Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus

AbbreviationSKMember ofKnights of ColumbusResidenceUnited StatesTerm lengthAt their discretion; mandatory retirement at age 70FormationFebruary 2, 1882; 142 years ago (1882-02-02)First holderJames T. MullenWebsitekofc.org/en/who-we-are/our-supreme-officers/supreme-knight.html

The Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus (more simply referred to as the Supreme Knight) is the title of the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the Knights of Columbus. The organization comprises approximately 1.9 million members in more than 15,000 councils and operates an insurance company with over $109 billion of life insurance in force, as of 2020^[update].^[1][2]

Since its founding in 1882, there have been 14 Supreme Knights.^[3] Patrick E. Kelly is the Supreme Knight incumbent, holding this position since March 1, 2021.

Supreme Knight[4]					Deputy Supreme Knight[4]		Supreme Chaplain[4]
#	Office holder	Portrait	Term began	Term ended	Office holder	Term	Office holder	Term
1	James T. Mullen		February 2, 1882	May 17, 1886	John T. Kerrigan[5]	1882–1884	Rev. Patrick P. Lawlor	1882–1884
					John F. Dowling[6]	1884–1886	Rev. Michael J. McGivney[6]	1884–1890
2	John J. Phelan[7]		May 17, 1886	March 2, 1897	William Hassett[7]	1886–1887
					James C. Roach	1887–1895
							Rev. Hugh Treanor	1891–1899
					James E. Hayes	1895–1897
3	James E. Hayes		March 2, 1897	February 8, 1898	John J. Cone[8]	1897–1898
4	John J. Cone		March 2, 1898	March 31, 1899	Vacant
5	Edward L. Hearn		April 1, 1899	August 31, 1909	John W. Hogan[9][10]	April 1, 1899–June 3, 1903	Rev. Garrett J. Barry	1899–1901
							Rev. Patrick J. McGivney[11][12]	1901–1928
					Patrick L. McArdle[10][13]	June 3, 1903[10]–1905
					James A. Flaherty[14]	1905–1909
6	James A. Flaherty[12][15]		September 1, 1909	August 31, 1927	Martin H. Carmody[12]	1909–1927
7	Martin H. Carmody[12][16]		September 1, 1927	August 31, 1939	John F. Martin[12][17]	1927–1933
							Rev. John J. McGivney[12][17]	1928–1939
					Francis P. Matthews[16]	1933–1939
8	Francis P. Matthews[17]		September 2, 1939	October 14, 1945	John E. Swift	1939–1945	Rev. Leo M. Finn[17][18]	1939–1960
9	John E. Swift[19][20]		October 24, 1945	August 31, 1953	Timothy P. Galvin	1945–1949
					William J. Mulligan[20][21]	1949–1960
10	Luke E. Hart		September 1, 1953	February 19, 1964
					John W. McDevitt[21][22]	1960–1964	Bishop Charles P. Greco[23][18]	1961–January 20, 1987
11	John W. McDevitt		February 22, 1964	January 21, 1977	John H. Griffin, MD[22][24]	1964–1966
					Charles J. Ducey[25][26]	1966–April 1976
					Ernest J. Wolff[26]	1976–1977
12	Virgil C. Dechant		January 21, 1977	September 30, 2000	Frederick H. Pelletier[26][27]	1977–1981
					John M. Murphy	1981–1984
					Ellis D. Flinn[28]	1984–February 1, 1997
							Bishop Thomas V. Daily[29]	February 13, 1987–April 1, 2005
					Robert F. Wade[30]	April 1, 1997–September 30, 2000
13	Carl A. Anderson		October 1, 2000	February 28, 2021	Jean B. Migneault[31]	October 1, 2000–October 27, 2006
							Archbishop William E. Lori[32]	April 2, 2005–present
					Dennis A. Savoie[33][34]	October 27, 2006–December 2013
					Logan T. Ludwig[35]	December 12, 2013–December 16, 2016
					Patrick E. Kelly[35]	January 1, 2017–February 28, 2021
14	Patrick E. Kelly		March 1, 2021	present	Paul O'Sullivan[36]	June 9, 2021–present

References

Bibliography