It was established in 1789, the oldest Roman Catholic church in South Carolina. Also it is the mother church of the dioceses of South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. The church ceiling was hand-painted by Caesare Porte in Rome, Italy. The present building, replacing an earlier one which was destroyed by fire in 1838, was completed in 1839. The graveyard contains names that are predominantly Irish, French, Spanish and Scot. Among the more famous names is the Marquis de Grasse, a French naval commander who engaged British forces at Yorktown during the American Revolution.