Ordained a priest in 1847 in the Church of St John Lateran in Rome, Quinn worked as a missionary in Hyderabad with Bishop Daniel Murphy for eight years; returning to Ireland and became vice-president of St. Lawrence O'Toole's Seminary, Dublin; where his brother James was President.
[1] Quinn was widely renowned for the establishment of a system of Catholic schools principally run by religious orders, including St Stanislaus' College and the congregation of Sisters of St. Joseph, both in the Diocese of Bathurst, and St. Charles Seminary and introduced the Vincentian Fathers into Australia.
In 1879, Quinn instructed one of his flock, Richard Kenna, to withdraw his son from Sydney Grammar School.
Prominent Irish Catholics in the town supported Quinn, including the Principal of St. Stanislaus' College, Dr Joseph Byrne, and store owner John Meagher.
He instructed the Sisters to leave Bathurst as he refused to accept MacKillop's central government of the Institute, where she held the role of Superior General.