Seminarians of the Diocese of Peoria, Ill., pray over the container with the remains of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen outside St. Mary’s Cathedral in Peoria June 27, 2019. Archbishop Sheen’s remains were transferred from St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City to the Peoria cathedral. (Jennifer Willems/CNS, via The Catholic Post)
Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
Born: May 8, 1895 Ordained: Sept. 20, 1919 for the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois Consecrated: June 11, 1951 Service as bishop:
1950-1966, National Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith
PEORIA, Ill. (CNS) — As a small
group of witnesses silently looked on, the mortal remains of Archbishop Fulton
J. Sheen were interred at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Peoria late in the afternoon
of June 27, completing a transfer from St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York that
began early that morning.
Peoria Bishop Daniel R. Jenky was
among those present as the casket arrived by hearse at the cathedral where
Archbishop Sheen was ordained a priest nearly a century ago.
The bishop blessed with holy water
a container holding the casket as it was carried up the cathedral steps by nine
seminarians and again after it was placed in a new tomb at a side altar
dedicated to Mary under the title of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
Earlier in the day, Bishop Jenky
announced that the sainthood cause for the famed preacher, media pioneer,
author and missionary had resumed after being suspended for five years pending
the resolution of a legal dispute over the location of Archbishop Sheen’s
remains.
The Peoria Diocese opened
Archbishop Sheen’s cause for canonization in 2002. His heroic virtue and life
of sanctity were recognized in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI, who granted him the
title “Venerable.”
Since his death Dec. 9, 1979, at
age 84, Archbishop Sheen had been interred in a basement crypt under the main
altar of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Diocese of Peoria officials are
hopeful that Pope Francis will soon receive evidence of an alleged miracle
attributed to Archbishop Sheen’s intercession. Already approved by medical
experts and theological advisers to the Vatican’s Congregation for Saints’
Causes, it involves the healing in 2010 of a newborn infant who was without
vital signs for more than 60 minutes.
Authentication of the miracle by
Pope Francis could then lead him to call for Archbishop Sheen’s beatification.
Bishop Jenky encouraged prayers for
Archbishop Sheen’s cause and expressed the hope that a beatification ceremony
could be scheduled in Peoria during the 100th anniversary year of Archbishop
Sheen’s priestly ordination. Archbishop Sheen was ordained Sept. 20, 1919.
Present at both the disinterment of
her uncle’s remains in New York and their arrival at the cathedral in Peoria
was Joan Sheen Cunningham, Archbishop Sheen’s closest living relative who
petitioned the New York court system for the transfer in 2016.
Efforts by the New York Archdiocese
and the trustees of St. Patrick’s Cathedral to block the transfer ended when
the New York Court of Appeals rejected their final appeal June 7. The
archdiocese has since cooperated with the Diocese of Peoria in ensuring the
transfer followed both civil law and Church law.
Bishop Daniel R. Jenky of Peoria, Ill., looks on as Joan Sheen Cunningham, niece of the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, sprinkles holy water on the new tomb bearing the remains of her uncle at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Peoria June 27, 2019. Archbishop Sheen’s remains were transferred from St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City to the Peoria cathedral. (Jennifer Willems/CNS, via The Catholic Post)
Among the Church law requirements
was that the transfer be done without any solemnity. It was not publicized in
advance, and no liturgical ceremony or public gathering took place during the
transfer. However, after the diocesan interment Bishop Jenky led the small
group of priests, women religious and officials present in a song to Mary.
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen is pictured in an undated file photo. The New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, in a June 7 ruling rejected a final appeal from the Archdiocese of New York and the trustees of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. They had sought to keep the remains of the famed orator and media pioneer interred at St. Patrick’s, where they have rested since after his death Dec. 9, 1979. (CNS file photo)
“Let us conclude as I know Fulton
Sheen would want us to,” said Bishop Jenky as he began to sing the “Salve
Regina.”
“I thought everything done here was
perfect, just perfect,” Cunningham said afterward. “Very reverent. I know my
uncle would like it, and I’m sure he’s sleeping very peacefully.”
While Cunningham and her son, Paul
— who also was present — both live in New York, she noted Archbishop Sheen “has
a tremendous amount of family” in his native Peoria area who are pleased at the
return of his remains and the effort the Diocese of Peoria has made to that
end.
While the events surrounding the
transfer were kept private and discreet, the public was invited to visit the
tomb starting June 28.
Patricia Gibson, chancellor of the
Diocese of Peoria, was the official witness of the disinterment and transfer of
the remains.
After working for 18 years with
Bishop Jenky on the archbishop’s cause, “it was a great privilege and honor to
be present and witness the transfer of Archbishop Sheen’s remains to his home
cathedral in Peoria where he served Mass as a youth and was ordained a priest
100 years ago,” Gibson said in a statement.
U.S. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen is pictured preaching in an undated photo. Pope Benedict XVI has approved the heroic virtues Archbishop Sheen, declaring him “venerable” and clearing the way for the advancement of his sainthood cause. The announcement cam e June 28 from the Vatican. As a priest he preached on the popular “The Catholic Hour” radio program and went on to become an Emmy-winning televangelist. (CNS photo)
Born in El Paso, Illinois, and
raised in Peoria, Archbishop Sheen was a brilliant academic who served on the
faculty of The Catholic University of America for 24 years. He gained fame and
influence with radio and early television series such as the “Catholic Hour”
and “Life is Worth Living” that reached millions. He won an Emmy Award for Most
Outstanding Television Personality in 1953.
He brought many into the Catholic
faith, including celebrities such as Claire Booth Luce and Henry Ford II. From
1950 to 1966 he served as national director of the Society for the Propagation
of the Faith and his fame helped raise large amounts of money for support of
the foreign missions.
Ordained as a bishop in 1951, he
served as an auxiliary bishop of New York and from 1966 to 1969 as bishop of
Rochester, New York.
The author of dozens of books — including his autobiography, “Treasure in Clay” — Archbishop Sheen spent his final years preaching retreats and missions.
— By Tom Dermody, Catholic News Service. Dermody is editor-in-chief of THE CATHOLIC POST, newspaper of Diocese of Peoria, Illinois.