Fathers McGivney

July 1, 2025

For Blessed Michael and his younger brothers Patrick and John, pastoral genius ran in the family

By Maureen Walther

July 1, 2025

Father Patrick J. McGivney and Father John J. McGivney join San Salvador Council 1 in New Haven, Conn., at an unspecified event circa 1904. — Father Patrick J. McGivney (standing at back, center right) and Father John J. McGivney (seated in foreground, right) join members of San Salvador Council 1 in New Haven, Conn., at an unspecified event circa 1904. (Knights of Columbus Multimedia Archives)

Blessed Michael McGivney didn’t spring from the ground in a crisp cassock. Rather, the future founder of the Knights of Columbus emerged from Irish immigrant family life in Waterbury, Connecticut.

Imagine a teenage Michael giving piggyback rides to younger family members through the garden — or mulling a tough question with a furrowed brow and asking his mother for guidance. Imagine him tending to sick siblings as they waned into death, and wondering more deeply about heaven. Imagine him returning home from seminary, at age 20, to help provide for his mother and six surviving siblings after the death of his father.

Patrick and Mary McGivney, after immigrating and marrying in the mid-19th century, would nurture not one, but three vocations to the priesthood. Discerning God’s call within this “first seminary” of the family, Michael and his two younger brothers, Patrick and John, journeyed to the altar.

“I was blessed with a good father and mother,” John recalled. Patrick Sr., a hardworking molder in a Waterbury brass mill, was also the paterfamilias who shared his roof with various immigrant relatives. Mary was devoted to her children and stressed the importance of education. All three Father McGivneys proved intelligent, diligent, generous and visionary.

“The McGivney family is to be complimented as being an extraordinary family,” commended John Phelan, a family acquaintance who later served as the second supreme knight.

While Michael accomplished something unique in founding the Knights of Columbus, Fathers Patrick and John also went on to serve the Order as supreme chaplain. Like their older brother, they were good problem solvers and goal-setters. They built multiple churches and schools, and pastored thousands.

“The bishops could count on the McGivneys,” said Mercy Sister Dolores Liptak, a Church historian who grew up in Bridgeport, Connecticut, with none other than Father John McGivney as her pastor at St. Charles Borromeo Church. “McGivney was one of the first names I ever heard.”

The spiritual fatherhood born in the McGivney family shaped the Knights of Columbus from 1882 until the eve of World War II, in an almost unbroken line. The family culture that enabled three boys to hear the call of God thus shaped the spiritual trajectory of the Order for nearly half of its history, and beyond.

THE FOUNDER: MICHAEL J. MCGIVNEY

McGivneyBrothers_FatherMichaelMcGivney — A portrait shows Blessed Michael McGivney, who founded the Knights of Columbus in 1882. (Knights of Columbus Multimedia Archives)

Michael, the first of the 13 McGivney children, was born in Waterbury on Aug. 12, 1852. When he left his Connecticut home at age 16 for Saint-Hyacinthe Seminary in Québec — one of four seminaries he would attend — his brother Patrick was still in diapers; John would not be born for another two years.

Michael’s keen mind, work ethic and orderliness helped him in his studies, yet it was his faith and piety that sustained him. He was devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and at his last seminary, St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, he was chosen to serve as sacristan.

His spirituality was also expressed in love of neighbor and an acute sensitivity to human suffering. The same goes for his joy and sense of humor — a quality not immediately apparent in his austere portraits. A fellow seminarian in Baltimore was impressed with his levity. “His good humor too was often apparent,” the classmate recounted, adding that “his happy words, his genial utterances… are still treasured.”

Three years after the Order’s founding, the Knights of Columbus held a parade and clambake on Aug. 12, 1885 — Father McGivney’s 33rd birthday. Addressing the crowd, the founder displayed his penchant for puns, noting he had never addressed “such an august assembly.” When it came time to present an honorary watch and chain to Supreme Knight James Mullen, he added, “Mr. Mullen has watched with us the uninterrupted growth of this organization and we are going to tell you that we are going to watch him now.”

Father Joseph Daley, who met Father Michael the year after he founded the Knights, believed God had entrusted him with a charism beyond his good nature and love of neighbor: “His special vocation was to develop Catholic manhood.”

As assistant pastor of St. Mary Parish in New Haven from 1878 to 1884, Father Michael regularly visited inmates in the city jail. Most famously, he ministered to James “Chip” Smith, who was awaiting execution for killing a police chief during a drunken altercation. Smith’s subsequent conversion of heart, guided by Father Michael, was emblematic of the priest’s hope for an entire generation of rough-and-tumble young men with immigrant roots.

