EAST MEADOW — On April 12, members of the Knights of Columbus and the Columbiettes of Pope Pius XII Council 4422 processed across the parking lot of St. Raphael Parish for the blessing of a new statue of Blessed Michael McGivney.
Grand Knight Robert Visone said the moment was a long time coming.
“We worked for about a year, and we put a lot into it, and it was a little rough going, but it really paid off,” Visone said. “The statue is beautiful. It came out terrific.”
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Former Grand Knight Anthony Spinelli said the statue, purchased for $6,000 from the New York State Council of the Knights of Columbus, took almost a year to fund and was first dedicated in December 2025. It was initially kept inside the church, but because of limited indoor space, leaders worked to determine how best to install it outdoors.
Thanks to parishioner Angelo Barbieri, who built the brick statue base with some help from family, it was installed outside the council chamber by April 6, which is attached to the parish’s convent building.
“We are over the moon with having this beautiful image of a simple parish priest who had the idea of using the term ‘Knights of Columbus’ to have the beautiful founding principles of charity, unity, and fraternity be the beginning of what has been a 144-year program that has lasted from church to church and the entire world,” Spinelli said.
The five-foot-tall bronze statue of the 19th-century priest who founded the Knights of Columbus was blessed by St. Raphael pastor Father Leo Song after morning Mass.
“May [the statue] stand as a visible reminder of a life poured out in love for Christ and his Church,” Father Song said as he blessed the statue.
Father Song, the council chaplain and a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus, has long supported Blessed Michael McGivney’s cause for canonization.
“I’m very happy and excited, especially to be able to bless the statue and have it for public veneration,” Father Song said. “On a day like today, Divine Mercy Sunday, I think it’s a great blessing, and it’s a gift to our parish and to our greater community.”
During the blessing, Barbieri said he is always happy to support the parish.
“In the past, I’ve done multiple projects here at St. Raphael, and every time they ask me to do something, I always put myself out there,” he said. “I give back to the church.”
Father McGivney (1852–1890) founded the Knights of Columbus in 1882, while serving as a parish priest in New Haven, Connecticut. What began as a small group supporting widows and children has grown into a global organization of more than 2.1 million members.
His cause for canonization of Father McGivney opened in 1997, and Pope Benedict XVI declared him Venerable in 2008. Pope Francis beatified him in 2020. A second verified miracle would pave the way for sainthood.
The Knights have placed 12 statues of Blessed McGivney throughout New York, two of which are in the Diocese of Brooklyn. The first was installed on Aug. 13, 2024, at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Prospect Heights.
