Michael J. McGivney
American Roman Catholic priest, founder of the Knights of Columbus and blessed (1852–1890)
Feast: 13 August (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
The Vatican record
- 26 May 2020 — Miracle through their intercession approved (decree list, 2020)
Who they were
Michael McGivney was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, on 12 August 1852, the eldest of thirteen children of Irish immigrants. As a young curate at St Mary's in New Haven he founded in 1882, with a group of Catholic laymen, the Knights of Columbus, begun as a fraternal society to support families left destitute when the breadwinner died.
Known as a 'Good Samaritan' of deep faith, he died on 14 August 1890, aged 38.
The miracles
An unborn boy — Nashville, Tennessee, USA — 2015
In January 2015, in his mother's fourteenth pregnancy, tests showed the baby had Down syndrome and then severe fetal hydrops, a build-up of fluid that is almost always fatal. The family prayed to Father McGivney, and the hydrops disappeared. The boy was born on 15 May 2015 and grew up in good health.
Why that counted as sanctity
The case of an unborn boy was examined by the Church's doctors and theologians and approved as a miracle on 26 May 2020, opening the way to beatification.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography of Blessed Michael McGivney, with the miracle
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints — promulgated decrees (causesanti.va), summarised in our own words
- Wikidata Q2664799 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Michael J. McGivney (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.