Degrees and Principles

The Order is dedicated to the principles of Charity, Unity, Fraternity and Patriotism.  A First Degree exemplification ceremony, by which a man joins the Order, explicates the virtue of charity.  He is then said to be a First Degree Knight of Columbus and after participating in the subsequent degrees, each of which focuses on another virtue, rises to that status.  Upon reaching the Third Degree a gentleman is considered a full member.  Priests do not participate directly in Degree exemplifications as laymen do, but rather take the degree by observation.

The first ritual handbook was printed in 1885 but contained only sections teaching Unity and Charity.  Supreme Knight Mullen, along with primary ritual author Daniel Colwell, believed that the initiation ceremony should be held in three sections "in accord with the 'Trinity of Virtues, Charity, Unity, and Brotherly love.'"  The third section, expounding Fraternity, was officially adopted in 1891.

The Fourth Degree is the highest degree of the order.  Members of this degree are addressed as "Sir Knight".  The primary purpose of the Fourth Degree is to foster the spirit of patriotism and to encourage active Catholic citizenship.  Fewer than 20% of Knights join the Fourth Degree, which is optional.  A Knight must be active in his council for one year before he can join a Fourth Degree Assembly.

Assemblies are distinct from councils and are led by a separate set of elected officers.  The Supreme Board of Directors appoints a Supreme Master and twenty Vice Supreme Masters to govern the Fourth Degree.  Each Vice Supreme Master oversees a Province which is then broken up into Districts.  The Supreme Master appoints District Masters to supervise several assemblies.

Each assembly is led by a Navigator.  Other elected assembly officers include the Friar, Captain, Admiral, Pilot, Scribe, Purser, Controller, Color Corps Commander, Sentinels and Trustees.  Assembly officers are properly addressed by using the title "faithful" (e.g. Faithful Navigator).  Assemblies are numbered in the order in which they chartered into the Order and are named by the local membership.

Only Fourth Degree Knights may optionally purchase the full regalia and join the Assembly’s Color Corps.  The Color Corps is the most visible arm of the Knights as they are often seen in parades and other local events wearing their colorful regalia.  Official dress for the Color Corps is a black tuxedo, baldric, white gloves, cape and naval chapeau.  White tuxedos may also be used on certain occasions.  Baldrics are worn from the right shoulder to left hip and are color specific by nation.  In the United States, baldrics are red, white and blue.  Service baldrics include a holster for a sword and are worn over the coat while social baldrics are worn under the coat.  The colors on a Fourth Degree Knight's cape, and chapeau, denote the office he holds within the Degree.  Faithful Navigators and Past Faithful Navigators are permitted to carry a white handled silver sword.  Masters and Vice Supreme Masters, as well as Former Masters and Former Vice Supreme Masters, are also denoted by their gold swords.

The need for a patriotic degree was first considered in 1886 and a special plea was made at the National Meeting of 1899.  The first Fourth Degree exemplification followed in 1900 with 1,100 Knights participating at the Lenox Lyceum in New York City.  Today there are more than 2,500 Assemblies.

Insurance Program

Many early members were recent immigrants who often lived in unsanitary conditions and performed hazardous jobs for poor pay.  Since its founding, a primary mission of the Knights of Columbus has been to protect families against the financial ruin caused by the death of the breadwinner.  While this method originally was intended to provide a core group of people who would support a widow and her children after the death of their husband and father, it has flourished and matured into much more.

Today the Order offers a modern, professional insurance operation with more than $55 billion of life insurance policies in force.  Products include permanent and term life insurance as well as annuities and long term care insurance.  Insurance sales grew 19% in 2004, more than three times the rate of the industry at large.  The Order holds $12 billion in assets and had $1.5 billion in revenue and $71 million in profits in 2005.  This is large enough to rank 72nd on the A.M.  Best list of all life insurance companies in North America and places it on the Fortune 1000 list of top companies.  Only four other insurers in North America have received the highest ratings from both A.M. Best and Standard & Poor.  The Order is certified by the Insurance Marketplace Standards Association for ethical sales practices.

Charitable Giving

Charity is the foremost principle of the Knights of Columbus.  In the 2005 fraternal year the Order gave $136 million directly to charity and performed over 63.2 million man hours in voluntary service.  Endowed funds of over $54 million support a number of Church related causes.  A Knight's highest duty is to assist the widow or orphan of a fallen brother Knight.

The Knights have a tradition of supporting those with physical and developmental disabilities.  More than $382 million has been given over the past three decades to groups and programs that support the intellectually and physically disabled.  One of the largest recipients of funds in this area is the Special Olympics.  In addition, the Order's highest honor, the Gaudium et Spes Award, was given with its $100,000 honorarium to Jean Vanier, the founder of l'Arche, in 2005.  L'Arche is a faith-based network that provides care, in a community setting, for people with severe developmental disabilities.

The Vicarius Christi Fund has a corpus of $20 million and has earned more than $35 million, since its establishment in 1981, for the Pope's personal charities.  The multimillion dollar Pacem in Terris Fund aids the Catholic Church's efforts for peace in the Middle East.  The Order also has eleven separate funds totaling $18 million to assist men and women who are discerning religious vocations pay tuition and other expenses.

Days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 the Order established the $1 million Heroes Fund.  Immediate assistance was given to the families of all full-time professional law enforcement personnel, firefighters and emergency medical workers who lost their lives in the rescue and recovery efforts.  Orderwide, more than $10 million has been raised for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.  On May 6, 2006, $3 million was dispersed to the Archdiocese of New Orleans and the dioceses of Lafayette, LA, Houma-Thibodaux, LA, Lake Charles, LA, Biloxi, MS and Beaumont, TX.  The Order also donated more than $500,000 to the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 relief efforts.

The Order funded the first renovation of the façade of St. Peter's Basilica in over 350 years.

At the 2006 American Cardinals Dinner, it was announced that the Knights would be giving a gift of $8 million to The Catholic University of America.  The gift is to renovate Kean Hall, an unused building, and rename it McGivney Hall, after Fr. McGivney.  The new McGivney Hall will house the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, a graduate school of theology affiliated with the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome as well as CUA.  Supreme Knight Anderson serves on CUA's board of trustees and is the vice president of the John Paul II Institute.  The Knights have a long history of donating to CUA.

The Knights' Satellite Uplink Program has provided funding to broadcast a number of papal events including the annual Easter and Christmas Masses, as well as the World Day of Peace in Assisi, the Peace Summit in Assisi, World Youth Days, the opening of the Holy Door at St. Peter's Basilica's for the Millennial Jubilee, Pope John Paul II's visit to Nazareth and several other events.  In missionary territories the Order also pays for the satellite downlink.