VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has approved a miracle attributed to
the intercession of Father Michael McGivney, founder of the Knights of
Columbus, clearing the way for his beatification.
While the Vatican announced May 27 that Pope Francis had signed
the decree, it did not announce a date for the beatification ceremony.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, previously scheduled beatification
Masses have been postponed.
For beatification, the Vatican requires proof of a miracle
attributed to the candidate's intercession, unless the candidate was martyred
for his or her faith.
Pope Francis has approved a miracle attributed to the
intercession of Father Michael McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus,
clearing the way for his beatification. Father McGivney is pictured in an
undated portrait. CNS FILE PHOTO
A statement from the Knights of Columbus said, "The miracle
recognized as coming through Father McGivney's intercession involved an unborn
child in the United States who in 2015 was healed in utero of a
life-threatening condition after prayers by his family to Father
McGivney."
"A date will soon be set for the beatification Mass, which
will take place in Connecticut," the statement said.
Meeting with the board of directors of the Knights of Columbus in
early February, the statement noted, Pope Francis said the organization has
been faithful "to the vision of your founder, Venerable Michael McGivney,
who was inspired by the principles of Christian charity and fraternity to
assist those most in need."
"Father McGivney has inspired generations of Catholic men to
roll up their sleeves and put their faith into action," said Supreme
Knight Carl A. Anderson. "He was decades ahead of his time in giving the
laity an important role within the church. Today, his spirit continues to shape
the extraordinary charitable work of Knights as they continue to serve those on
the margins of society as he served widows and orphans in the 1880s."
For canonization — the declaration that the candidate is a saint
— a miracle must take place after the beatification ceremony; it is seen as
God's final seal of approval on the church's proclamation that the candidate is
in heaven with God.
Father McGivney was born Aug. 12, 1852, the eldest of 13 children
born to Patrick and Mary Lynch McGivney in Waterbury, Connecticut. Emigrating
from separate towns in Ireland's County Cavan, the couple met and married in
the United States. Only seven of their children lived past childhood.
Young Michael attended school in Waterbury's working-class
neighborhood, but he left school at 13 to work in the spoon-making department
of a brass factory.
At 16, he left the factory to begin seminary studies at the
French-run College of St. Hyacinthe in Quebec. He also studied at Our Lady of
Angels Seminary, attached to Niagara University in Niagara Falls, New York, and
at the Jesuit-run St. Mary's College in Montreal.
He went home to Waterbury when his father died in 1873 and stayed
there for a time out of concern for his family and because he lacked funds. At
the request of Hartford's bishop, he enrolled in St. Mary's Seminary in
Baltimore, where he completed his priestly studies.
In 1877, he was ordained in Baltimore by Archbishop James Gibbons
for the then-Diocese of Hartford. A few days after his ordination, he said his
first Mass in the presence of his widowed mother at Immaculate Conception
Church in Waterbury.
Father McGivney served as an assistant pastor at St. Mary's
Parish in New Haven, 1877-84. He founded the Knights of Columbus with a small
group of Catholic laymen, in order to strengthen religious faith and to help
families overwhelmed by the illness or death of their breadwinner.
In 1884, he was named pastor of St. Thomas Church in Thomaston, a
factory town about 10 miles from Waterbury. He fell ill during an influenza
epidemic and died Aug. 14, 1890, probably from complications of pneumonia and
tuberculosis.