LIFE OF FATHER McGIVNEY

A MODEL FOR TODAY

McGivney sits holding an opened book. Behind him is St. Mary’s Church facade. Also depicted are people departing a ship and the Statue of Liberty.

The founder of the Knights of Columbus, Father Michael J. McGivney was a central figure in the growth of Catholicism in America, and he remains a model today. His example of charity, evangelization and empowerment of the laity continues to bear fruit and guide Knights of Columbus around the world.

In his Apostolic Letter that was read at the Mass for Beatification on Oct. 31, 2020, Pope Francis stated that Blessed Michael McGivney’s “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 Holy Father set his annual feast day for Aug. 13, the day between Father McGivney’s birthday (in 1852) and the day he entered eternal life (in 1890).

The beatification ceremony in the Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Hartford, Conn., was a high point in a long process that began with the opening of the Cause for Canonization in December 1997. Shortly after Father McGivney was named a Venerable Servant of God in March 2008, Pope Benedict XVI cited him as a key figure in “the impressive growth” of the Church in the United States, stating, “We need but think of the remarkable accomplishment of that exemplary American priest, the Venerable Michael McGivney, whose vision and zeal led to the establishment of the Knights of Columbus.” Through the spiritual genius of Father McGivney, the Knights of Columbus has become a way for Catholic men to transform friends into brothers — brothers who care for one another.

Just as those in need sought Father McGivney’s help in life, understanding that he was a “Good Samaritan” figure, more than 2 million members of the Knights of Columbus and their families, and many others around the world, continue to seek out Father McGivney as a heavenly helper in times of need today. On May 26, 2020, Pope Francis approved a decree for a miracle attributed to his intercession, opening the way for Father McGivney to be beatified. A second approved miracle is needed for him to be canonized as a saint of the Catholic Church.

Those who knew him best in life saw in him both a “genial” countenance and a man with an “indomitable will” to achieve the good. In sum, his founding of the Knights of Columbus “attests to the love in which he held his brother man.”

In these pages, you will get to know Father McGivney better, and join us in praying for his intercession as well as his canonization. You also can read accounts by contemporaries of Father McGivney about his life, works and virtues.

Early Years

EARLY YEARS

Photograph of young Father McGivney with his classmates.

Michael Joseph McGivney was born in Waterbury, Conn., on August 12, 1852, the first child of Patrick and Mary (Lynch) McGivney. His parents came to the United States in the great 19th-century wave of Irish immigration and were married in Waterbury. Patrick was a molder in the heat and noxious fumes of a brass mill. Mary gave birth to 13 children, six of whom died young, leaving Michael with four living sisters and two brothers. Life was not easy, especially for Catholic immigrant families who often faced prejudice, social exclusion, and financial and social disadvantages. Young Michael thus experienced from an early age grief, anti-Catholic bigotry and poverty. But his faith sustained him. At home and in church, he learned and embraced love, faith, fortitude, prayer and putting love of God above any earthly rewards.

Michael attended the public schools of Waterbury’s working-class neighborhoods. A good student, he was noted for “Excellent deportment and proficiency in his studies.” At age 13, shortly after the Civil War, he graduated three years early and began work in the spoon-making department of a brass factory to provide a few more dollars for his family.

Seminarian

SEMINARIAN

Father McGivney photographed with fellow priests.

In 1868, 16-year-old Michael left home to pursue God’s call to the priesthood. His formation as a seminarian was rich and diverse, spanning two countries, four seminaries and instruction by three religious orders — the charity-oriented Vincentians, the academically rigorous Jesuits, and the experienced formers of diocesan clergy, the Sulpicians.

Throughout his formation, his personal virtues, concern for others and use of God-given intellectual talents shone forth. At the College of St. Hyacinthe in Quebec, Canada, he received an award for his studious dedication. He also stood out academically at Our Lady of Angels Seminary in Niagara Falls, N.Y., and St. Mary’s Seminary in Montreal.

In June 1873, tragedy struck with the death of his father, nearly upending 20-year-old Michael’s vocation. He returned to Waterbury for the funeral, unsure whether he would need to leave seminary and return to factory work to support the family. By God’s grace, the bishop of Hartford intervened. Seeing Michael’s great priestly potential, he provided financial support for him to enter St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore. There, Michael was appointed sacristan, a responsibility that underscored his reputation for piety and orderliness. Holiness did not make him aloof, and he was remembered for his sense of humor — as well as for his enthusiasm for the relatively new game of baseball.

After four years of study, Michael was ordained by Archbishop (later Cardinal) James Gibbons on Dec. 22, 1877, in Baltimore’s historic Cathedral of the Assumption, the nation’s first cathedral. A few days later, with his widowed mother present, Father Michael J. McGivney celebrated his first public Mass at Immaculate Conception Church in Waterbury, beginning his life as a priest — a busy and difficult vocation — which then had a life expectancy of only about 40 years.

