Michael McGivney

The major work of Father Michael McGivney is the founding of the Order of the Knights of Columbus.

On February 2, 1882, while serving as curate at St. Mary's Church in New Haven, he gathered a small group of Irish-American lay parishioners in the church basement. His objective was twofold: 1. To protect the faith of Catholic men and their families by offering them a fraternal alternative to the secret societies of the time, which often drew them away from the Church. 2. To create a system of mutual aid and relief (a solidarity fund in the form of insurance) to financially support widows and orphans in the event of the premature death of the head of the family, thus preventing poverty for working-class families.

The organization was officially incorporated and received its charter from the State of Connecticut on March 29, 1882. The name "Knights of Columbus" was chosen in honor of Christopher Columbus, a respected Catholic lay figure in the United States, to highlight the contribution of Catholics to American history and to defend their civil rights in the face of the strong anti-Catholic prejudices of the time.

Founded on the principles of Charity, Unity, and Fraternity (the principle of Patriotism was added after his death), this lay fraternity experienced rapid growth. Today, the Knights of Columbus constitute the largest Catholic lay fraternal organization in the world, with more than two million members in some 15,000 councils across the globe.

The cause for the beatification and canonization of Michael McGivney was officially opened in December 1997 by the Archdiocese of Hartford, in Connecticut. To support and promote this cause, the association The Father Michael J. McGivney Guild was created and quickly gathered tens of thousands of members.

After the closure of the diocesan inquiry in 2000, the file was transmitted to Rome. On March 15, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI signed the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, thus granting him the title of Venerable.

The path to beatification officially opened on May 26, 2020, when Pope Francis approved the promulgation of a decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of the venerable priest. The miracle recognized by the Vatican concerns the unexplained healing in utero, which occurred in 2015, of an unborn child in the United States, Michael "Mikey" McGivney Schachle. While his mother, Michelle Schachle (wife of Daniel Schachle, a Knights of Columbus insurance agent in Tennessee), was expecting her thirteenth child, doctors diagnosed an extremely severe form of fetal hydrops associated with Down syndrome. Specialists gave him no chance of survival. Refusing abortion, the family and their loved ones prayed intensely to Father McGivney for his healing. A few weeks later, after a pilgrimage to Fatima, an ultrasound revealed the total and scientifically inexplicable disappearance of the hydrops. The child was born viable and is healthy today. The beatification ceremony was celebrated on October 31, 2020, at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Hartford, Connecticut. The Mass was presided over by Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, Archbishop of Newark, acting as delegate for Pope Francis. His liturgical feast is set for August 13, a day situated between his date of birth (August 12) and his date of death (August 14).

Father Michael McGivney is considered a pioneer of the role of the laity in the Church, anticipating the orientations of the Second Vatican Council by nearly a century. By entrusting the leadership and administration of the Knights of Columbus to laypeople, he valued their specific vocation and their engagement in society.

His spirituality was deeply rooted in pastoral charity, love for the family, and Christian solidarity. Nicknamed the "Good Samaritan" of his community, he spent his life as a priest in close proximity to the realities of his parishioners, fighting against poverty, social exclusion, and alcoholism.

He died prematurely of pneumonia and tuberculosis on August 14, 1890, in Thomaston, at the age of 38, in the midst of the 1889-1890 flu pandemic, after exhausting himself in the service of his sick faithful. He is currently buried in St. Mary's Church in New Haven, the place where his work was founded. His spiritual and charitable legacy continues to inspire millions of Catholics around the world to put their faith into action.