U.S. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen is pictured preaching in an undated photo. He will be beatified in a ceremony in Peoria, Illinois, Dec. 21. As a priest he preached on the popular “The Catholic Hour” radio program and went on to become an Emmy-winning televangelist. (CNS photo)
PEORIA, Ill. (CNS) — Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen will be
beatified Dec. 21, Bishop Daniel R. Jenky of Peoria announced late Nov. 18.
Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
Born: May 8, 1895 Ordained: Sept. 20, 1919 for the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois Consecrated: June 11, 1951 In Diocese of Phoenix: Dec. 3, 1975 as homilist for “Festival of Faith” Mass Died: Dec. 9, 1979 Named Servant of God: Sept. 14, 2002 Declared Venerable: June 28, 2012
He said the Vatican had just notified him of the
beatification, and he was announcing the news “with great joy and thanksgiving.”
Plans for the beatification are already underway, the bishop
said. The ceremony will be at 10 a.m. local time at the Cathedral of St. Mary
of the Immaculate Conception in Peoria.
“This is the same cathedral where (Archbishop) Sheen was
ordained a priest 100 years ago on Sept. 20, 1919,” said a Peoria
diocesan news release. “It seems entirely fitting that the beatification
will take place at the end of this 100-year anniversary of his ordination to
the priesthood.”
The cathedral also is the current resting place for the
archbishop, who is entombed in a marble vault next to the altar where he was
ordained.
The diocese planned to release more information about the
beatification over the next few days. News about the beatification and the life
of Archbishop Sheen can be found at celebratesheen.com.
In July, Bishop Jenky announced Pope Francis had approved a
miracle attributed to the intercession of Archbishop Sheen, leading the way to
his beatification.
The miracle concerns the healing of James Fulton Engstrom of
Washington, Illinois, who was considered stillborn when he was delivered during
a planned home birth Sept. 16, 2010. His parents — Bonnie and Travis Engstrom —
immediately invoked the prayers of Archbishop Sheen and encouraged others to
seek his intercession after the baby was taken to OSF HealthCare St. Francis
Medical Center in Peoria for emergency treatment.
Just as doctors were preparing to declare that he was dead,
James Fulton’s tiny heart started to beat at a normal rate for a healthy
newborn. He had been without a pulse for 61 minutes.
James Fulton Engstrom is held by his parents, Travis and Bonnie Engstrom, Sept. 7, 2011, at the Spalding Pastoral Center in Peoria, Ill., as a tribunal began investigating the boy’s miraculous healing through the intercession of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. With them are Andrea Ambrosi, postulator of Archbishop Sheen’s sainthood cause, and Peoria Bishop Daniel R. Jenky. (Jennifer Willems/CNS, via The Catholic Post)
Despite dire prognoses for his future, including that he
would probably be blind and never walk, talk or be able to feed himself, the
child has thrived. Now a healthy 8-year-old, he likes chicken nuggets, “Star
Wars” and riding his bicycle.
The decree of the miracle came about a week after Archbishop
Sheen’s remains were transferred from New York to Peoria’s cathedral.
“It is truly amazing how God continues to work miracles,”
Bishop Jenky said in the statement about the papal decree on the miracle.
Archbishop Sheen had been placed in a crypt below the main
altar of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York after his death Dec. 9, 1979.
After protracted legal proceedings, his remains were brought to Peoria June 27
at the request of his niece, Joan Sheen Cunningham, and now rest in a new
marble tomb in the Peoria cathedral.