The Dominican Legacy

The Dominican Legacy. . , Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven., Because Father McGivney died during the pandemic, nearly all of his belongings were burned. There are only some artifacts and 13 letters that remained after his rich life. Each of those personal items gives us a glimpse into McGivney’s soul., Two such items were discovered 92 years after he died. In 1982, to mark the centenary of their foundation, the Knights of Columbus decided to move Father McGivney’s remains from the cemetery in Waterbury to a sarcophagus at Saint Mary’s Church in New Haven. Beneath his clothing were found two scapulars. The first , a brown one , was the well-known scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, worn by millions of Catholics all over the world as a sign of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The other scapular he was wearing, however, was far more unusual: it was the white scapular of Saint Dominic., The white scapular showed a special relationship that Father McGivney had with the Order of Preachers. In 1886, two years after he left for Thomaston, the Dominican friars were given the pastoral care of Saint Mary’s Church. In the year before his death, he spent several weeks in New Haven to seek treatment, staying most probably with the Dominicans in his old parish. At Father McGivney’s funeral, another Dominican, the pastor at Saint Mary’s, Father Arthur Higgins preached a 40-minute eulogy devoted to his late friend “with great feelings,” such that “many were moved to tears.”, Ever since then, the Dominicans have safeguarded and continued Father McGivney’s legacy and have labored to be sure that his name and life not be lost to posterity. The latest example of this has been the work of Dominican Father Gabriel B. O’Donnell, who in 1997 was appointed as the postulator to oversee the cause and prepare a Positio - a 1,000-page document that presents the case for the sanctity of Father McGivney. Thus two Dominican friars served as “bookends” to Father McGivney’s final journey. In 1890, a Dominican was bidding farewell to Michael McGivney as he left this earthly life, and nearly a century later, another Dominican labored to assemble the evidence that Father McGivney had, in fact, reached his heavenly home.