Revival-style basilica is constructed of reddish orange brick laid in Flemish bond.

[39] In 1834 Bishop Bruté described the unfinished church as a plain brick building without plaster or whitewash, with a simple wooden altar, a gilded tabernacle, a cross, and six candlesticks.

[38][49] Statues of St. Joan of Arc, St. Francis Xavier, and St. Patrick stand in arched niches on the cathedral's façade.

[6] Wilhelm Lamprecht (1838 –1922), who studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, came to America to paint, and decorated churches in Newark, New Jersey, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Vincennes.