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 Sainthood
cause for KC founder moves forward
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
The sainthood cause of the founder of the Knights of Columbus has taken a
major step forward. On March 15 Pope Benedict XVI approved a decree of
“heroic virtues” for Father Michael McGivney, a U.S. priest who, after
establishing the Knights of Columbus, worked as a pastor until his death
at age 38.
Father McGivney can be beatified if a miracle is attributed to his
intercession. Canonization –– a declaration of sainthood –– requires an
additional miracle.
Supporters of Father McGivney’s cause are hoping he will be the first
U.S.-born priest to be canonized.
Father McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus at St. Mary Parish in New
Haven, Conn., in 1882. The fraternal order for Catholic men has become the
largest lay Catholic organization in the world with more than 1.7 million
members, sponsoring a wide range of educational, charitable and religious
activities.
In the U.S., Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said, “The strength of the
Knights of Columbus today is a testament to his timeless vision, his
holiness and his ideals.”
Last August, the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone,
spoke warmly of Father McGivney when he celebrated Mass at the opening of
the Knights of Columbus’ 125th annual national convention in Nashville.
The cardinal said at that time that he would take a personal interest in
the sainthood cause.
The Archdiocese of Hartford formally opened Father McGivney’s cause in
December 1997. The archdiocesan phase of the investigation into the
priest’s life and holiness concluded in 2000; since then the Vatican
Congregation for Saints’ Causes has continued the investigation.
The congregation has examined an alleged miracle connected to Father
McGivney, but no details have been released.
Father McGivney was born Aug. 12, 1852, the eldest of 13 children born to
Patrick and Mary Lynch McGivney in Waterbury, Conn. Emigrating from
separate towns in Ireland’s County Cavan, the couple met and married in
the U.S. Only seven of their children lived past childhood.
Young Michael attended school in Waterbury’s working-class neighborhood,
but left school at 13 to work in the spoon-making department of a brass
factory.
At 16 he left the factory to begin seminary studies, traveling with his
pastor to Quebec, where he registered at the French-run College of St.
Hyacinthe. He also studied at Our Lady of Angels Seminary, attached to
Niagara University in Niagara Falls, N.Y., and at the Jesuit-run St.
Mary’s College in Montreal.
He went home to Waterbury when his father died in 1873 and stayed there
for a time out of concern for his family and because he lacked funds. At
the request of Hartford’s bishop, he enrolled in St. Mary’s Seminary in
Baltimore, where he completed his priestly studies.
In 1877 he was ordained in Baltimore by Archbishop James Gibbons for the
then-Diocese of Hartford. A few days after his ordination, he said his
first Mass in the presence of his widowed mother at Immaculate Conception
Church in Waterbury.
Father McGivney served as an assistant pastor at St. Mary Parish in New
Haven from 1877 to 1884. He founded the Knights of Columbus with a small
group of Catholic laymen, in order to strengthen religious faith and to
help families overwhelmed by the illness or death of their breadwinner.
In 1884 he was named pastor of St. Thomas Parish in Thomaston, a factory
town about 10 miles from Waterbury. He fell ill during an influenza
epidemic and died Aug. 14, 1890, probably from complications of pneumonia
and tuberculosis.
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