In December 1887 a construction meeting chaired by the Dean D. Martín Lorenzo de Urizar Zalduegui-Ariño defined the bases of the project competition and set a budget of 750,000 pesetas, and like the capacity of the church and its architectural style, it should be pointed. Four projects were presented, with the chosen design being by the donostiarra architect Manuel de Echave, who was entrusted with the supervision of works. The new church would be dedicated to the Good Shepherd.
The Spanish Royal Family, who were vacationing in the city, were invited to the laying of the foundation stone. The events took place on September 29, 1888. The queen regent, Maria Christina, her children and the Infante Antonio, along with ministers and other officials, attended the solemn mass that the diocesan bishop D. Mariano Miguel Gómez held in the provisional parish church of the Sacred Heart. Following the ceremony, the royal entourage moved to the site of the new church and there proceeded to lay the foundation stone, which covered a lead box in which were enclosed pictures of the Pope and the Royal family, various coins of the time and copies of the Gazette of Madrid and of the Ecclesiastical Gazette. The minutes of the ceremony were signed by the baby king Alfonso XIII, aged two years and four months, for which his mother had to take his hand. It is the first signature of Alfonso XIII on an official document.