Date Published:

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Knights of Columbus

Knights of Columbus, a fraternal benefit society, under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church, organized under a charter granted by the General Assembly of the state of Connecticut, on March 29, 1882. It is governed by a Supreme Council and a Supreme Board of Directors, with headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut ; and it has 61 "state councils", of which 9 are Canadian provincial councils. The society does not, however, confine itself to insurance benefits and social interests, but has from the beginning devoted its energies to educational, charitable, religious, social welfare, war relief and welfare, and public relief work. During the World War the Knights of Columbus in Canada operated the "Catholic Army Huts", and engaged in many other forms of patriotic work. See Maurice Francis Egan and John B. Kennedy, The Knights of Columbus in peace and war (2 vols., New York, 1920).

Source  : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. III, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 396p., p. 345.