A first-class relic of Blessed Michael McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus, visited one of Metro Manila’s busiest Catholic shrines Saturday, launching a nationwide pilgrimage that will bring it to dioceses across the country over the next year.
The relic — a bone fragment of McGivney — arrived at the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Pasay City’s Baclaran district following a motorcade through Manila, making it the first stop of the pilgrimage.
About 100 honor guards and Knights of Columbus members welcomed the relic before a Mass and public veneration.
The Knights of Columbus Luzon South jurisdiction organized the event, which will eventually extend to dioceses nationwide.
“Instead of just ending there in Baclaran, we thought of making it nationwide,” said Danilo Sanchez, Luzon South state deputy for the Knights of Columbus. He said the idea grew out of talks among the country’s four state councils.
McGivney, a Connecticut priest, founded the Knights of Columbus in 1882 to provide charity, mutual aid and financial support for Catholic families. He was beatified in 2020.
The organization has more than 2 million members worldwide, including about 600,000 in the Philippines — one of its largest memberships outside the United States.
Sanchez said the relic will remain in Luzon South through September, with a stop in one of the Churches in Manila for an exhibit from Aug. 12, McGivney’s birthday, through Aug. 14, the anniversary of his death. His feast day, Aug. 13, falls between the two dates.
The pilgrimage will continue to Luzon North in October and November, Mindanao in January and February, and the Visayas in March. It will pause during Holy Week before concluding in Cebu in May alongside the Knights of Columbus National Convention.
Organizers hope to bring the relic to dozens of dioceses during the pilgrimage.
“We have 23 dioceses in Luzon South that we hope to visit,” Sanchez said, adding that similar efforts will aim to reach every diocese in Luzon North, the Visayas and Mindanao.
Sanchez said the pilgrimage is also intended to advance devotion to McGivney and support his canonization cause.
“The pastoral goal is really to promote Blessed Michael McGivney as the founder of the Knights of Columbus,” he said.
During the opening Mass, Redemptorist Father Mario Billy Poro urged the faithful to follow McGivney’s example of humble service.
“In God’s kingdom, the greatest are not those who are crowned by men, but those who faithfully help and serve without expecting anything in return,” Poro said.
