On Oct. 31 in Hartford, Connecticut, Fr. Michael McGivney was beatified at the Cathedral of St. Joseph during a Mass principally celebrated by Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark. The Mass was concelebrated by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and Cardinal Seán O’Malley of Boston, with several other archbishops and bishops present.
Fr. McGivney, a parish priest born and raised in Waterbury, Connecticut, is best known for his founding of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal order started in New Haven, Connecticut in 1882 to assist widows and their families. Today, the Knights are a worldwide organization focused on performing charitable works and evangelization with, according to their website, over 1.9 million members and over 15,900 local councils, including a college council at Boston College.
Fr. McGivney was born a first-generation American to Irish immigrant parents on Aug. 12, 1852 and was the eldest of 13 siblings. He died on Aug. 14, 1890, and his feast day has been selected as the day between the two, Aug. 13.
Five-year-old Michael McGivney Schachle, the beneficiary of the miracle attributed to Fr. McGivney’s beatification, as well as his parents and 12 siblings were present at the Mass. Schachle was cured in-utero of a fatal condition in 2015, which was approved as a miracle credited to McGivney’s intercession by Pope Francis on May 27. At the beatification Mass, the family presented a relic of McGivney to Cardinal Tobin.
Fr. McGivney became the fourth U.S.-born man to be beatified. There are currently three U.S.-born women canonized as saints, but no men born in the United States of America have been canonized.
In a letter from Pope Francis that was read at McGivney’s beatification Mass, the pope stated that McGivney’s “zeal for the proclamation of the Gospel and generous concern for his brothers and sisters made him an outstanding witness of Christian solidarity and fraternal assistance.” He concluded the letter by proclaiming McGivney “henceforth be given the title Blessed.”
Before this letter was read, Carl Anderson, the current Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, made a biographical account of McGivney’s life and earthly ministry. After Pope Francis’ letter was read, a tapestry depicting McGivney’s portrait was revealed in the cathedral.
In his homily, Cardinal Tobin praised McGivney’s ministry to those, who, like his parents, immigrated to the United States, noting that he “gave his life in pastoral service of those most recently arrived in this country” and “worked to keep families united in dignity and security.”
“We are in the presence of an apostle who cared for victims of an epidemic before he himself would die of it,” Cardinal Tobin continued, referencing McGivney’s death amidst an influenza pandemic in 1889-1890.
In speaking with the National Catholic Register, Fr. John Paul Walker, O.P., pastor of St. Mary’s Church in New Haven, shared the significance of McGivney’s beatification as a parish priest, calling it “a significant moment for parish priests everywhere because he is the first priest beatified precisely in his duties as a parish priest. He was not a martyr, not a missionary, not a bishop, but a regular parish priest who lived that regular parish priesthood in an extraordinarily heroic way.”
Blessed Fr. Michael McGivney’s feast day of Aug. 13 is to be celebrated within the Archdiocese of Hartford. Priests outside the archdiocese will be allowed to celebrate votive Masses on Bl. McGivney’s feast day for Knights of Columbus gatherings with permission of the local bishop.
Adam is a senior from Columbus, Ohio. He previously served as Campus News and Culture Editor, and boasts the title of least cultured to ever serve as the latter. Holding a minor in Biology, he recently converted from STEM and now majors in Philosophy and Classical Studies. He currently leads Una Voce, the Latin Mass society at BC, and sings with the University Chorale of Boston College and the Chorale Chamber Singers. He enjoys Gregorian Chant, relearning the clarinet, and is an unabashed Ohio apologist.
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