Hartford, Conn., Sep 24, 2009 / 11:30 am
The cause for sainthood of Father Michael McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus, took another step forward this week, with the submission of a supplemental report on a potential miracle attributed to the priest’s intercession.
The Knights of Columbus announced today that officials from a supplemental tribunal of the Archdiocese of Hartford –of which Fr. McGivney was a parish priest- formally sent a new report to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The information gathered by the tribunal included testimonies from witnesses to the supposed miracle as well as the statements of several medical doctors about the circumstances surrounding the reported miracle.
The small ceremony in which the new report was signed and presented to Archbishop Henry Mansell was attended by Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, other Supreme Officers, three relatives of Father McGivney and a number of archdiocesan officials.
The submission of the new report “marks an important step forward. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints will now have valuable additional testimony that clarifies and adds significantly to the original submission,” Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said.
“Father McGivney’s beatification would be an important event,” Anderson added, “not only for Knights of Columbus, but for the many thousands of parish priests who quietly do the Lord’s work in parishes each day and regard him as an outstanding example for priests everywhere. In this ‘Year for Priests’ it is an especially appropriate step forward.”
The cause for Father McGivney’s sainthood was opened by Hartford Archbishop Daniel A. Cronin in December 1997. The cause was presented to the Vatican in 2000, and Pope Benedict XVI declared him “Venerable” in March, 2008.
Father McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus in 1882 and died in 1890 at the age of 38.
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