The Connecticut priest who founded the Knights of Columbus is a step closer to sainthood. The Vatican has attributed a miracle to the intercession of Father Michael McGivney, clearing the path toward his beatification.
McGivney grew up in Waterbury, the son of Irish immigrants. His father worked in a local brass mill, and so did he, when he was just 13.
“It was very close to Father McGivney’s heart, the hardship of immigrant working families and the difficulties they had in a society which was not always welcoming to them. And that was the foundation of the Knights of Columbus,” says Carl Anderson, who currently heads the organization.
McGivney founded the Catholic men’s organization in 1882 while he was a priest at St. Mary’s Church in New Haven. Part of the group’s mission was to provide for families after the death of a primary breadwinner.
“Founded on two principals: charity and unity. To provide for their families, to support their local churches, and to do charitable works within their community.”
McGivney also served as a pastor of St. Thomas Church in Thomaston. Anderson says he was beloved within his communities.
“Father McGivney was known during his lifetime as a wonderful example of a good Samaritan. So at his death and then afterwards, people really called him a saint.”
McGivney died of influenza in 1890, during a pandemic that shares a lot in common with today. In fact, some historians believe it was actually a coronavirus pandemic.
“Here is someone who was actually a victim of this great challenge that we’re all facing today,” says Archbishop Leonard Paul Blair of the Archdiocese of Hartford.
“Hopefully he can intercede for us in Heaven with our own worries and concerns, and the safety of our families and societies from a pandemic.”
The Archdiocese of Hartford started an effort to canonize McGivney in 1996. That would make him an official saint in the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican says Pope Francis has confirmed a miracle attributed to McGivney’s intercession.
“It involved an unborn child in the United States who in 2015 was healed in utero of a life-threatening condition after prayers from the child’s family to Father McGivney.”
McGivney would be the first U.S. parish priest to be canonized. He’d get his own feast day on the calendar of saints and could be venerated by Catholics.
“Every saint belongs to the Church Universal, belongs to the great communion of saints. Here in the Archdiocese of Hartford, he was one of our priests. So you can imagine this means a great deal to the priests of this archdiocese, knowing one of their own can be numbered among the blessed.”
The Knights of Columbus are one of the biggest Catholic organizations in the world with more than 2 million members in the Americas, Asia and Europe. They’re also one of the largest insurers in the world, with more than $2 billion in life insurance contracts.
The archdiocese and the Knights of Columbus say they’ll hold a beatification ceremony for him. There’s no date set yet, but they say it’ll be held in Connecticut.
