YONKERS — There’s a new teacher at St. Joseph Seminary and College, although this instructor doesn’t offer lectures, give pop quizzes, or grade term papers.
That’s because it’s a statue.
A five-foot-tall bronze statue of Blessed Michael McGivney, the 19th-century priest who founded the Knights of Columbus, was dedicated by Cardinal Timothy Dolan during a Mass at the seminary on Sept. 3.
One current member of the knights, Louis Pepe, said he hopes the statue has something to teach today’s seminarians.
The statue was donated by the New York State Council of the Knights of Columbus “to let the seminarians know that the end of their path could lead to sainthood if they do a good and beautiful priesthood,” said Pepe, grand knight of the Bishop Thomas V. Daily Council of the Knights of Columbus at the Cathedral Basilica of St. James in Downtown Brooklyn.
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The cause for canonization for Father McGivney was opened in 1997. Pope Benedict XVI declared him venerable in 2008. After the Vatican verified a miracle attributed to his intercession, Father McGivney was declared blessed by Pope Francis and beatified in 2020. If a second miracle is verified, that will clear the way for him to become a saint.
The seminary is “a perfect spot for the statue because it encourages the seminarians to know that a local parish priest one day might be canonized,” Pepe said.
Pepe is the man behind an effort by the New York State Council Knights of Columbus to raise $100,000 to erect a statue of Blessed Michael McGivney in each of the eight dioceses in the state — Albany, Brooklyn, Buffalo, New York, Ogdensburg, Rochester, Rockville Centre, and Syracuse.
To date, the Knights have raised $70,000 and put up five statues — two in the Diocese of Brooklyn and one each in the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Ogdensburg. The seminary statue is the fifth.
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There is also a McGivney statue in the Diocese of Rockville Centre at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Island in Manorville, New York, that was donated separately by Suffolk County Knights of Columbus.
The Diocese of Brooklyn statues are located at the Cathedral Basilica of St. James in Downtown Brooklyn and the other at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Prospect Heights.
The knights are still working to get statues placed in the dioceses of Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse.
The New York State Council previously brought a McGivney statue to Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Soho. However, the statue at St. Joseph’s Seminary and College is a bonus — an unexpected gift from the knights.
Pepe and the state council originally planned to have the statue placed in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Midtown. But they were beaten to the punch by Supreme Knight Patrick E. Kelly, who donated a statue to the cathedral on behalf of the national knights.
Cardinal Dolan suggested that the state knights set their sights instead on St. Joseph Seminary and College. Calling it an “image of a good parish priest,” he blessed the statue during the Mass of the Holy Spirit, the gathering traditionally held at the start of the school year.
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Cardinal Dolan said he hoped Blessed Michael McGivney could serve as an example of how to live a life of service. “May this image, which will be seen every day by future priests, inspire us to follow Christ more closely as he did,” he said.
Father Michael McGivney (1852-1890) founded the Knights of Columbus in 1882 while serving as a parish priest in New Haven, Connecticut. Originally composed of a handful of men to help widows and children, the Knights of Columbus has grown into a worldwide organization with 2.1 million members.
Nicholas Esposito, 22, a member of the Knights of Columbus who is studying for the priesthood at St. Joseph Seminary and College, said the statue exemplifies the efforts in communities all over.
“It means a lot to have the statue here to remind me of their generosity, their kindness, and how much they do for the communities in which they serve,” Esposito said.