| Michael J. McGivney | |
|---|---|
Father Michael McGivney |
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| Born | August 12, 1852 Waterbury, Connecticut |
| Died | August 14, 1890 (aged 38) Thomaston, Connecticut |
| Cause of death | Pneumonia |
| Occupation | Priest |
| Employer | Archdiocese of Hartford |
| Known for | Founding the Knights of Columbus |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
The Venerable[1] Father Michael J. McGivney (August 12, 1852 - August 14, 1890) was a Roman Catholic priest and founder of the Knights of Columbus. He was the son of Irish immigrants.
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Father McGivney entered Séminaire de Saint-Hyacinthe in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada, in 1868. He continued his studies at Niagara University (1871-1872) and at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1873, but had to leave the seminary and return home to help finish raising his siblings, due to the death of his father. He later returned to the seminary and was ordained a priest on December 22, 1877, by Archbishop James Gibbons at the Baltimore Cathedral.
On March 29, 1882, while an assistant pastor at Saint Mary's Church in New Haven, Connecticut, McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus with a small group of parishioners. McGivney died from pneumonia on the eve of the Assumption in 1890, when he was only thirty-eight years old. The order now has over 1.8 million member families and fifteen thousand councils. During the 2008-2009 fraternal year, $150 million and 70 million man-hours were donated to charity by the order.
In 1996, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford opened an investigation into Father McGivney's life, with a stated goal of his beatification and canonization, or formal recognition by the Church of his sainthood. Fr. Gabriel O'Donnell, OP is the postulator of McGivney's cause, as well as director of the Fr. McGivney Guild. The diocesan investigation was closed in 2000, and the case was passed to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Vatican City. On August 7, 2007, in his homily at the Opening Mass at the 125th Supreme Convention of the Knights of Columbus, Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone pledged his assistance to this cause.
On March 15, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI approved a decree recognizing the heroic virtue of Fr. McGivney.[2] The pope's declaration significantly advanced the process toward sainthood. The declaration allows Catholics to refer to McGivney with the title "Venerable Servant of God".
In honor of McGivney, the York Catholic District School Board in Ontario, Canada founded a school named Father Michael McGivney Catholic Academy in 1989. It is located in Markham and currently houses 1,400 students. A biography by Douglas Brinkley and Julie M. Fenster of Fr. McGivney, Parish Priest: Father Michael McGivney and American Catholicism was published by William Morrow and Company in 2006. The Catholic University of America recently renamed a prominent building on their campus McGivney Hall.
| Stages of canonization in the Catholic Church |
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| Servant of God → Venerable → Blessed → Saint |