[1][2] The church was built on land donated in 1840 by Catholic emancipist William Davis, who had originally been transported after the Irish Rebellion of 1798.

The site was chosen to be close to the ex-convict working-class neighborhoods in The Rocks, at a distance from the official city, and the foundation stone blessed on 25 August.

A design by William Fernyhough, possibly based on St. Anthony's Church in Liverpool, proved unsuitable for the site, and John Frederick Hilly was hired to redesign it.

[1] It built from 1840 to 1844 by Andrew Ross & Co., and dedicated 18 March 1844, instead of Saint Patrick's Day, out of a desire to avoid potential violence and religious bigotry.

[4] At the turn of the twentieth century, developments such as the plague epidemic of 1900 and redevelopment of The Rocks from a residential to a commercial area, and later the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, contributed to concerns about the viability of the parish.