With an eye toward leading others to heaven, Father McGivney was attentive to the ways of the world as he worked to better the spiritual and temporal conditions of his immigrant parishioners. His innovative efforts to draw laypeople closer to Christ – especially through his founding of the fraternal Order of the Knights of Columbus – was creative, effective and bold.
A priest who knew him well wrote:
Genial, approachable, of kindly disposition, cheerful under reverses, profoundly sympathetic with those upon whom had fallen the heavy hand of affliction, a man of strict probity and sterling integrity in his business transactions. He was charitable to a fault ... The poor found in him a good Samaritan, and were the frequent recipients of his bounty. … There are few clergymen in my recollection who enjoyed in a greater degree than he the respect of his colleagues and the reverence of the people. … His energy was restless, ever seeking new outlets. And to this disposition are we indebted for the existence of the Knights of Columbus.
When he arrived for his first assignment at St. Mary’s Church in New Haven, he met an ailing pastor who had to turn much of the pastoral work over to his new assistant. In a letter to his seminary mentor, he wrote that the whole work of the parish had been laid upon his shoulders and he had been unable to take even one day off. Seven years later, as pastor of St. Thomas Church in Thomaston, Father McGivney’s workload only increased, with a mission church added to his duties.
Falling ill during the global viral pandemic of 1889-90, Father McGivney developed tuberculosis and was forced to cut back on his routine to seek a cure. After months of heroic struggle against the illness, and after intense prayer for his parishioners and their future, he finally received the last rites and succumbed to pneumonia on Aug. 14, 1890, two days past his 38th birthday.
The funeral Mass and procession were attended by Knights and other Catholics from across Connecticut, and even secular news reports described him as an exemplary priest and a model Christian man.
Next: HIS LEGACY
