Our Founder, Fr. Michael McGivney's History

early about sorrow and the harsh grip of poverty. He also learned about the powers of love and faith, and family fortitude.

He went to the small district schools of Waterbury's working-class neighborhoods. A good child, he was admired by his school principal for "excellent deportment and proficiency in his studies." Then, after the Civil War, when Connecticut's metals industry was booming, he left school at age 13 to go to work. His job in the spoon-making department of a brass factory provided a few more dollars for family survival..
When Michael reached the age of 16 in 1868, he left the factory. With the priesthood clearly in mind, he traveled with his Waterbury pastor to Quebec, Canada. There he registered at the French-run College of St. Hyacinthe. He worked hard on subjects which would prepare him to apply for seminary admission.
Two academic years followed at Our Lady of Angels Seminary, attached to Niagara University in Niagara Falls, New York. Young McGivney moved next to Montreal to attend seminary classes at the Jesuit-run St. Mary's College.
He was there when his father died in June of 1873.

Priesthood
Lacking funds and concerned about his family, he went home for the funeral, lingering awhile in Waterbury. Then, at the request of the bishop of Hartford, he entered St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland. After four years of study, on December 22, 1877, he was ordained in Baltimore's historic Cathedral of the Assumption by Archbishop (later Cardinal) James Gibbons. A few days later, with his widowed mother present, he said his first Mass at Immaculate Conception Church in Waterbury.

Father McGivney began his priestly ministry on Christmas Day in 1877 as curate at St. Mary's Church in New Haven. It was the city's first parish. A new stone church had been built, after the old one burned, on one of New Haven's finest residential streets, Hillhouse Avenue. There was neighborhood objection which even the New York Times noted in 1879, under the headline: "How An Aristocratic Avenue Was Blemished By A Roman Church Edifice." So Father McGivney's priestly ministry in New Haven began with tension and defensiveness among the working-class Irish families he served.

One of the responsibilities of St. Mary's priests was pastoral care of inmates of the city jail. In a notable case, a 21-year-old Irishman, while drunk, shot and killed a police officer. James (Chip) Smith was tried for first-degree murder in 1881, convicted and sentenced to be hung. Father McGivney visited him daily. After a special Mass on the day of execution, the priest's grief was intense. The young offender comforted him: "Father, your saintly ministrations have enabled me to meet death without a tremor. Do not fear for me, I must not break down now."

Father McGivney worked closely with the young people of St. Mary's parish, holding catechism classes and organizing a total abstinence society to fight alcoholism. In 1881 he began to explore with various laymen the idea of a Catholic, fraternal benefit society. In an era when parish clubs and fraternal societies had wide popular appeal, the young priest felt there should be some way to strengthen religious faith and at the same time provide for the financial needs of families overwhelmed by illness or death of the breadwinner.
He discussed this concept with Bishop Lawrence McMahon of Hartford, and received his approval. He traveled to Boston to talk with the Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters, and traveled to Brooklyn to consult the Catholic Benevolent Legion. He met with other priests of the diocese. Wherever he could, he sought information that would help the Catholic laymen to organize themselves into a benefit society.