Father W.J. Slocum, who knew Father Michael well, recalled that he “possessed the power of drawing men, especially young men, toward him, of holding them together and directing their actions.”

In founding the Knights of Columbus, Father Michael looked to the young laymen of New Haven whom he would call together in unity and charity to serve the Church. He declined the title supreme knight and instead served as secretary, then as national chaplain from 1884 until 1890, the year he died.

His youngest brother, Father John McGivney, later recalled, “My brother conceived the idea of such an organization, with its members banded together for God, Church and country. Accordingly, he called in about 10 prominent laymen of New Haven, and with them as charter members he launched the Order.”

The founding was in some ways a missing key to American parish life. According to Sister Dolores, priests of the time needed to accomplish three tasks to help their parish thrive — a church building, Catholic education (by securing quality teaching sisters), and gathering an active laity. The Knights of Columbus went a long way in fulfilling this third task.

By the turn of the century, the expansive impact of the Order’s mission began to show with greater clarity. In August 1900, 10 years after their founder’s death, Knights from throughout Connecticut and beyond made a pilgrimage to the founder’s grave — beginning with Mass at Immaculate Conception Church in Waterbury, the McGivney family’s parish.

“The time has come when the laity must stand forth as a more active part of the Church,” Father Slocum said in his homily. “In fact, the laity has in itself an apostolate. You, as an organization, are a strong unit of that apostolate.”

In the end, Father McGivney’s vision for a strong Catholic laity, embodied by the Knights of Columbus, anticipated the Second Vatican Council by more than 80 years. It was a vision also centered on the Catholic family, and it had all started with his own.

THE BUILDER: PATRICK J. MCGIVNEY

A portrait of Father Patrick McGivney — A portrait shows Father Patrick J. McGivney, who served as supreme chaplain from 1901-1928. (Knights of Columbus Multimedia Archives)

In 1884, two years after Father Michael McGivney founded the Knights, he was appointed pastor of St. Thomas Church in Thomaston, Connecticut. That same fall, his brother Patrick — born Sept. 2, 1867 — left the family home to pursue his long-held desire to be a priest.

Mary McGivney’s emphasis on education made Patrick a good fit for the rigors of academics. At Our Lady of Angels Seminary in Niagara, he earned honors in nine subjects, ranging from Hebrew to calculus. He was ordained in 1892 in Boston, two years after his brother Michael died.

The Knights appreciated how faith operated in the McGivney family — and wanted to tap into it. So, the Connecticut State Council singled out young Father Patrick for state chaplain. He accepted, holding the role until the Supreme Council recruited him as national chaplain — later known as supreme chaplain — in 1901.

Father Patrick traveled extensively for the Order, emphasizing the spiritual mission of the Knights wherever he went. He journeyed with Supreme Knight Edward Hearn to Mexico in February 1906, just months after the Order established its first council there — Guadalupe Council 1050 in Mexico City. He and a team of Knights also embarked on recurring pilgrimages, including a 1910 trek to Genoa and Rome, where they met with Pope Pius X in a private audience on Aug. 24.

“Nowhere else is there a body of laymen who have greater love for and devotion to the Holy See than those who call the land of Columbus their own country,” said Father Patrick, addressing the Holy Father. “We take a further liberty to assure you that the great body of Catholic laymen, of which we are but humble members, is Your Holiness’ ally in every movement you inaugurate for the glory and honor of the Church and that its reverence for your sacred person is that of true Catholic Knights.”

My brother conceived the idea of such an organization, with its members banded together for God, Church and country. He called in about 10 prominent laymen of New Haven, and with them as charter members he launched the Order.

When World War I bore American souls to battle, Father Patrick was sent to help establish the Order’s army hut initiative in Europe. The program, among its many successes, connected servicemen to priests. Father Patrick met with Gen. John J. Pershing, commander of U.S. forces during World War I, to coordinate support.

During the first quarter of the 20th century, the Knights of Columbus established its most public, civic and religious-freedom-oriented initiatives, capitalizing on its versatility and growth as a lay organization. This included expansion of the Fourth Degree; the K of C Historical Commission’s fight against anti-Catholic libel and the KKK; opposition to the Mexican government’s persecution of Catholics; aid to refugees; and vocational training for veterans.

Known for his love of the sick, generous nature, strong character, a practical piety and common sense over more than 35 years of priestly ministry, Father Patrick was also entrusted by three bishops of Hartford to build up parishes. In her research of that era, Sister Dolores found that certain priests, like the McGivney brothers, had a marked talent for establishing or strengthening parishes.

“They would have been the good ones, the successful ones who would have the wisdom,” Sister Dolores explained — those from whom fellow priests sought advice.

