[4] The first church was built in 1962 in the present Corniche,on a plot of land donated by Sheikh Shakhbut, then-ruler of Abu Dhabi.

Masses are said in Arabic and the languages of various expatriate populations in the country, primarily English, French, German, Italian, Konkani, Malayalam, Sinhalese, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil, and Urdu.

In October 1963, work began for the first church in Abu Dhabi, and the foundation stone was blessed in February 1964, on a plot of land along the present Corniche, donated by Shakhbut bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the ruler of Abu Dhabi at that time.

On 25 February 1983, the church became a cathedral serving as the seat of The Vicar Apostolic of Southern Arabia with the late Giovanni Bernardo Gremoli as resident bishop.

Paolo Martinelli was canonically installed as the Vicar of Southern Arabia in the cathedral as a successor to Msgr.