Parish Priest

PARISH PRIEST

Painting of Father Michael J. McGivney by Antonella Cappuccio standing wearing 19th century priestly vestments raising a chalice with both hands.

Father McGivney was assigned as curate (assistant) of St. Mary's Church, the first Catholic parish in the busy port city of New Haven. There he faced challenges related to a priest shortage, parish debt, illnesses, and hostility toward Catholics. The church became a lightning rod for anti-Catholic derision, expressed in a New York Times headline, “How an Aristocratic Avenue Was Blemished by a Roman Church Edifice.” Against this backdrop, Father McGivney navigated relationships with non-Catholics gracefully, while striving to prevent the culture’s hostility from eroding the faith of his people.

Sought out for his wise counsel, and instrumental in a number of conversions to Catholicism, Father McGivney had a gift for touching hearts and leading souls to God.

In a notable case that gained widespread press coverage, he ministered to James “Chip” Smith, a 21-year-old Catholic who was on death row for shooting and killing a police officer while drunk. Father McGivney visited the condemned man daily to offer guidance, prayer and Mass in the city jail over many months, with a profound effect. The young man’s change of heart was so marked that local newspapers hailed Father McGivney’s ministry.

After Mass on execution day, the priest's grief was profound. Smith comforted him, saying, “Father, your saintly ministrations have enabled me to meet death without a tremor. Do not fear for me, I must not break down now.” Father McGivney walked with him to the end, leading him in prayer and blessing him at the scaffold.

‘A Man of the People’

With a priestly heart, he accompanied those of all ages and walks of life in their suffering and uncertainty, and found practical ways to address their needs. While his first concern was always the faith of his flock, he was attuned to familial, social, financial, civic and societal issues as well. His strong, serene demeanor spoke both of God’s law and mercy, and people were naturally drawn to his reserved yet welcoming manner. Intent on building a dynamic parish for his hard-working and largely poor flock, he staged parish plays, outings and fairs, and he revitalized a group dedicated to overcoming alcoholism within his community.

According to one of his contemporaries, Father McGivney’s “life was an open book, whose pages all might read, and the influences that radiated from his active, energetic and zealous personality, brought many a poor wanderer to the house of God, back to the faith of his childhood, and to the sacred tribunal of penance, where with faith, contrition and humility, he became reconciled to his Heavenly Father. Father McGivney was nothing, if not active. His energy was restless, ever seeking new outlets, and to this disposition are we indebted for the existence of the Knights of Columbus.”

In an article titled “The Personality of Father McGivney,” a fellow priest described his demeanor in almost mystical terms: “It was a ‘priest’s face’ and that explains everything. It was a face of wonderful repose. There was nothing harsh in that countenance although there was everything that was strong.” In a similar vein, a layman wrote of how Father McGivney’s steady and reassuring voice attracted even some non-Catholics to the church to hear him preach.

A man of strategic vision, Father McGivney worked closely with the city’s leading Catholic men, whom he gathered in the basement of St. Mary’s Church to explore the idea of a Catholic fraternal benefit society. The new Order would help men keep their faith; make the case that one could be both a good Catholic and a good American citizen; and provide financial help for families who had lost a breadwinner to stay together, thereby not only protecting their temporal well-being but also helping them avoid a disbanding that could erode their faith as well.

In the words of one parishioner, “He was a man of the people. He was zealous of the people’s welfare, and all the kindliness of his priestly soul asserted itself more strongly in his unceasing efforts for the betterment of their condition.”

Having created a thriving parish community, when Father McGivney was transferred from St. Mary’s Parish in New Haven to become pastor of St. Thomas Parish in Thomaston, the grief among his parishioners was palpable. A journalist covering his last Mass at St. Mary’s described the scene: “Never, it seemed, was a congregation so affected by the parting address of a clergyman as the great audience which filled St. Mary’s yesterday. Some of those present wept aloud and others sobbed audibly.”

Founder

FOUNDER

Decades ahead of his time, Father McGivney had a keen sense of the layman’s unique vocation, needs and potential contributions, and he drew his people into the life and activities of the parish. This respect for the laity led Father McGivney to found the Knights of Columbus, a fraternal organization for Catholic men, in 1882.

The young priest designed a way to strengthen the Catholic faith of men and their families while providing financial protection when they suffered the death of the breadwinner. He well knew that keeping families together assisted both temporal and spiritual needs. At the time, without means of financial support, families were often split up, threatening both the integrity of the family and — depending on the destination of the various family members — their faith as well. His new fraternity was designed to provide Catholic men with an alternative to anti-Catholic secret societies that offered social and employment advancement but drew them away from the faith.

Father McGivney proposed that the new group be named for Christopher Columbus. Universally esteemed at the time as the heroic discoverer of the New World, Columbus would highlight the deep roots of Catholics in America, and the long history of Catholic evangelization in the hemisphere.

On March 29 – a day celebrated annually as Founder’s Day – the Connecticut legislature granted a charter establishing the Knights of Columbus as a legal corporation.

