The only Minor Basilica in Southern Africa.

In 1903 Fr. Barthelemy SJ, the founder of St. Georges school in Bulawayo and the then superior of the Jesuits in the Matabeleland province of the Zambesi Mission suggested that the new church be called "The Immaculate Conception" to honour the 50th Jubilee of the declaration of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception by Pope Pius IX.

The foundation stone was laid and blessed on 25 March 1903 and the first service was on Easter Sunday 3 April 1904. The Bishop of Kimberly the Right Reverend Bishop M. Gaughran OMI celebrated a Pontifical High Mass on this day.

A major extension to the existing church was begun in mid 1957 and the newly extended church was consecrated on Sunday 22 November 1959. This doubled the capacity of the Cathedral. The Centenary celebrations held on 3 August 2003 were led by the then current Apostolic Nuncio to Zimbabwe, Archbishop Joseph Edward Adams.

The cathedral was raised to the status of a Minor Basilica on 21 June 2013 by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of Sacraments. The declaration and blessing of St. Mary's Cathedral Minor Basilica took place on 31 August 2013 and was performed by the Apostolic Nuncio to Zimbabwe, His Excellency, the Most Reverend Archbishop George Kocherry.