McGivney, Michael Joseph, 1852–1890, American Roman Catholic priest, founder of the Knights of Columbus, b. Waterbury, Conn. After studying at seminaries in Canada and the United States, he was ordained a priest in 1877. Assigned to a largely immigrant parish in New Haven, Conn., he founded (1882) the Sons of Columbus (soon the Knights of Columbus) as a fraternal mutual aid society. He continued to expand the organization until his death, and the Knights is now the largest Catholic fraternal organization in the world. He was declared a Venerable Servant of God by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008.
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