Blessed Michael J. McGivney, Founder of the Knights of Columbus

Who was Blessed Michael J. McGivney?

Blessed Michael J. McGivney was an American parish priest who founded the Knights of Columbus, today one of the largest Catholic men's organizations in the world. He was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, on August 12, 1852, and died in Thomaston, Connecticut, on August 14, 1890, just two days after his 38th birthday. He was beatified in 2020.

He was not a bishop, a scholar or a missionary. He was a curate and a pastor in two Connecticut parishes who saw what was breaking poor Catholic families apart and did something about it. Pope Francis wrote that his "zeal for the proclamation of the Gospel and generous concern for the needs of his brothers and sisters made him an outstanding witness of Christian solidarity and fraternal assistance."

The life of Father McGivney

A brass-mill family

His parents, Patrick and Mary McGivney, had come from Ireland and married in Waterbury. Patrick worked as a molder in a brass mill. Mary bore thirteen children, and six died young. The Knights of Columbus biography says Michael graduated from school at thirteen and went to work in the spoon-making department of a brass factory to help the family.

Four seminaries and a near miss

At sixteen, in 1868, he left home to study for the priesthood, first at the College of St. Hyacinthe in Quebec, then at Our Lady of Angels Seminary in Niagara Falls, New York, and St. Mary's in Montreal. In June 1873 his father died, and Michael went home unsure whether he would have to go back to the factory. The bishop of Hartford paid for him to finish at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore. There he served as sacristan and, his biographers say, was remembered for his humor and his love of the new game of baseball.

Archbishop James Gibbons ordained him on December 22, 1877, in Baltimore's Cathedral of the Assumption.

Curate in New Haven

His first assignment was St. Mary's Church in New Haven, a parish of poor working families on a fashionable avenue where many neighbors did not want Catholics. One case made the newspapers. Father McGivney visited James "Chip" Smith, a 21-year-old sentenced to hang for killing a police officer while drunk, every day for months. On the morning of the execution, the condemned man comforted the grieving priest: "Father, your saintly ministrations have enabled me to meet death without a tremor. Do not fear for me, I must not break down now." McGivney walked with him to the scaffold.

Founding the Knights of Columbus

He gathered the leading Catholic men of the parish in the basement of St. Mary's to plan a Catholic fraternal society. On March 29, 1882, the state of Connecticut chartered the Knights of Columbus. He wrote that the first aim was "to prevent people from entering Secret Societies," and the second was to help members in sickness and to "render pecuniary assistance to the families of deceased members." A widow with no income often had to give up her children; the Knights' insurance kept families together.

The men wanted him to lead the order. He insisted that a layman should, and served as supreme secretary and then supreme chaplain.

Pastor in Thomaston

In November 1884 he was made pastor of St. Thomas Church in Thomaston, a factory town. In late 1889 he fell ill during the pandemic called the Russian flu, developed tuberculosis and then pneumonia, and died in the rectory on August 14, 1890. Delegations came from nearly all 57 councils of the Knights to his funeral. He was buried in the family plot in Waterbury.

The miracle of Blessed Michael McGivney

The miracle approved for his beatification is approved. In 2015 Daniel and Michelle Schachle of Tennessee, expecting their thirteenth child, learned that the boy had Down syndrome. Weeks later an ultrasound showed fetal hydrops, with fluid filling several organs. Doctors gave no hope and suggested abortion. The Schachles refused and prayed to Father McGivney. Daniel, an insurance agent for the Knights, had earned a trip to Fatima, and at Mass there Michelle heard the Gospel of the official's son: "Go; your son lives." A few days after they returned home, an ultrasound showed the hydrops gone.

The boy, named Michael McGivney Schachle, was born and is growing up with Down syndrome in a large, loving family. The Vatican announced the decree on May 27, 2020, and Father McGivney was beatified on October 31, 2020, in the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford. One more approved miracle is needed for canonization.

Why the Knights of Columbus honor him

A blessed has no formal patronage, but the Knights of Columbus, with about two million members, look to their founder in every need, and his guild collects reports of favors for his cause. In 2008, just after he was declared Venerable, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of "that exemplary American priest, the Venerable Michael McGivney, whose vision and zeal led to the establishment of the Knights of Columbus."

Symbols of Blessed Michael McGivney in art

Images of Father McGivney follow the photographs taken in his lifetime: a slim young priest with short dark hair parted on the side, in a black cassock and Roman collar. Newer windows and mosaics add a halo, a stole and a book, and sometimes the emblem of the Knights of Columbus. Since there is a real photograph of him, painters have no need to invent his face.

Blessed Michael McGivney's feast day and tomb

We keep his feast on August 13. His tomb, a polished granite sarcophagus, is in St. Mary's Church on Hillhouse Avenue in New Haven, where his body was moved in 1982 for the Knights' centennial. You can find other feasts on our feast days page.

Prayer for the canonization of Blessed Michael McGivney

This is the official prayer of the Knights of Columbus, printed on the guild's prayer card:

God, our Father, protector of the poor and defender of the widow and orphan, you called your priest, Blessed Michael McGivney, to be an apostle of Christian family life and to lead the young to the generous service of their neighbor. Through the example of his life and virtue, may we follow your Son, Jesus Christ, more closely, fulfilling his commandment of charity and building up his Body which is the Church. Let the inspiration of your servant prompt us to greater confidence in your love so that we may continue his work of caring for the needy and the outcast. We humbly ask that you glorify Blessed Michael McGivney on earth according to the design of your holy will. Through his intercession, grant the favor I now present (here make your request). Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Father McGivney Guild asks that favors received through his prayers be reported to it in New Haven. Let us pray for families who are struggling and for parish priests worn out by their work.