Our Founder - Blessed Michael J. McGivney

Blessed Michael Joseph McGivney is the founder of the Knights of Columbus. Born to Irish-American immigrant parents, he was the eldest of 13 children, six of whom died in infancy or childhood. Michael attended a local district school but left at 13 to work and help provide for his family. 

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McGivney knew well the tenuous realities of life in the immigrant community. He worked in a spoon factory as a youth before entering the seminary.  While studying for the priesthood, his father died suddenly, and Michael was only able to continue his seminary studies thanks to the financial support of the bishop of Hartford.

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At a time when Catholics, and in particular, Catholic immigrants, lived on the margins of society, Father McGivney saw the opportunity to bring the men of his parish together to strengthen their faith, to reach out in charity to those in need, and to protect the future of their families.  The tragedies he witnessed in his own life and his experiences as a priest had a deep effect on him and led him to establish the Knights of Columbus on March 29, 1882.  Tragically, McGivney died from pneumonia on the eve of the Assumption in 1890 when he was 38.

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The cause for his canonization started in the Archdiocese of Hartford in 1996.  In March 2008, Pope Benedict XVI declared McGivney "Venerable" in recognition of his "heroic virtue".

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On May 26, 2020, Pope Francis approved a decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of Father McGivney. A much-anticipated step toward sainthood, the pope’s approval opens the way for Father McGivney to be beatified and declared Blessed.

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Father McGivney’s beatification Mass took place on Oct. 31, 2020, at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, Connecticut. At that liturgical celebration, an apostolic letter from the Holy Father was read along with the bestowing of the title “Blessed” on Father McGivney.