St. Mary’s Church in New Haven, Connecticut, is deeply tied to both Blessed Michael McGivney and the organization he founded – the Knights of Columbus
It is a special place of prayer and pilgrimage that contains the sarcophagus where the bodily remains of Father McGivney are entombed. Knights and families from many parts of the world, as well as visitors from New Haven and beyond, come to St. Mary’s to pay tribute to Father McGivney in the church where he founded the Order in 1882. They recite the prayer for canonization and thank God for favors received through the intercession of the holy priest.
The mortal remains of Father McGivney were reverently placed in the polished sarcophagus on March 29, 1982, the centennial of the founding of the Knights of Columbus. The remains had been exhumed from the McGivney family plot in his hometown of Waterbury, where his parents and some of his siblings are still buried in Old St. Joseph’s Cemetery.
As part of the beatification of Father McGivney in 2020, an outdoor display covering his life and legacy was added to the garden between the church and the priory.