Knights to Christ

The prefix to the 3rd Edition of Knights to Christ published 
March 2004 contains a letter from Fr. Gabriel O'Donnell, 
Postulator for the cause of sainthood for Fr. Michael J. McGivney.  
In his letter Fr. O'Donnell connects the spirituality of Fr. McGivney 
to the purpose of Knights to Christ.  That letter follows:

THE SPIRIT OF FATHER MCGIVNEY: 

PRIEST AND APOSTLE

Descriptions are never easy.  Memory is imperfect and  it is hard 
to find exactly the right words to capture the skin tones, the shape 
of the nose, the highlights of the hair.  Television police dramas are 
filled with the proof of the fallibility of the ability to remember.  
Paradoxically, one does not have the same difficulties capturing the 
spirit of the person, their inner values and attitudes.  These leave an 
impression deeper than physical characteristics.  It is this inner profile, 
the contours of his spirituality, that we seek of Father Michael J. McGivney, 
who died more than a century ago.  Retrieving his spirit and spirituality 
from the scant records of the past is not easy nor is the task anywhere yet 
complete.  It is an important exercise, however, because this little book, 
“Knights to Christ,” is based upon the spiritual vision of our founder.  
Drawing together texts from Sacred Scripture, the Fathers of the Church and 
other spiritual writers, it is intended to lead each Knight more deeply into 
the spirituality that flows from the heart of Father McGivney, priest and apostle.  
May all who use this little book come to know Father McGivney through imitation 
of his example of heroic charity. 

Michael J. McGivney was a man of his times:  son of Irish immigrant parents in a 
part of the country charged with anti-Catholic sentiment, he knew the meaning of 
deprivation and poverty.  The effects of alcoholism and domestic violence in the 
immigrant community were inescapable and the young McGivney knew first hand the 
disastrous consequences of poor working conditions and unfair labor practices for 
the family.  Such cultural conditions produced in him a heart sensitive to the 
sufferings and misery of others.  As a youngster in a good Catholic home he discovered 
that his strength came from the bonds of faith and love which knit his family together, 
prepared each of them for life in the world and kept them close to the Church of Christ.  
Early in his teens the desire to spend himself for others and draw them to Christ 
became a vocation to the priesthood.  Though never physically robust, his sensitive 
nature and priestly heart led him to pour himself out, often beyond the limits of his 
health, in providing for the spiritual and material needs of those committed to his care.  

Though he carried out all of his sacramental and pastoral duties with care, and identified 
with his parishioners in their sufferings and struggles, it was betterment of young 
Catholics that so preoccupied Father McGivney throughout his entire life.  

The founding of the Knights of Columbus when he was but 29 years old is the great 
monument to his pastoral vision and concern.  He was determined to form a brotherhood 
for young Catholic working and professional men which would support them in their faith, 
provide for the care of their families, especially those left behind by sudden or 
untimely death, and channel the charity of their time and service to the needs of the 
less fortunate and the works of the Church.  The phenomenal success and growth of the 
Knights of Columbus did not come without the price of exhausting research and preparations, 
delicate relationships between officers and members, skillful molding of the spirit and 
organization of the earliest members of the Order and constancy in the face of the 
opposition and criticism which came from other priests.

Father McGivney the priest, Father McGivney the apostle to the young – these were 
expressions of his deep attachment to the eternal high priest, Jesus Christ.  To 
speak of him as priestly, even in the most adverse of situations, is to say that he 
was always Christlike.  He signs one of his few surviving letters, “In the Sacred Heart.”  
The source of his patience, his endurance, and his inexhaustible charity was the Sacred 
Heart of Jesus.  Nineteenth century Catholic piety was centered on the Sacred Heart 
and the McGivney family would have been no exception.  All of the priestliness and 
charity of Michael McGivney found its source in Christ and was an attempt to draw 
others into that circle of love which exists between Christ and his Church.  Michael 
McGivney was in love with Jesus Christ and his Church and spent his short life on earth 
finding new ways to express that love and to share it with others.

The few photographs we have of him suggest that Father McGivney was somewhat retiring 
in disposition.  Some have seen in him a certain severity.  But the record is clear 
that McGivney, God’s servant and priest, was friendly and open, had a delightful 
sense of humor and drew the young of the parish to himself with unfailing magnetism.  
It was his work with the young, however, that was charismatic and unusual.  As any 
priest, he wanted the men and women of his parish to be good Catholics, but he wanted 
them to enjoy life at the same time.  He celebrated Mass for them and preached his 
sermons.  He heard their confessions and lent a willing ear to their difficulties and 
struggles.  He outdid himself, however, in preparing entertainment, plays, fairs, any 
wholesome fun which would bring joy and a bit of diversion in a world where there was 
little leisure and even less money to provide an easier life.

One of the most famous of Father McGivney’s spiritual friends was Chip Smith, an Irish 
lad condemned to death for the drunken murder of a policeman.  The young curate at St. 
Mary’s devoted himself to the spiritual welfare of young Smith, visiting him daily in 
the New Haven jail, arranging a High Mass to be celebrated there before his death, 
complete with choir to provide the music, and walked with him to the gallows.  The 
priest and the condemned man embraced.  Smith expressed his gratitude for the priestly 
guidance and support which made it possible for him to face death with courage and 
tranquility.  In the end it was the devoted priest who carried away the burden of 
sorrow which he lifted from the young man’s shoulders.  He was long afterwards 
affected by that encounter.  

It was from these two characteristics of his spirituality, as priest and apostle to 
the young that Father McGivney came to be an apostle for Christian family life.  His 
convictions about the sanctity of family life and its importance for Church and society 
came from his own experience of what the loss of a parent can mean or the chaos which 
results when Christian ideals do not reign in the home.  His program for the formation 
of strong Christian families can be found in the fraternal order of the Knights of 
Columbus.  A knight is a man of courage, duty and honor.  A Knight of Columbus is a 
Catholic, a man of faith, who accepts the responsibilities of his vocation with 
courage and honor.  He depends upon God and his brother Knights to fulfill the duties 
of his state in life.  He is called to be a better husband and father because he is 
a Knight of Columbus.  For Father McGivney the Knights of Columbus were as much a 
program for spiritual formation as a benevolent society which cares for the widow 
and orphan.  Membership in the Knights of Columbus is not meant to take a man 
from his home, but to prepare him to go to his family strengthened in his relationship 
with Jesus Christ and renewed in his resolve to spend himself for others as Christ did.

Father McGivney was priest and apostle and we pray that one day we will be able to add 
one more title … canonized saint.

Rev. Gabriel B. O’Donnell, O.P.

Postulator, The Father McGivney Guild
One Columbus Plaza; New Haven, CT  06410
fathermcgivney.org