A Challenge to be a Better Man…

The Knights of Columbus is a Catholic men's fraternal benefit society that was formed in 1882 to render financial aid to members and their families. Since 1882, mutual aid and assistance are offered to sick, disabled and needy members and their families.

The Knights of Columbus has grown from several members in one council to more than 12,000 councils with 1.7 million members throughout the United States, Canada, the Philippines, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Panama, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, Guatemala, Guam and Saipan.

The early days…

The Knights of Columbus was founded by a Catholic priest, Father Michael J. McGivney in New Haven, Connecticut on February 2, 1882. The Order quickly spread throughout New England and the United States in the following years.

The primary motivation for the Order was to be a mutual benefit society. Many early members were recent immigrants who often lived in unsanitary conditions and performed hazardous jobs for poor pay. As a parish priest in an immigrant community, Fr. McGivney saw what could happen to a family when the breadwinner died and he wanted to provide insurance to care for the widows and orphans left behind. He himself had to temporarily leave his seminary studies to care for his family when his father died. He also believed that Catholicism and fraternalism were not incompatible and wished to found a society that would encourage men to be proud of their American-Catholic heritage.

Since its founding, a primary mission of the Knights of Columbus has been to protect families against the financial ruin caused by the death of the breadwinner. While this method originally was intended to provide a core group of people who would support a widow and her children after the death of their husband and father, it has flourished and matured into much more.

Principles…

Within the Order there are four “Degrees” of Knighthood, each one meant to exemplify one of the four principles of charity, unity, fraternity and patriotism. The First Degree exemplification ceremony, by which a man joins the Order, is focused on the virtue of charity. A new member is then said to be a “First Degree Knight of Columbus” and after participating in the subsequent degrees, rises to that status. Upon reaching the Third Degree a gentleman is considered a full member.

The Fourth Degree is the highest degree of the order. Members of this degree are addressed as "Sir Knight". The primary purpose of the Fourth Degree is to foster the spirit of patriotism and to encourage active Catholic citizenship.

Charity on a global scale...

Charity is the foremost principle of the Order. In the 2005 fraternal year the Order gave $136 million directly to charity and performed over 63.2 million hours of voluntary service. A Knight's highest duty is to assist the widow or orphan of a fallen brother Knight.

The Knights have a tradition of supporting those with physical and developmental disabilities. More than $382 million has been given over the past three decades to groups and programs that support the intellectually and physically disabled.

The Vicarius Christi Fund has a corpus of $20 million and has earned more than $35 million, for the Pope's personal charities. The Order also has eleven separate funds totaling $18 million to assist men and women who are discerning religious vocations pay tuition and other expenses.

Days after September 11, 2001 the Order established the $1 million Heroes Fund. Immediate assistance was given to the families of all full-time professional law enforcement, firefighters and emergency medical workers who lost their lives. Order-wide, more than $13 million has been raised for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. The Order also donated more than $500,000 to the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 relief efforts.