Everyone needs a role model — especially saints. For Blessed Michael McGivney, who is on the path to canonization, the pursuit of vocational virtue, priestly zeal and charity were instilled by his own parish priest: Thomas Hendricken.

Hendricken was a force of nature. Born in Ireland on May 5, 1827, he emigrated to the United States after Bishop Bernard O’Reilly — the bishop of Hartford — handpicked him while on a trip to the Emerald Isle. The young priest readily accepted the mission and served in various Connecticut towns, but spent 17 years in Waterbury — McGivney’s birthplace. Eventually, Hendricken was appointed the first bishop of Providence, Rhode Island, in 1872.

His dynamism, charisma, charity toward parishioners and ability to cultivate vocations — including McGivney — were undeniable. As the biography Parish Priest: Father McGivney and American Catholicism (2006) suggests, Father Hendricken was a “figure of lasting influence in Michael McGivney’s life and in his perception of the Church as an instrument of Jesus Christ.”

As an example of his priestly virtue, while crossing the Atlantic Ocean, Father Hendricken ignored orders by the ship’s captain not to tend travelers afflicted with disease. Moved with compassion, he could not sit idly by — so much so that the “zealous young missionary was arrested and ordered to be kept a close prisoner,” as the Rhode Island Catholic recounts.

When he arrived in Waterbury in 1855, Hendricken immediately made a “vivid impression,” receiving “rich and poor alike with an easy grace that left no room for the self-assertion of the one or a tinge of servility in the other,” according to Parish Priest.

But Father Hendricken was also a man of great vision, determined to provide a “physical presence of the Church” for both spiritual and temporal nourishment. Only several years into his time in Waterbury, he led the construction of the Church of the Immaculate Conception — which still exists — along with a school and pastoral residence, and he established a convent. Aside from his priestly duties, he even served on the city’s Board of Education. As Parish Priest asserts, the effort — particularly the founding of Immaculate Conception — would “affect young Michael [McGivney] as much as anyone else present.”

He brought this zeal, especially for building and inspiring vocations, to his ministry as bishop. Between 1872 and his death in 1886, the Diocese of Providence seemed to double in both respects. Under his care and tutelage, the Catholic community “expanded physically and witnessed the growth of educational institutions and religious orders,” according to his profile in the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.

The highlight, however, was the construction of the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in Providence. Hendricken dutifully concentrated his attention toward fundraising for the dream project. Sadly, he passed away before its completion — although his funeral was held in the cathedral, where he is currently entombed.

No doubt Hendricken’s urge to create lasting institutions left an impression on McGivney, who eventually founded the Knights of Columbus in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1882. From the basement of St. Mary’s Church on Hillhouse Avenue, the Knights of Columbus has blossomed into the largest Catholic fraternal organization in the world, which this past year donated $197 million and logged 48 million volunteer hours.

In October 2020, Father McGivney was beatified, having interceded in the miraculous healing of a baby diagnosed with fetal hydrops — a near-fatal condition. Now he is one step closer to canonization — one of nearly 20 American-born saints and blesseds. 

But McGivney’s worldview was not born in isolation. While the Holy Spirit was certainly working in his heart, the Waterbury native also needed a tangible guide, which he found in Hendricken. We likewise need such examples.

Hendricken, meanwhile, has no cause open for his canonization. This doesn’t mean Hendricken has been mistreated or that some injustice has occurred. Rather, Hendricken’s zealous life speaks to the call all the faithful must employ: to be instruments of God’s peace, to evangelize and, most importantly, to love — to will the good of the other.

While our collective destiny is sainthood, residing with God forever, we should not expect all to be canonized for our time on earth. To act with that goal in mind would miss the point, supplanting Christian humility with hubris.

Instead, we must resolve to be daily saints, confidently striving to do God’s will. The reality is our names will — more than likely — be forgotten to time or within a generation or two. But Our Heavenly Father remembers us. That is the Christian confidence. As such, it is imperative to approach our lives, vocations, and others with a “priestly” zeal — embodying the corporal works of mercy, bringing hope to others, and allowing the Holy Spirit to open their hearts and minds to Jesus Christ.

We are all called to evangelize and “make disciples of all nations.” Hendricken inculcated this truth within his own ministry, which, in turn, helped cultivate one of the most prominent saints and blesseds in America. Like him, all of us must point to Christ, be examples of faith and serve as role models for the next generation of saints.

Father McGivney needed Hendricken as a spiritual guide. Someone close by — perhaps the next great saint — needs your witness.