A FIRST-CLASS RELIC OF Blessed Michael McGivney, the founder of the Knights of Columbus, was recently on display in the Diocese of Orange for prayer services and veneration.
A first-class relic is a body part of a saint, such as bone, blood or flesh. This particular relic is a bone fragment that was extracted from Blessed McGivney’s remains entombed in a sarcophagus at St. Mary’s Church in New Haven, Conn., the very place where he was a parish priest when he founded the Knights of Columbus in 1882.
The tour of the Blessed McGivney relic, held from Feb. 22 through March 2, included stops at St. Kilian Catholic Church in Mission Viejo, St. Jude Medical Center Chapel in Fullerton and St. Callistus Chapel at Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove before making its way to its permanent home in the chapel at the Knights of Columbus State Council Headquarters in Fontana.
State Deputy James Larson of the California State Council of the Knights of Columbus escorted the relic along with Supreme Territorial Growth Director Robert Kish and the California State Secretary Ken Rose throughout Central and Southern California.
“We had 22 venerations,” Larson said. “A total of 1,380 faithful venerated in front of the relic.”
Catholics view saints as role models whose lives can inspire and guide people on their spiritual journeys and relationships with God. Relics serve as a tangible reminder to honor these people for their extraordinary relationships with God and a means of asking these saints to pray to God for them and others.
Fr. Michael J. McGivney was beatified and declared “Blessed” in a Mass and Beatification ceremony in 2020 in Connecticut by Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, Archbishop of Newark, N.J., on behalf of the Holy Father, Pope Francis.
Beatification is the second step taken by the Roman Catholic Church in the process of canonization before someone is made a saint.
Fr. McGivney’s intervention is credited with healing preborn Mikey Schachle of a life-threatening condition. This miracle was the path to Fr. McGivney’s Beatification.
One more approved miracle is needed for McGivney to be canonized as a saint.
With the title of Blessed, Fr. McGivney is now held up for his “heroic level of virtue” which he displayed during his life as a parish priest and as the founder of the Knights of Columbus.
“Blessed Michael McGivney was, above all, a pastor of souls who helped the men of his parish to practice their faith and live their vocation as husbands and fathers,” said Most. Rev. William E. Lori, Supreme Chaplain of the Knights of Columbus and vice president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“Through the work of the Knights of Columbus, his ministry continues to this day.”
For more information on Blessed Michael McGivney, visit https://www.fathermcgivney.org/