The name “Knights” appealed to the Civil War veterans in the group who saw noble principles of knighthood in the Order’s protection of the faith, family finances and the civil and religious rights of Catholics. A charter member wrote that Father McGivney was “acclaimed as founder by 24 men with hearts full of joy and thanksgiving; recognizing that without his optimism, his will to succeed, his counsel and advice, they would have failed.”

In a letter to priests of his diocese, Father McGivney said that his first goal in founding the Knights of Columbus was “to prevent people from entering Secret Societies, by offering the same, if not better, advantages to our members.” His second purpose was “to unite the men of our Faith throughout the Diocese of Hartford, that we may thereby gain strength to aid each other in time of sickness; to provide for decent burial, and to render pecuniary assistance to the families of deceased members.”

The Order’s original principles were unity and charity. “Unity in order to gain strength to be charitable to each other in benevolence whilst we live and in bestowing financial aid to those whom we have to mourn,” Father McGivney wrote. Principles of fraternity and patriotism were added later. Knights were led by their founder to take on the many challenges facing Catholic family life — poverty, early death, secret societies, anti-Catholicism — with the flexibility to take on other duties in the future. With a vision for growth, he asked the pastors in Connecticut to kindly help “in the formation of a council in your parish.”

As an indication of the respect the first Knights had for Father McGivney’s leadership, they moved to elect him head of the new Order. However, the humble priest insisted that a layman should lead the lay organization. James T. Mullen, a Civil War veteran, was elected the first supreme knight and Father McGivney took up the office of supreme secretary. Two years later, when operations were on a sound footing, Father McGivney resigned his executive post to become supreme chaplain, explaining that his first obligation to the Order was to serve as a priest.

Pastor

PASTOR

Exterior of St. Thomas Church, Thomaston, CT.

In November 1884, Father McGivney was named pastor of St. Thomas Church in Thomaston, a factory town more than 30 miles from New Haven named for the clockmaker Seth Thomas. The parish served working-class parishioners who had few resources beyond their faith. With prayerful acceptance, Father McGivney put his seven years at St. Mary’s behind him and moved from the bustling city of New Haven to the smaller town of Thomaston.

At his last Mass at St. Mary’s, Father McGivney offered a heartfelt farewell to an overflowing flock of parishioners: “For the past seven years I have been with you and toiled with you and no matter where I go the people of St. Mary’s will occupy the best place in my heart. Would that I could express my gratitude for the love and affection you have shown me. If I have offended anyone in the performance of my duty, I beg him to forgive me. People of St. Mary’s whom I leave now, good-bye. I trust that we may meet again in Heaven.” The large church was filled with grateful souls, some openly sobbing and heartbroken over his departure. They felt closer to God through his ministry and provided a printed testimonial that said that his courtesy, kindness and purity of life, despite burdens and afflictions, had “secured the love and confidence of the people of St. Mary’s, which will follow him in every future field of labor.”

In his six years at St. Thomas, Father McGivney was an admirable pastor who built strong ties with parishioners and cared for their spiritual and temporal welfare. He also cared for a mission church, driving his horse and carriage to celebrate Sunday Mass in both locations. He continued to serve as supreme chaplain, but like a true “Father” and pastor of souls, he trusted the leaders of the Order in New Haven to carry on the work he began among them, as the Knights of Columbus continued to grow beyond Connecticut.

Holy Death

HOLY DEATH

Father McGivney’s sarcophagus covered with roses

Never robust in health, Father McGivney fell ill during the pandemic known as the Russian or Asian flu in late 1889. He developed tuberculosis and was stricken with severe pneumonia in January 1890. The young priest lost physical strength just as his Order was moving toward new vitality. After seeking respite and remedies, he was eventually confined to bed in the St. Thomas rectory, where his concern and prayers for his people only increased. After receiving the last rites from a fellow priest, he died on August 14, two days past his 38th birthday.

The funeral in Thomaston was an indication of the love and respect the people held for this hard-working, holy parish priest, drawingCatholics from across the state, including the bishop, more than 70 fellow priests, and civic leaders. The funeral cortege in Waterbury was the largest ever in that city at the time, with mourners renting every available carriage within miles for the procession to the McGivney family plot in St. Joseph Cemetery.

The funeral also reflected the deep personal appeal that Catholics found in the Knights of Columbus. Delegations came from almost every one of the 57 Knights of Columbus councils that had been chartered in the Order’s first eight years. Father McGivney’s holy example also inspired his two younger brothers, Patrick and John, who followed him into the priesthood and served the Order as supreme chaplains.

Today, the earthly remains of Father McGivney are interred in a polished sarcophagus in New Haven’s St. Mary’s Church, where he founded the Knights of Columbus. His vision and mission are carried forth by more than 2 million Knights of Columbus throughout the world, who form a band of brothers under the principles of Charity, Unity, Fraternity and Patriotism.