One year, on the anniversary of his ordination, Father Patrick received a letter of goodwill from former President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1924, Pope Pius XI granted him the title monsignor.

Msgr. McGivney died on Mayh 8, 1928, while in Paris. In announcing his death, the Bridgeport Times-Star underscored his goodness: “His charities were like the sands of the seashore, numerous but uncountable.”

THE PREACHER: JOHN J. MCGIVNEY

A portrait of Father John McGivney — A portrait shows Father John J. McGivney, who served as supreme chaplain from 1928-1939. (Knights of Columbus Multimedia Archives)

The youngest of the McGivney siblings, John was born in Waterbury on Oct. 25, 1870. Like his older brothers, John’s intelligence shone from an early age. In high school, he composed in Latin and tackled both Greek dramatists and Latin historians. But John trained his whole person — soul and mind, certainly, but body as well.

“A great admirer of manly sports,” as one newspaper recalled, “in college [he] was always identified with athletics which he believes in putting on the highest plane.”

Ordained in 1896, the young curate was “a powerful swimmer,” and he once saved a man from drowning in Long Island Sound. According to one contemporary account, he grabbed the man by the shoulders and dragged him to shore.

It’s a good metaphor for Father John’s lifetime of work as a fisher of men — saving souls as a preacher, pastor and chaplain of the Order.

Also hailed as “a brilliant orator” and “one of the best preachers in the diocese,” he had not served parishes long before the bishop drafted him for a new, challenging evangelization endeavor — the Diocese of Hartford’s missionary band.

From 1901-1905, Father John traveled statewide, preaching to Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

Even after he was eventually assigned to a parish, Father John was like his older brothers in that he moved beyond the usual boundaries — serving on two library boards and the board of education. Every time a New Haven child or adult browsed the shelves of the New Haven Public Library, they entered a spread of knowledge and literature shaped in part by his judgment.

Connecticut Gov. Wilbur Cross served with Father John on the committee responsible for the library’s book selection and said, “I was always impressed with his keen common sense and outspokenness.”

Sister Dolores said her former pastor was spoken of warmly by all. Although she was quite young, her family benefited from Father John’s ministry, with her father working closer with him as a principal — and her siblings benefitting from the education provided by the Sisters of Mercy, whom Father John secured for the parish school.

When his brother, Msgr. Patrick, died in 1928, both the Knights and the bishop knew exactly who could fill the void as supreme chaplain and pastor of St. Charles: Father John.

As supreme chaplain for more than a decade, he guided the Order spiritually through the Great Depression. Pope Pius XI named him a monsignor in 1932; he died on March 16, 1939.

Supreme Knight Martin Carmody, whose tenure closely coincided with that of Father John, praised him as “lovable and generous, a man of charitable nature, and a priest endowed with qualities of mind and heart that endeared him to all who knew him. Sturdy of faith and strong of character, he labored unceasingly as a true priest of the living God.”

ECHOES OF THE FIRST SEMINARY

The continuity of family played in the Order’s favor, helping ensure that the Knights pursued their unique purpose.

McGivneyBrothers_FatherPatrickAtConvention — Father Patrick J. McGivney (bottom row, center), national chaplain, is seated among incorporators and other early leaders of the Order during the Knights of Columbus Supreme Convention in Cliff Haven, N.Y., in August 1901. Seated to his left is Supreme Knight Edward L. Hearn; behind them is Pennsylvania State Deputy James A. Flaherty, who would succeed Hearn as supreme knight. (Knights of Columbus Multimedia Archives)

Several family traits held in common by the McGivney brothers — love for the poor, courageous enterprise, and a joy for children — flourished on a grand scale in the Order’s history.

Within the Diocese of Hartford, which then encompassed the entire state of Connecticut, the McGivneys made a difference. “It was a matter of inspiration,” Sister Dolores said. “They inspired other priests to think they could do the same thing, that they were capable of organizing not only their parishes, but beyond their parishes.”

The Fathers McGivney — hardworking, compassionate and eager for souls — could not always finish their great works. But they could count on each other to carry on.

They passed the torch over the decades, fighting for the faith, guiding the Knights, strengthening families and parishes. And through the storms of life and death, they echoed the salutation that young John McGivney, then in high school, wrote at the end of his letters: “I still remain, your loving brother.”

*****

MAUREEN WALTHER is co-author, with her late husband, Andrew Walther, of The Knights of Columbus: An Illustrated History (2020).

A bronze statue of Blessed Michael McGivney in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral

Fathers McGivney

THE FOUNDER: MICHAEL J. MCGIVNEY

THE BUILDER: PATRICK J. MCGIVNEY

THE PREACHER: JOHN J. MCGIVNEY

ECHOES OF THE FIRST SEMINARY

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