Founded in 1840 very soon after the British occupation the Mission was entrusted to the Order of St. Francis of Assisi in 1855. The Roman Catholic community was comprised of Europeans, Indians, Abyssinians, Shoas, Swahili and others. The Government would appoint one of the missionaries as chaplain to the troops of the garrison. Divine Service was held every Sunday in both the Crater and Steamer Point chapels and at the barracks on the Isthmus.

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This church was built in 1850 and was located in Crater, on Queen Arwa Road. St. Joseph’s High School was attached to this church. This school was called the Roman Catholic Mission School. The 'Good Shepherd Convent' was superintended by a Mother Superior and  a Roman Catholic clergyman. 

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The sisters, mostly British-born,  arrived in Aden in 1868 with a view to educating girls of all persuasions and also to afford asylum to any converts or reformed characters. The school had 2 classes. One class was for European girls, which had ten boarders, six of whom were orphans, and a number of days pupils. They were taught English, arithmetic, geography, needlework and music. The other class was limited to ten and was for liberated slave girls, who received a more basic education in English, needlework and domestic subjects.

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The  Steamer Point chapel built in 1860 was located about 100 metres west of the patcheries1 at Steamer Point. The two chapels, together with the convent and all the buildings and residences used by the mission were entirely funded by subscriptions and donations from the worldwide Catholic community.

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1  The term 'patchery' perhaps originated in India and refers to living quarters of two or three rooms used for married NCO's and soldiers. The term might have originated from the expression 'the married patch'.  In India the general sanitary conditions of the married quarters were the same as that of the station, but the men living in patcheries with their families were found to be much healthier than men living in barracks.