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ber of the order then or now will dispute the fact that the success of the Knights of Co- lumbus has been largely due to its ritual, and to the further fact that while there has al- ways been a desire on the part of the su- preme officers to increase the membership, that from the very inception of the order the aim has been quality in its ranks rather than quantity.

After the institution of Silver City Coun— cil, No. 2, of Meriden, Connecticut. which took place on May 16, 1883, and Forest City Council, No. 3, of Middletown. Connecticut. which followed in October of the same year, the supreme council was formed, being com— posed of the first officers of San Salvador Council as follows: Supreme knight, James T. Mullen; deputy supreme knight, John T. Kerrigan; supreme financial secretary, James T. McMahon; supreme corresponding secre- tary, Rev. Michael J. McGivney; supreme treasurer, Michael Curran; supreme lecturer, Daniel Colwell. The first meeting of the su- preme council for legislative purposes was held at New Haven on May 12, 1883, and the second at Meriden on May 5. 1884.

The order once established on a firm foot- ing. and its membership being of the charac- ter to stand the test of the keenest scrutiny, new councils began to spring into existence. Connecticut Catholics investigated the order, endorsed its objects, and rallied to its sup- port. Twenty councils were regularly or- ganized before any effort was made to go outside the limits of the state in which the order had its birth. Narragansett Council, No. 21, of Westerly, Rhode Island, has the distinction of being the first council of the Knights of Columbus to be organized out- side of Connecticut. In April, 1885, Su- preme Knight Mullen, and others of the Su- preme officers, went to Westerly and insti«

PAST AND PRESENT OF

tuted Narragansett Council. The work con- tinued to progress in Connecticut principally and when the first council in Massachusetts, Bunker Hill, No. 62, of Boston, was organ- ized, in April, 1892, there were fifty-five councils in Connecticut. four in Rhode Island and one in New York.

The order has been on a firm footing from this time forward, and during the last five years its progress has been so rapid that it is now one of the live fraternal organiza- tions of the western world. Its aims and ob- jects are such as to attract to its standard the best element of Catholic manhood wherever it is planted. Elevating and uplifting in its tendency it is fast becoming a strong auxil- tary of Mother Church in America, and as such its influence for good cannot fail to have a far-reaching effect upon the moral atmo- sphere of communities in which the associa- tion is or may hereafter be established. Cradled in the east, the order has spread with marvellous rapidity in all directions; not only has it covered the almost interminable plains of the west, in its mission of “Peace and good will to men,”—it has scaled the snow-capped peaks of the intervening mountains and is now strongly entrenched on the Pacific coast. It is also firmly planted in the great Do- minion of Canada, where the order is march- ing from one glorious conquest to another without let or hindrance. It also recently invaded Mexico, where the sphere of its use- fulness will. no doubt, be rapidly extended, to the moral advantage of the people, and has also obtained a foothold in the Philippine Is- lands, now a dependency of the neighboring republic. .

New Haven, the birthplace of the order, still remains the seat of executive authority, that city being the residence of Mr. Edward L. Hearn, the able and indefatigable supreme