Fulton Sheen

Fulton Sheen quickly distinguished himself as an outstanding preacher and communicator. In 1930, he began preaching on the weekly radio program The Catholic Hour on NBC, which reached up to four million listeners at the height of its popularity.

In 1950, he was appointed National Director of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith (Pontifical Mission Societies), a position he would hold until 1966. On June 11, 1951, he was consecrated Auxiliary Bishop of New York (with the title of Titular Bishop of Caesariana) by Cardinal Adeodato Giovanni Piazza.

It was in 1951 that he launched his most famous weekly television program, Life Is Worth Living, which aired until 1957. Thanks to his dramatic style, humor, and theological clarity, he captivated tens of millions of viewers of all denominations, contributing significantly to reducing anti-Catholic prejudice in the United States. In 1952, he won the Emmy Award for the Most Outstanding Television Personality and appeared on the cover of Time magazine. He would later host The Fulton Sheen Program from 1961 to 1968.

A Council Father, he actively participated in all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). On October 21, 1966, he was appointed Bishop of Rochester (New York). In this diocese, he strove to implement the conciliar guidelines, particularly in favor of the most disadvantaged social classes, carrying out a true "frontier pastoral ministry." He retired on October 6, 1969, and was then appointed Titular Archbishop of Newport (Wales) by Pope Paul VI.

A prolific author, he wrote more than 70 books, including The Life of Christ, Three to Get Married, and Peace of Soul. On October 2, 1979, during his visit to St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, Pope John Paul II embraced him warmly and said to him: "You have written and spoken well of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are a loyal son of the Church." Fulton Sheen passed away on December 9, 1979, in his private chapel in Manhattan, while in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, thus fulfilling his desire to die in the presence of the Eucharist.

The cause for the canonization of Fulton Sheen was officially opened by the Diocese of Peoria in 2002. On June 28, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing his heroic virtues, thereby declaring him "Venerable."

The miracle accepted for his beatification concerns the unexplained healing of a newborn in 2010 in central Illinois. The child, named James, was born with no signs of life (prolonged cardio-respiratory arrest). This state of absence of vital functions lasted for 61 minutes. From the moment of birth, the child's mother, a great devotee of Fulton Sheen, invoked the intercession of the Venerable. The father baptized the baby in articulo mortis, adding the name "Fulton" to that of "James." A nurse also placed an image of Fulton Sheen on the child's crib upon his admission to the neonatal intensive care unit. As the doctors were preparing to declare him dead, the baby's heart suddenly began to beat normally. The child survived and developed without any neurological sequelae.

The Consulta Medica of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, during its session on March 6, 2014, recognized this healing as rapid, complete, lasting, and scientifically inexplicable. The decree officially recognizing the miracle was approved by Pope Francis on July 5, 2019, and promulgated the following day.

Initially scheduled for December 21, 2019, in Peoria, the beatification ceremony was suspended at the last minute by the Vatican at the request of the Bishop of Rochester, Msgr. Salvatore Matano, due to concerns that accusations related to the handling of sexual abuse cases during Sheen's episcopate in Rochester (1966-1969) might surface. A thorough investigation completely exonerated Fulton Sheen, demonstrating that he had never appointed the accused priest to any ministry.

Following the resolution of the bankruptcy of the Diocese of Rochester in September 2025, the final legal obstacle was removed. In February 2026, the Holy See, under the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV, officially informed the Diocese of Peoria that the cause could resume its course toward beatification.

On March 25, 2026, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints officially announced that the beatification mass for Fulton Sheen would take place on Thursday, September 24, 2026, at 2:00 PM at The Dome at America's Center stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. The celebration will be presided over by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, acting as the personal representative of Pope Leo XIV. The date of September 24 holds great Marian significance, corresponding to the feast of Our Lady of Mercy, which echoes Fulton Sheen's profound devotion to the Virgin Mary.

Fulton Sheen's spiritual life rested on three fundamental pillars: the Eucharist, the daily Holy Hour, and Marian devotion.

From his ordination in 1919, he committed to making a daily Holy Hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, a fidelity he maintained for over sixty years and which he considered the source of the fruitfulness of his ministry. He described this practice in his autobiography Treasure in Clay, in the chapter titled "The Hour That Makes My Day."

His devotion to the Virgin Mary was also immense. His episcopal motto was Da per matrem me venire ("Grant that I may come [to Thee] through the Mother"). On the day of his baptism, he had been placed on the altar of the Virgin as a sign of consecration.

As national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, he designed the "World Mission Rosary" in 1951, in which each decade has a different color representing a continent, to invite the faithful to pray for the evangelization of the entire world. His legacy as a pioneer of Catholic media remains immense, paving the way for modern evangelization through radio, television, and today, social media.