K of C council in J.C. honored for Men of Signum Crucis group
Knights of Columbus Fr. Helias Council 1054 in Jefferson City was honored this year with the Missouri Knights’ State Council’s Faith In Action Program Award for Faith Activities.
The award was announced at the 2026 State Convention in Columbia in April.
The state council presents one award each year for programs involving Faith, Family, Community and Life.
The Faith Award was given for Fr. Helias Council 1054’s work to establish and promote the Men of Signum Crucis — a Cor group of Catholic men ages 18 to 96 in the Central Missouri area.
Cor is a Knights of Columbus program that offers a flexible framework of prayer, formation and fraternity that helps focus men on Jesus through building Christ-centered brotherhood.
The Men of Signum Crucis’s motto is “Fraternity through Study, Devotion, and Service.”
“Signum Crucis” is Latin for “Sign of the Cross.”
“As we trace the Sign of the Cross on our bodies and pray this most basic prayer, we recognize that we need to seek Study for our minds, seek Devotion in our hearts, and seek to wear our Faith gained from Study and Devotion on our shoulders in the form of service,” the group’s organizers stated.
St. Joseph, foster father of the Son of God, is the patron saint of the Men of Signum Crucis.
The Sign of the Cross, the Holy Rosary, the Litany of St. Joseph, the Mass and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament provide the Men of Signum Crucis the necessary tools for spiritual warfare.
Fr. Helias Council 1054 member Mark Rehagen, a parishioner of St. Peter Parish in Jefferson City, organized the Men of Signum Crucis group in September 2022.
From a small beginning, the number of men involved in the group has grown to over 400 unique individual participants in at least one event over the past four years.
Monthly gatherings are held in the St. Pius X Chapel in Helias Catholic High School in Jefferson City, with an average of more than 80 men attending each gathering.
More than half of those men are Knights of Columbus members, representing more than 20 councils.
Each month, dynamic speakers are on hand to reinforce and challenge men’s perceptions of what it means to be a Catholic man in this time in history.
Topics rooted in Sacred Scripture and Catholic Tradition inspire the group’s members to live the life God is calling them to.
Mr. Rehagen publishes a dynamic monthly newsletter for the group. He and the Men of Signum Crucis also host an annual two-day Heart of a Hero Men’s Conference.
In addition to study of the Catholic Faith and devotion to God, the Men of Signum Crucis are also committed to serving others and to directing that service to the glory of God.
As Jesus said: “No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house,” (Matthew 5:15, NRSV-CE).
In an effort to put all of the Corporal Works of Mercy into practice, the Men of Signum Crucis have actively taken part in the following service opportunities in the Jefferson City area:
- cemetery clean-up and repairs at St. Peter Cemetery;
- providing assistance at Immaculate Conception Parish’s Mustard Seed outreach to people in need;
- preparing food for the Salvation Army Center of Hope and Jefferson City Room at the Inn (JCRATI), which are overnight shelters for people who are homeless that operate in January and February;
- prison ,inistry at local corrections institutions; and
- service in the Jefferson City diocese as requested, including service at ordinations and assistance at the annual Women’s Night Out and Retreat.
The group meets from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month, preceded by the Rosary at 6 p.m.
