Knights of Saint Columba
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|Knights of Saint Columba|
|Motto||Charity, Unity and Fraternity|
|Formation||5 October 1919|
|Type||Catholic fraternal service|
|Headquarters||75 Hillington Road South, Glasgow, G52 2AE|
|Supreme Knight||Jonjo McDonagh|
|Key people||The Incorporators|
The Knights of Saint Columba is a Catholic fraternal service organisation and the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom. Founded in Glasgow in 1919, it is named in honour of Saint Columba, a Christian missionary from Ireland who helped to introduce Christianity to some of the people in the north. The organisation describes itself as being dedicated to the principles of Charity, Unity and Fraternity. There are more than 8,000 members of the KSC, in over 340 councils across Great Britain—it features in England, Scotland and Wales. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men aged 16 or older, as understood by the doctrine of the Catholic Church.
The organisation, which is non-political and essentially democratic, exists to support the mission of the Catholic Church and at the same time to work for the "spiritual and material good of its members and their families". They are a member of the International Alliance of Catholic Knights. Founder of the Knights and first Supreme Knight was P J O'Callaghan. Following the social teachings of the Catholic Church, members of the Order work for the moral and social welfare of their country and in particular to help the development of young people. Members strive to achieve all these aims through Charity, Unity and Fraternity.
The K.S.C. is not a secret society;. Admission ceremonies usually take place in a Catholic Church during a public Mass.
The Knights of Saint Columba was founded by an Irish migrant from Cork, Patrick Joseph O'Callaghan in Glasgow, Scotland. He gathered a meeting of twenty-four Catholic gentlemen on 5 October 1919, at Central Halls, Bath Street, Glasgow, where the men present agreed to found a fraternal organisation. The founders, known as the Incorporators, looked to model the organisation on the Knights of Columbus, which had existed since 1882 in the United States after being founded by priest Michael J. McGivney. A similar organisation had also been founded in Ireland a few years earlier, known as the Knights of Saint Columbanus, while in Britain there were female specific organisations such as the Catholic Women's League.
The primary motivation for the Order was to be a mutual benefit society based on the principles of Charity, Unity and Fraternity. The knights sought the social, economic and spiritual welfare of the members, together with the defence of Catholic principles and interests. It had only been in 1829 that the Catholic Emancipation had been completed in Britain, there were still some stigmas and socio-economic barriers, especially for Irish and to some extent Highland Catholic migrants to the Presbytarian Lowlands. In the late 19th century, Catholics were regularly excluded from trade unions and other organisations that provided social services. In addition, Catholics were either barred from many of the popular fraternal organisations, or, as in the case of Freemasonry, forbidden from joining by the Catholic Church itself. The society was influenced by the social teachings put forward by Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Rerum Novarum.
The first initiation of members began on 11 November 1919, while the following year a concert was held on Saint Patrick's Day which strongly boosted the membership numbers of the organisation into the hundreds.The Order is set at three levels: Councils are local groups which are arranged into larger groups called Provinces. The highest level is a Board of Directors led by the Supreme Knight. There is a Head Office located in Glasgow, Scotland, where the Order was founded The highest constitutional meeting of the Knights of Saint Columba is the annual conference or Supreme Council and is the body that decides national policy. The Supreme Knight is elected annually and can serve for a maximum of three years. Councils and Provinces are chaired by Grand Knights and Provincial Grand Knights respectively and these, too, are in office for a maximum of three years or an additional one year if approval is given by the Supreme Knight.The Order is noted for its charitable work and has raised money for projects such as assisting health in the developing world, earthquake relief as well as projects in Britain.
At local level, members belong to a Charter Council, lead by the Grand Knight.The Charter Councils in an area (often corresponding to a Catholic Diocese) come together to form a Province, under the Provincial Grand Knight. Representatives of the Provinces meet at least annually at the Supreme Council which governs the Order. The Supreme Knight presides over the Supreme Council.
Chronology of Supreme Knights
|1||1919—1922||Patrick Joseph O'Callaghan||15||1970—1972||Michael May|
|2||1922—1929||Edward Henry||16||1972—1975||Martin Cairns|
|3||1929—1933||William Bishop KCSG||17||1975—1978||Christopher Seneviratne|
|4||1933—1936||Thomas Davis||18||1978—1981||Anthony Rouse KC*SG KHS|
|5||1936—1945||William Loughrey||19||1981—1984||P Layden|
|6||1945—1948||Thomas Leyland||20||1984—1987||Walter Downey|
|7||1948—1951||Laurie Arnold||21||1987—1990||Francis Redmond KCSG|
|8||1951—1952||Daniel Kelly||22||1990—1993||Anthony Bateman|
|9||1952—1955||Thomas McMenemy||23||1993—1996||Anthony Britten|
|10||1955—1958||James Mitton MBE||24||1996—1999||Kenneth Hargreaves|
|11||1958—1961||Francis Mildner||25||1999—2002||Anthony Britten|
|12||1961—1964||Stuart Harper||26||2002—2005||Anthony Doherty|
|13||1964—1967||William Austin||27||2005—2008||John Doran|
|14||1967—1970||Philip Scott||28||2008—||Jonjo McDonagh|
- ^ a b "Membership of the Knights of Saint Columba". KSC.org.uk. http://www.ksc.org.uk/membership.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
- ^ Herbermann, Charles George. The Catholic Encyclopedia. Appleton. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=n2ocAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Knights+of+St+Columba%22&dq=%22Knights+of+St+Columba%22&num=100&client=firefox-a&pgis=1.
- ^ a b "Knights of St Columba: A Fraternal Order of Catholic Men". Diocese of Middlesbrough. http://middlesbrough-diocese.org.uk/organisations/knights-of-st-columba/. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
- ^ "Knights of St Columba Homepage". http://www.ksc.org.uk.
- ^ "Knights of St Columba Key Dates". Communigate.co.uk. http://www.communigate.co.uk/brad/columbaclub/page10.phtml. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
- ^ Barberis, Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organisatons, 372.
- ^ Rogers, Catholics in Cambridge, 345.
- ^ "A Brief History of the Order". KSC.org.uk. http://www.ksc.org.uk/history.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
- Rogers, Nicholas (2003). Catholics in Cambridge. Gracewing. ISBN 0852445687.
- Barberis, Peter (2003). Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0826458149.