The Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales reached Visakhapatnam on 19th February 1846. They took their residence in the For t area where St. Aloysius School is at present. When the missionaries built their first residence at For they used the ground floor as a chapel and dedicated it to the Sacred Hear t of Jesus in 1872.
This was the first Sacred Hear t Church at Visakhapatnam which was used by the priests residing at For t and by the bishops whose residence also was at For t in the beginning. The local catholics, the army personnel and the boarders of St. Aloysius School attended Mass in this Chapel untill in 1932 the present Sacred Heart Church was built. As the old church building was declared unsafe and small, Bishop Rossillon decided to build a separate bigger church for the English speaking people of the locality. The land where the present sacred Heart Church stands was bought in 1930. Mr. Perey Barbosa a local catholic engineer prepared the plan of the Churches under the direction of Fr. Degenev who became the first parish priest of the new church. The construction was completed in 1932. The presbytery was bought separately. The expenses for the chuirch construction and the cost of the presbytery were met by one Miss Agnes D’Rozario, another devout Catholic and former Inspectress of Schools. When Bishop Rossillon brought an 80 Kg Church Bell from Europe, he named the bell “Agnes” to remember the generous donor of the church and presbytery. The cost of these was Rs. 51,000/- at that time. The church and the bell were blessed on 20th Nov. 1932. The golden jubilee of this event was celebrated in 1982 when Fr. Sebastian Plackithottil was the Parish Priest.