An Immovable Foundation:
How the Knights of Columbus began
The Knights of Columbus was incorporated on March 29, 1882. The organization began humbly a few months earlier, when Father Michael J. McGivney, a 29-year-old parish priest, invited a small group of men to the basement of St. Mary's Church in New Haven, Connecticut. Father McGivney's goal was simple - to establish an order that would unite Catholic men in their faith as well as help provide for Catholic families in time of need.
Guided by four core principles - charity, unity, fraternity and patriotism - those founding members strove to overcome the hardships of the time. These included poverty...unemploument...even persecution.
Father McGivney's founding vision for the order also included a life insurance program to provide for the widows and orphans of deceased members. The order's insurance program has expanded substantially to serve more effectively the growing membership of the Knights of Columbus. Today, the insurance program is a pillar of financial strength.
Our organization, which began in a church basement with a handful of men, is the largest Catholic fraternal and humanitarian organization ever created. There are some 1.6 million men in over 12,000 Knights of Columbus councils in the United states and elsewhere in the world. Father McGivney's perserverance and foresight have resulted in an organization that has endured for almost a century and a quarter because of the inspirational courage of so many.
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