Castleknock College () is a voluntary Vincentian secondary school for boys, situated in the residential suburb of Castleknock, west of Dublin city centre, Ireland. Founded in 1835 by Philip Dowley, it is one of the oldest boys schools in Ireland. Although priority is given to those of the main Catholic tradition, as a Christian school, it is attended by students of other denominations and faiths. The school's colours are navy and sky blue. The school crest is a book, symbolising education, a cross, symbolising Catholicism, the Irish shamrock, symbolising the success of the Vincentians in Ireland and the papal tiara, symbolising loyalty to the Holy See. History In 1830, a year after the passing of Catholic Emancipation, priests from the Vincentian Community (Congregation of the Mission; CM) in Maynooth College obtained permission to open a day school under the patronage of the Archbishop of Dublin. On 28 August 1833 a day school at 24 Usher's Quay, in central Dublin, was opened. On 28 August 1835, St. Vincent's Ecclesiastical Seminary was opened in Castleknock, as a boarding school catering for just 47 boys. The first student to enrol in 1835 was John Lynch of Clones, County Monaghan. He would later enter the Vincentian order and eventually become Archbishop of Toronto. A contemporary of John Lynch was Patrick Moran, who would also be ordained as a Vincentian priest and become Bishop of Cape Town before being appointed as the first Catholic Bishop of Dunedin (New Zealand) in 1869. Philip Dowley a former Dean of Maynooth and Provincial for the Vincentians, was the first president of the college. The school site had previously been occupied by a Protestant school for boys run by William Gwynne. The school buildings together with 40 acres of land were sold to the Vincentian Fathers in 1835. Queen Victoria and her royal party visited the school on 22 April 1900. The event is historic, as being the first occasion that an English sovereign visited an Irish Catholic college. The intended visit of the Queen to Castleknock was made known to the authorities of the school some days beforehand by the Rudolph Feilding, 9th Earl of Denbigh. This royal visit confirmed a place for the school at the summit of Irish education and Irish society. Before the foundation of Clonliffe College in 1861, seminarians for the Dublin Archdiocese would study in Castleknock before completing their studies in Maynooth College.