Michael J. McGivney
| Venerable Michael J. McGivney | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Priest, Founder | |
| Born | Michael Joseph McGivney August 12, 1852 Waterbury, Connecticut |
| Died | August 14, 1890 (aged 38) Thomaston, Connecticut |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church |
Father Michael Joseph McGivney (August 12, 1852 – August 14, 1890) was an American Catholic priest based in New Haven, Connecticut. He founded the Knights of Columbus at a local parish to serve as a mutual aid and fraternal insurance organization, particularly for immigrants and their families. It developed through the 20th century as the world's largest Catholic fraternal organization.
The cause for his canonization started in the Archdiocese of Hartford in 1996; in March 2008, Pope Benedict XVI declared McGivney "Venerable" in recognition of his "heroic virtue". If he is canonized, he would be the first American-born priest to receive this recognition.
He was born to Irish immigrant parents, Patrick and Mary (Lynch) McGivney. He was the eldest of 13 children, six of whom died in infancy or childhood. His father worked as a molder in a Waterbury, Connecticut brass mill. Michael attended the local Waterbury district school but left at 13 to work in the spoon-making department of one of the brass mills.
In 1868 at the age of 16, he entered the Séminaire de Saint-Hyacinthe in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada. He continued his studies at Our Lady of Angels Seminary, near Niagara Falls, New York (1871–1872) and at the Jesuits' St. Mary's College, in Montreal. He had to leave the seminary, returning home, to help finish raising his siblings after the death of his father, in June 1873. McGivney later resumed his studies at St. Mary's Seminary, in Baltimore, Maryland; he was ordained a priest on December 22, 1877, by Archbishop James Gibbons at the Baltimore Cathedral of the Assumption.
...
Wikipedia