History...

St. Vincent Martyr School was first established by Father McQuaid, the first curate sent to St. Vincent Martyr Parish in 1848. Father McQuaid, newly ordained at the time, later became pastor of St. Vincent's and eventually, in 1868, Bishop of Rochester.

Father McQuaid once wrote, "while journeying through this district (Madison), hunting up stray sheep of the fold, the experience was acquired that without schools, our children would be lost. If ever we are to hold our Catholics to the faith in these United States, it must be through the instrumentality of Catholic schools for Catholic children".

Father McQuaid later established Assumption School in Morristown and wrote to Father Flynn, the pastor of Assumption Church, "You can claim that in Morristown you have the second oldest Catholic School in the State of New Jersey. Madison has the first. I established both in a very humble way, but they helped to establish the principle that Catholic schools were as necessary as churches."

(All quotes are taken from Brief Sketch of St. Vincent's Parish by Rt. Rev. Msgr. John J. Dauenhauer, The Eagle Press, Madison, New Jersey, 1939.)