The Knights of Columbus (KOC) is a global Catholic fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney, who was later beatified by the Church. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. It is led by Patrick E. Kelly, the order's 14th Supreme Knight.
The organization was founded on March 29, 1882, as a mutual benefit society for working-class and immigrant Catholics in the United States. In addition to providing an insurance system for its members, it has grown to support refugee relief, Catholic education, local parishes and dioceses, and global Catholic social causes. The Knights of Columbus have played an active role in politics ever since its formation, and promote the Catholic view on public policy issues around the world.
The organization also provides certain financial services to the individual and institutional Catholic market. Its wholly owned insurance company, a Fortune 1000 company based on its annual revenue, underwrites more than two million insurance contracts, totaling more than $123 billion of life insurance in force as of 2025. The order also owns the Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors, a money management firm which invests in accordance with Catholic social teachings.
As of 2025, the Knights reported having over 2.2 million members around the world. Women may participate in KOC through the Columbiettes and other female auxiliaries, and boys may join the Columbian Squires. The Order comprises four different "degrees", each one of which exemplifies one of the core principles of the order. There are more than 17,000 local Knights of Columbus councils around the world, including over 400 on college campuses.
American Catholic priest Michael J. McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus at St. Mary's Church in 1882 as a mutual benefit society for Catholic immigrants in New Haven, Connecticut. As a parish priest in an immigrant community, McGivney saw what could happen to a family when the main income earner died. This was before most government support programs were established. Because of religious and ethnic discrimination, Catholics in the late 19th century were regularly excluded from labor unions, popular fraternal organizations, and other organized groups that provided such social services.
Although its first councils were all in Connecticut, the Order spread throughout New England and the United States in subsequent years. As the order expanded outside of Connecticut, structural changes in the late 1880s and 1890s were instituted to give the Knights a federalist system with local, state, and national levels of government. This allowed them to coordinate activities across states and localities.
During World War I, the Knights established soldiers' welfare centers in the U.S. and abroad. After the war, the Knights participated in education, occupational training, and employment programs for veterans.
The Oregon Compulsory Education Act of 1922 would have disallowed parochial schools, including Catholic schools, in that state. The Knights of Columbus challenged the law in court with the ACLU, and, in a landmark 1925 ruling (Pierce v. Society of Sisters), the U.S. Supreme Court struck it down.
To combat the animus targeted at racial and religious minorities, including Catholics, the Order formed a historical commission which published a series of books in the 1920s on their contributions, among other activities. The "Knights of Columbus Racial Contributions Series" of books included three titles: The Gift of Black Folk: The Negroes in the Making of America, by W. E. B. Du Bois, The Jews in the Making of America by George Cohen, and The Germans in the Making of America by Frederick Schrader.
The Knights of Columbus "was the only American fraternal society which did not, by its constitution, prohibit Negro [sic] membership", according to historian Christopher Kauffman. During World War I, the Knights were designated as the official agency for supporting Catholic troops, and its support facilities were the only racially integrated facilities open to troops. Emmett Jay Scott wrote, "Unlike the other social welfare organizations operating in the war, it never drew the color line." During the Cristero War, the Knights of Columbus supported persecuted Catholics in Mexico. Nine Knights were later beatified or canonized for their martyrdom during the Cristero War.
As the Knights grew and expanded, some councils in the United States were integrated, and others were not. An example of an integrated council was Sheridan Council 119 in Southborough, Massachusetts. Samuel F. Williams, a black man, was a member and among other activities, spoke on the stage of the 1896 Knights of Columbus Massachusetts State Convention to an audience that included two future Supreme Knights. The path to individual membership in a local Knights council did not explicitly exclude African Americans. Each local council voted in new members, and as few as four or five negative votes against a prospective candidate (no matter the size of the council) was enough to deny someone entry. Joseph Bertrand, who graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1954, was blackballed from joining a Chicago-area Knights council in 1963 after being nominated by Gene Liner. Liner said that as the vote was announced, "I just watched his face. There were five black balls." Liner then resigned his office in the Knights chapter along with five other council leaders.
Meanwhile, Church officials and organizations increasingly encouraged integration. By the end of the 1950s, KoC Supreme Knight Luke E. Hart was actively encouraging councils to accept black candidates. In 1963, Hart attended a special meeting at the White House hosted by President John F. Kennedy to discuss civil rights with other religious leaders. After the rejection of Joseph Bertrand's membership application in Chicago, Hart declared that the process for membership would be revised at the next Supreme Convention so that membership rejections would require a majority vote of local council members. The change occurred but Hart died before he could see it take place.
Around 1915, during the nadir of American race relations, the Ku Klux Klan began promoting a conspiracy theory claiming that Fourth Degree Knights swore an oath to exterminate Freemasons and Protestants. The Knights of Columbus vehemently denied the existence of any such oath, calling the rumors libel. In 1923, the Knights of Columbus offered $25,000 to any person with proof that the fake oath attributed to the fourth-degree membership was part of any authentic ceremony. The Knights began suing distributors for libel in an effort to stop this, and the KKK ended its publication of the false oath.
As the Order and its charitable works grew, so did its prominence within the Church. Pope John Paul I's first audience with a layman was with Supreme Knight Virgil Dechant, and Pope John Paul II met with Supreme Knight Dechant three days after his installation. During the pope's 1979 visit to the United States, the Supreme Officers and Board were the only lay organization to receive an audience. Pope Leo XIV met in person with Supreme Knight Patrick E. Kelly at the Vatican in October 2025, and delivered an address to the organization's 2025 annual gathering.
Richard Nixon addressed the Supreme Convention in 1971. Ronald Reagan spoke in 1982 and 1986 and George W. Bush spoke in 2004. George H. W. Bush spoke as US vice president in 1984 and then again as president in 1992. Bill Clinton sent a videotaped message to the 111th Supreme Convention saying the Order's "contributions to the Catholic Church and to your communities merit our applause."
Church historian Massimo Faggioli believes the scope of the Knights' philanthropy can "create influence through money, especially in important places like Rome or Washington, D.C."
The order is dedicated to the principles of charity, unity, fraternity, and patriotism. Membership is restricted to men, at least 18 years of age, who are practicing Catholics in union with the Holy See and are in good standing with the Church. As of October 2025, there were over 2.2 million Knights of Columbus worldwide, with the majority in North America.