The Knights of Columbus began in the basement of St. Mary's Church in New Haven, Connecticut in 1882, when Father Michael McGivney called together a small group of Catholic laymen and founded a society designed to unite Catholic men in their faith and provide financial assistance to the widows and orphans of its members.

The Order quickly grew into an organization of Catholic men and their families dedicated to the principals of UNITY as a group of people with similar values and beliefs, CHARITY toward your fellow man in hopes of building a better world, FRATERNITY toward your fellow Knights and PATRIOTISM that shows their loyalty toward their country of birth.

Today there are nearly 1.7 million members in over 12,000 local units called councils in the United States, Canada, the Philippines, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Panama, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guam, the Virgin Islands, the Bahamas and Saipan.

Over the years, the Knights of Columbus has become a very diverse organization. Our members belong to many races, cultures and economic backgrounds. It is this diversity that we draw our strength from as we share the experience of membership.

Worldwide when nearly 1.7 million Knights and their families contribute more than 60 million volunteer hours and donate over $130 million to charitable programs annually, they are helping each other and society to realize that membership in the Order is the Experience of a lifetime. When you become a member of the Knights of Columbus you are joining the largest Catholic lay organization in the world. If you are a Catholic man over the age of 18, you owe it to yourself and your family to find out more about the many benefits of membership in our order.