In the centre of the capital of
Italian Eritrea the
Latin Church Catholics had what was known as the "Asmara Catholic Cathedral" (the
Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Asmara) as their principal church, which was completed in 1923. In the northwestern corner of the city, a place of worship was granted to the
Alexandrian Rite Catholic community, who preceded the arrival of the Italians. In 1930, they were given their own
ordinariate, independent of the
Apostolic Vicariate of Eritrea. Father Kidanè-Maryam Cassà, who since 1926 had been their pro-vicar within the Vicariate, was appointed their ordinary and on 3 August 1930 was ordained titular bishop of
Thibaris in the
chapel of the
Pontifical Ethiopian College in
Vatican City. At that time they numbered less than 3% of the population of Eritrea. The first building on the site was a small church constructed with the "monkey-head" technique, "The supporting walls incorporate wooden beams that protrude from the exterior of the walls; they look like rows of monkey scalps.". Father Kidane-Maryam Cassa obtained from the Italian colonial governor the initial improvement of the small church in the late 1930s. When on 31 October 1951 the Alexandrian-Rite community were given the rank of an
Apostolic Exarchate and a cathedral had to be assigned to it, this building was given the rights and privileges of a cathedral but, being too small to be given that title, it was referred to as the
pro-cathedral. A building more worthy of being called the cathedral was completed in 1969. It is of much greater size and is noted for its strikingly large dome. == Present day ==