Why Columbus?

In choosing Christopher Columbus as their patron the first Knights demonstrated their pride in America's Catholic heritage. To the Irish-American Catholics who incorporated the organization, the name Knights of Columbus evoked allegiance to the Church and affirmed the discovery of America as a Catholic event.

The need to assert their pride in their faith, and to do so in such a demonstrable way, was a direct reaction to the socio-political movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries known as nativism. Thus, the Order sought to promote assimilation in the New World rather than to look backward to the European countries whence the first members came.