March 29th is Founder’s Day, Celebrating 143 years honoring the fraternal vision of our Founder, Blessed Michael McGivney.
Michael Joseph McGivney, born on August 12, 1852, was an Irish-American Catholic priest living in New Haven, Connecticut. He founded the Knights of Columbus on March 29th, 1882 at St. Mary’s, in New Haven, to serve as a mutual aid and fraternal insurance organization for working-class and immigrant Catholics in the United States. McGivney passed away in Thomaston in 1890 from pneumonia. In 1996, the Archdiocese of Hartford began the process of canonizing McGivney. He was approved for beatification on May 27, 2020, meaning that McGivney could be declared ‘blessed,’ the step just before sainthood. A further miracle attributed to McGivney’s intercession will be necessary before he is canonized as a saint.
The Knights of Columbus have grown to become the world’s largest Catholic fraternal organization. It helps refugees, Catholic education, local parishes and dioceses, and global Catholic social and political concerns. The Knights advocate and promote the Catholic viewpoint on public policy issues such as the end of abortion and care for people with special needs.
Join the Knights FREE today: www.KofC.org.join use code CHRISA to waive fees.
