Everyone applauds as a tapestry of the now Blessed Michael McGivney is unveiled on Oct. 31 as part of the Mass and Beatification ceremony at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford. Photo by Aaron Joseph
By Shelley Wolf
HARTFORD – On the eve of All Saints and All Souls, Father Michael J. McGivney was beatified and declared “Blessed” in a Mass and Beatification ceremony at the Cathedral of St. Joseph on Oct. 31, moving one step closer to becoming a saint himself.
In attaining the title of Blessed, Father McGivney is now held up for his “heroic level of virtue,” which he displayed in his 38 short years of life as an exemplary parish priest in the Archdiocese of Hartford and as the founder of the Knights of Columbus.
“I believe that Father McGivney is truly Pope Francis’ kind of priest,” Archbishop Leonard P. Blair of the Archdiocese of Hartford told those gathered, “a model for his time of closeness in Christ Jesus to those on the peripheries of life and society.”
Referring to the ceremony as a “joyful celebration,” Archbishop Blair said he hoped that Father McGivney’s example would cause many men to “heed God’s call to the priesthood and that we may be blessed with a second miracle.” He wished the Knights of Columbus “God’s continued blessing and success in promoting the unity, fraternity and charity that truly serves the spiritual world and material good for all.”
During the historic Beatification event, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, the Archbishop of Newark, N.J., served as representative of the Holy Father Pope Francis. As the principal celebrant of the Mass, he also delivered the homily.
“Praise God for the timeliness of this celebration – because 130 years after his death, the brief life of this holy man speaks eloquently to our own path to holiness,” Cardinal Tobin said. “We should listen to this testimony. Jesus asks each one of us to become a saint. To be perfect just as your heavenly father is perfect.
“We are all called by the Lord, each in his or her own way, to perfect holiness,” he said. “God wishes us all to be saints, and each one according to his own state of life. The religious as religious. Mother as mother. Priest as priest. The man of business as a man of business. Soldier as a soldier.”
Of Father McGivney he said, “He had the simple, indispensable requirement for a pastor – to love his people.” He watched them work, organized activities for them and was with them in their sorrows. “He was sanctified by doing what good parish priests still do today, day in and day out.”
Cardinal Tobin referred to the priest’s founding of the Knights of Columbus as “his signature accomplishment … born from the pastoral ingenuity of a parish priest to respond to the twin challenges faced by the people he served.” He knew his people well, and that genius caused him to create the lay Catholic benefits society to “provide for families in the event of death and remain united to the Church.”
Today, the Knights of Columbus has more than 2 million members worldwide, he noted, and continues to do charitable work.
During the solemn rite, Cardinal Tobin read in Latin the Apostolic Letter from Pope Francis. Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, supreme chaplain of the Knights, read an English translation:
“We, by our Apostolic Authority, decree that Venerable Servant of God Michael McGivney, Diocesan Priest, Founder of the Knights of Columbus, whose zeal for the proclamation of the Gospel and generous concern for the needs of his brothers and sisters, made him an outstanding witness of Christian solidarity and fraternal assistance, henceforth be given the title of Blessed and that his liturgical memorial be kept each year on 13 August.”
A large tapestry image in the sanctuary of the newly beatified Father McGivney was unveiled to the sounds of applause from the congregation and singing by the Cathedral Schola Cantorum.
In a touching moment, five-year-old Michael “Mikey” McGivney Schachle, the child who was saved through the miraculous intercession of Father McGivney through an in utero miracle approved by the Vatican, carried a relic of the priest to the sanctuary where it was incensed. His parents, Daniel and Michelle Schachle, of Dickson, Tenn., and several of his brothers and sisters, joined him.
Michael “Mikey” McGivney Schachle, who is part of a miracle confirmed by the Vatican, presents a relic of Blessed Michael McGivney to Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, Archbishop of Newark, N.J., and representative of the Holy Father Pope Francis, during the Rite of Beatification. Photo by Aaron Joseph
Father McGivney was born in Waterbury in 1852 and became parochial vicar at St. Mary’s Church in New Haven until 1884. While there, he founded the Knights of Columbus in 1882 in the basement of the church with a small group of parishioners, with the intention of strengthening the Catholic men and their families while providing financial protection when they suffered the death of a breadwinner.
In 1884, he became the pastor of St. Thomas Church in Thomaston, where he resided until his death in 1890 during a pandemic. Today, his remains are interred in a sarcophagus in St. Mary’s Church in New Haven.
The canonization cause for Father McGivney was opened in the Archdiocese of Hartford in 1997. Canonization will require the confirmation of another miracle by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
During the Beatification ceremony, dignitaries of the wider Catholic Church were present, including Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, and Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, who served as concelebrants at the Mass. Also in attendance were Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, all the archbishops and bishops of Connecticut, and Carl Anderson, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus.
Following the Mass, Dominican Father John Paul Walker, the current pastor of St. Mary Parish in New Haven, where Father McGivney once served, was visibly happy and relieved that the Beatification ceremony at the Cathedral of St. Joseph went so smoothly. “This is a once in a lifetime experience,” he said. “It was emotional, and it was uplifting.”
Another clergyman present, Monsignor Thomas Ginty, was notary and chancellor in 1997 when the cause for Father McGivney’s canonization was opened by then Archbishop Daniel A. Cronin. He recalled initialing 650 pages of documents that were gathered in support of Father McGivney’s cause. They were eventually shipped off to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome.
“It’s a long time coming,” he said of the Beatification. “You never know when God will intervene. And for that little boy to be cured of his ailments through the intercession of Father McGivney, what a great grace. The father did an excellent job last night of conveying the story at the prayer service. It was heart moving. It really was.”
Among the invited guests were the Schachle family and several of their 13 children. Their daughter Genevieve Schachle said, “My father has prayed to Father McGivney for years. After all of these years of waiting, the Beatification is finally coming true today. And we’re so happy to be here with our bishop, Bishop J. Mark Spalding from the Diocese of Nashville.”
Mother Agnes Mary Donovan and Sister Veronica Sullivan, Sisters of Life, traveled from New York to attend the event. Sister Veronica, who was born and raised in Waterbury, is the sister of Father James Sullivan, rector of Waterbury’s Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. “There are a lot of beautiful favors that happened in my family due to him,” she said of Father McGivney. “This is a great day for Waterbury and for our family.”
Kevin Brady, a member of the Knights of Columbus who volunteered to usher at the ceremony, added, “I’ve been a member of the Knights for 20 years. For Father McGivney’s holiness and piety to be recognized by the Universal Church, it’s something to be proud of.”
With attendance limited to 200 people due to statewide COVID-19 restrictions, Catholics throughout the archdiocese also joined in prayer and spiritual communion by viewing the event live on TV, the Internet and on radio. Those in the cathedral wore masks and socially distanced themselves.
The Mass and Beatification was part of a three-day celebration of the life of Father McGivney.
The night prior to the Beatification, the priests of the Archdiocese of Hartford gathered in a Prayer Vigil for Priests at St. Mary’s Church in New Haven, where Father McGivney served as a parish priest and is now entombed. On Sunday, a Mass of Thanksgiving was held at St. Mary’s Church in New Haven. Other events in New Haven included a roundtable talk and a family rosary with testimony from the Schachle family on the McGivney miracle.