by Gina Christian
ST. LOUIS (OSV News) — Archbishop Fulton Sheen — the 20th-century theologian, evangelizer, Catholic communications pioneer, teacher, and preacher — is now Blessed Fulton Sheen.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, a pro-prefect for the Holy See’s Dicastery for Evangelization and papal delegate, pronounced the Church’s declaration on Archbishop Sheen’s holiness of life and witness to Jesus Christ at a Sept. 24 Mass celebrated in The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis.
To the applause of pilgrims, Cardinal Tagle described Archbishop Sheen as a “son of Illinois, son of the United States of America” and “indeed, son of the world.”
Hundreds of clergy, including dozens of bishops and cardinals, had processed into the arena for the Mass as choirs, accompanied by an orchestra, performed a succession of hymns. The priests’ vestments were embroidered with “JMJ,” Archbishop Sheen’s signature dedication to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
The Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, the home diocese of Blessed Sheen, selected the location to accommodate the number of pilgrims who arrived for the beatification and surrounding events. Organizers said about 50,000 people attended.
Blessed Sheen’s ties to the Diocese of Brooklyn were also remembered at a Mass celebrated by Bishop Robert Brennan on Sept. 26 at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs in Forest Hills. Then-Bishop Sheen led a six-week Lenten retreat at the parish in 1963 and returned for several years on Good Friday to preach the Three Hours’ Agony devotion from the church’s wooden pulpit, which remains part of the parish today.
The beatification — a papal act recognizing an individual as blessed — officially occurred between the liturgy’s Penitential Rite and the Gloria. Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria made a formal request to Cardinal Tagle for Archbishop Sheen’s beatification.
Archbishop Sheen’s great-nephew, Paul Cunningham, read a short biography of Archbishop Sheen, who was born in El Paso, Illinois, in 1895 and died in New York in 1979, after which Cardinal Tagle proclaimed the apostolic letter from Pope Leo XIV declaring the beatification in Latin. Bishop Tylka then read the letter in English, as applause followed both.
With the papal decree’s public proclamation, Archbishop Sheen was formally counted among the Church’s “beati,” from the Latin word for “blessed.”
James Fulton Engstrom — whose revival from stillbirth in 2010, attributed to Archbishop Sheen’s intercession, was formally declared the miracle that moved Archbishop Sheen to beatification — processed with his parents and siblings to present a major relic of Blessed Sheen during the liturgy.
Enclosed in a special case called a reliquary, the relic is Blessed Sheen’s mandible, or jawbone, chosen because it represents the archbishop’s tremendous gifts as an orator, teacher, and evangelist.
As part of the beatification, they also unveiled a portrait of a haloed Blessed Sheen. In the image, he notably holds a piece of chalk, which he famously used — along with a blackboard — during his Emmy-winning television show, “Life Is Worth Living.”
The image was also unveiled at the same time in the Diocese of Peoria at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception.
The first reading from the beatification Mass, Isaiah 52:7-10, was delivered in Spanish; the second reading, 2 Corinthians 4:1-2, 5-7, was proclaimed in Portuguese; and the Gospel from Mark 16:15-20 was proclaimed in English. The faithful offered prayers in a variety of other languages, illustrating both the universal character of the Church and the missionary mindset of Blessed Fulton Sheen, who served as the U.S. director for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
In his homily, Cardinal Tagle praised Archbishop Sheen as a “storyteller of Jesus” and a “missionary who digs deep into the heart of the poor to meet Jesus there.”
The cardinal noted then-Bishop Sheen’s passionate advocacy for the poor during the Second Vatican Council. During the 1964 discussions on the document “Ad Gentes,” on the Church’s missionary activity, then-Bishop Sheen asked his fellow bishops to “affirm” the reality of poverty and the bishops who came from poor and suffering parts of the Church.
“As only a wounded Christ could convert a doubting Thomas, so only a Church wounded by poverty can convert a doubting world,” he said.
Cardinal Tagle commended Archbishop Sheen for making genuine connections with the people he met, preached to, and ministered to.
“The missionary evangelizer is blessed by the communion with persons and peoples, especially the poor and vulnerable, and this is communion in the name of Jesus Christ,” he said.
Cardinal Tagle shared how Archbishop Sheen told a friend, who asked why he became a priest, that he was called to share the Gospel and tell the story of Jesus.
“I never tire of telling it; I never tire of improving my telling of it. I love my calling,” Archbishop Sheen said, as Cardinal Tagle recounted.
In remarks after Communion, Bishop Tylka urged all attendees to pray for Archbishop Sheen’s canonization, leading them together in a prayer for that intention.
“It is God who has given the Church the extraordinary witness of the man we may now call Blessed Fulton J. Sheen,” he said.
Thanking the many prelates involved in the Mass, including Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski, whose archdiocese hosted the beatification, and representatives from the Archdiocese of New York, including Archbishop Ronald Hicks and Archbishop Emeritus, Cardinal Timothy Dolan; Diocese of Rochester; and the Pontifical Mission Societies, Bishop Tylka noted, “Your presence today is a beautiful reminder that while Peoria is incredibly proud to call Fulton Sheen one of our own, he is a gift to the whole Church.”
Bishop Tylka also expressed his gratitude to Archbishop Sheen’s family, individuals and benefactors involved in preparations and liturgy, and the faithful who made the pilgrimage to attend the beatification.
“Fulton Sheen has left us a great legacy,” he said. “He fearlessly proclaimed the Gospel in challenging cultural times. He supported the Church’s missions throughout the world. He won tens of thousands of converts and preached to millions. His time of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament was the source of his insight into the Son of God.
“He used every gift God gave him for one purpose: to bring people to Christ. And his legacy is now ours.”
Following the Mass, attendees were invited to remain in prayer to venerate Blessed Fulton Sheen’s relics.
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