Michael Joseph McGivney was born on August 12, 1852, the first child of Irish immigrant parents in Waterbury, Connecticut. His parents went on to have 12 other children, half of whom died either as young children or infants due to their harsh living conditions. Michael left school at age 13 to work alongside his father and help support the family, but at age 16 he decided to enter the seminary. He studied in Quebec, Canada as well as in New York until he was called home to help work to support his family once more due to the death of his father. Michael eventually returned to his studies at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore and was ordained into the diocese of Hartford, Connecticut in 1877.

Fr. McGivney’s first assignment was to St. Mary’s Parish in New Haven. While there, he quickly became very active in the community. Alongside his priestly duties, he served as director of public plays and community fairs. He even volunteered to foster a child whose father had passed away, leaving the boy’s family in poverty and unable to care for him. It was during this time that McGivney envisioned the need for a Catholic mutual aid society. His intention was to create an institution where Catholic men could provide financial security to families in need who had lost their primary breadwinner. 

At that time in the U.S., Catholics were often discriminated against and denied membership into labor unions as well as being barred from joining the popular fraternal organizations of the day. In some cases, such as with Freemasonry, the Catholic Church forbade their membership. It was plain to see the charitable advantage of these fraternal organizations so, while formulating his plan to start a mutual aid program, Fr. McGivney began to research similar Catholic-founded societies elsewhere in the USA. He researched two organizations which both provided family insurance benefits to members of their churches in need — the Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters and the Catholic Benevolent League. Originally, he considered starting a chapter of the Foresters for the men at St. Mary’s but ran into obstacles because their charter didn’t allow for groups outside of their region. As an answer, he decided to form a committee of men at home and, together, they designed an original Catholic fraternal organization that could provide for families in need but also had membership rituals that could compete with the excitement of the other popular secret societies of the time. On February 6, 1882, Fr. McGivney and his men launched the Knights of Columbus. Immediately after its launch, Fr. McGivney started spreading the word to invite men into membership and sent a letter appealing for new members to every priest in the diocese. 

The order, whose founding principles were charity, unity, fraternity, and patriotism, grew rapidly. The Knights appealed to college campuses and, eventually, churches throughout the entire United States. By the early 1900s there were thousands upon thousands of Knights across the U.S. and councils being established worldwide. There are now 16,000+ local councils and over two million members who donate hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of millions of volunteer hours yearly to benefit charities worldwide. Membership is still restricted to practicing Catholic men, although women may participate through the Columbiettes, an auxiliary for Catholic women. 

Fr. McGivney fell ill with the flu during the 1889 pandemic, contracted tuberculosis, and, subsequently, pneumonia. He passed away at age 38 on August 14 of the next year. He’s remembered by those who knew him as being friendly and cheerful, a champion for the poor, and loyal to and fond of his community. In 2008, Fr. Michael Joseph McGivney was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI.