Knights of Columbus Museum
(New Haven,
Connecticut)
Excerpts from Kristy:
 Sure
New Haven has Yale University, but did you know they also
have the Knights of Columbus Museum? For some reason, I think
I expected a crummy old museum with worn out memorabilia from
days gone by. I couldn't have been more wrong.
This concrete monstrosity sits in downtown New Haven right
off of the highway. There are nice parking lots available
under the building and an elevator to the lobby. Stepping
off of the elevator into the Lobby, all I could think was
“Wow. I am so underdressed.” The museum is spectacularly
clean, well-kept and has some really incredible exhibits.
A uniformed docent immediately greeted us and tried to get
us settled into the museum. It was like having your own personal
museum assistant. They checked our bags and sent us off to
the first exhibit.
The traveling exhibit at the time was a replica St. Peter's
Basilica in Rome. Definitely the closest you'll ever get to
the detailed insides of the Dome. This exhibit was thorough,
interesting and extremely well done. Thrilled to find such
a great, free treasure, we wandered on.
I lagged a little bit behind Beth, examining the window displays
on the Knights of Columbus. I saw Beth enter a room on the
left and shortly after beeline out into the main exhibit area
again. I looked at the sign and saw that it was an exhibit
on the founder of the Knights of Columbus, Father Michael
MacGivney. Interested in learning more about this organization's
roots, I wandered in myself.
Looking around I saw some exhibits on him, but in the center
of the room, exhibit cases held his vestments and robe. Delighted
to see something that he had actually worn I went over and
started looking at the clothing. I noticed that he seemed
to be short and then I noticed fraying and deterioration around
the edges and bottom of the robe. I thought that strange and
unusual, it looked like they had rotted. This is when I noticed
that the Knights had exhumed his body and reburied him in
a place of honor. In the process, apparently they had removed
his clothing. Hence, the reason for Beth's beeline. I was
staring at a dead man's coffin clothing that he had worn for
almost one hundred years. For some reason I felt this was
inappropriate and I made a beeline to the door.
But we still recommend this museum if you're at all curious
as to what the Knights of Columbus do and how long they've
been around. You'll definitely know by the time you leave
this museum.
http://www.kofc.org/about/museum/index.cfm
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