The title of our parish was derived from the fact that our first property was obtained on January 6, 1915 – the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord. Taken from the Greek word “epiphainein”, meaning “manifestation”, our parish is now the only Roman Catholic parish community so named in the Archdiocese of Newark.

Our history dates back to the early Twentieth Century when Reverend Anthony J. Ferretti, pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in Fairview, assumed the responsibility of Catholics living in the area, he realized that a church for this section of Cliffside Park was sorely needed.

The necessary property was purchased for $3,310 for nine lots, and building preparations began immediately. Being that every parish in the Archdiocese is a corporation in itself, our official certificate of incorporation was obtained on August 31, 1916. The original certificate was signed by the Most Reverend John O’Connor, bishop of the then Diocese of Newark. The general contract for the new church was awarded to Hugh Montague & Son of Jersey City. The cost was estimated at $100,000 for a building which was to be 103.5 feet in length and 60 feet in width.

The original gothic marble altar was donated by Mr. Brown, a non-Catholic who watched the church being constructed from his home across the Hudson River in New York. In late 1916, the Grantwood section of Cliffside Park had its first and only Catholic Church. Rev. Ferretti administered to approximately one-hundred families, mostly of Irish, German, and Italian extraction.