As found in the church's marker,the original church was a chapel of wood and thatch erected in 1574 on orders of Juan de   Salcedo,the conquistador and Founder of Villa Fernandina (now Vigan). Historian Benito Legarda writes that the "construction of the cathedral to replace the dilapidated church of San Pablo was authorized by the celebrated Governor Jose de Basco y Vargas in 1786,and the cornerstone was laid on January 31,1790." The church itself became a cathedral when the seat of the Diocese of Nueva   Segovia was transferred from Lal-lo,Cagayan,to Vigan in 1758. An  imposing structure in the heart of Vigan,the  church's main door flanked by two pairs of columns which rise to the second tier of the façade.  A niche above the main door houses a statue of St. Paul.  A three-story bell tower with a square base and a mini-dome at the top lies nearby.