J.M.J.
Venerable
Fulton J. Sheen
1895 to 1979 · El Paso, Illinois
He won an Emmy with a blackboard. Thirty million people watched him each week. On the twenty-fourth of September the Church will permit him to be venerated in public.
Until the beatification
24 September 2026 · 14:00 CDT · The Dome at America's Center, St. Louis · Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle
The cause
Two states reached, and a third on the calendar
The cause opened in Peoria in 2002. Benedict XVI declared him Venerable in 2012. The beatification was set for 21 December 2019 and called off days beforehand at the request of the Diocese of Rochester, which he had once led; Leo XIV authorized it again in February 2026.
Servant of God2002
The Diocese of Peoria, where he was ordained, opened his cause. From then he could be called Servant of God, and the testimony about his life was gathered under its bishop.
Venerable28 June 2012
Pope Benedict XVI declared that he lived the virtues to a heroic degree. This is a judgment on his life alone, and it requires no miracle.
Decree of heroic virtue · Pope Benedict XVI
Blessed24 September 2026
Pope Francis approved a miracle in 2019, and the beatification was scheduled, then postponed at the request of the Diocese of Rochester, which he had once led. Pope Leo XIV authorized it again in February. He will be called Blessed from 24 September.
Beatification authorized · Pope Leo XIV
Saintnot yet
To be declared a saint, a second miracle must be approved: one granted through his intercession after he is beatified.
The evidence
Sixty-one minutes without a pulse
James Fulton Engstrom was delivered stillborn at a home birth near Peoria on 16 September 2010, his umbilical cord knotted. For the sixty-one minutes he had no pulse, his parents prayed for the intercession of Sheen, for whom they had named him. His heart began to beat just as he was about to be pronounced dead. A seven-member Vatican medical panel found no natural explanation, and Pope Francis approved the miracle in July 2019.
What it confers
What a beatification actually does
Beatification is not canonization. It permits him to be venerated publicly, and his feast to be kept, in the places the Holy See names rather than in the whole Church. The date of his feast is set by the decree, which has not yet been published.
Diocese of Peoria
The wire
What the Catholic press is saying this week
Read from the public wire at catholicintelligence.com in English, Spanish and Italian, over a rolling seven-day window. It is not an archive.
The programme
15 to 26 September
Local hours. The liturgical ones do not move.
Tuesday 15 September
- 19:00Nightly holy hourCathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate ConceptionPeoria
Sunday 20 September
- 15:00Anniversary Mass of his ordinationticketedCathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate ConceptionPeoria
Wednesday 23 September
- 17:00Solemn VespersticketedCathedral Basilica of St. LouisSt. Louis
Thursday 24 September
- 08:00Exposition and pre-Mass programmeThe Dome at America's CenterSt. Louis
- 14:00Mass of BeatificationticketedThe Dome at America's CenterSt. LouisCardinal Luis Antonio Tagle
- 16:00Veneration of the relicThe Dome at America's CenterSt. Louis
Friday 25 September
- 09:00Masses of ThanksgivingticketedCathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate ConceptionPeoriaalso 11:00, 13:00 and 15:00
- 18:00Sheen Awards GalaticketedPeoria Civic CenterPeoria
Saturday 26 September
- 09:00Masses of ThanksgivingticketedCathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate ConceptionPeoriaalso 11:00 and 13:00
- 15:00Byzantine Divine Liturgy of ThanksgivingticketedCathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate ConceptionPeoriaBishop Robert M. Pipta
The body
He came home through O'Hare
On 7 June 2019 the New York Court of Appeals refused the Archdiocese of New York a final appeal. Early on 27 June his body was taken from the crypt beneath the high altar of St. Patrick's Cathedral, flown from LaGuardia to Chicago O'Hare, and driven to Peoria the same day. His cause resumed on his arrival.
Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate ConceptionIn a marble monument at the side altar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
The transmissions
What he broadcast, and what he wrote
1930-1950
The Catholic Hour
NBC Radio
1952-1957
Life Is Worth Living
DuMont, then ABC Television
Premiered 12 February 1952. Emmy Award, 1953.
1961-1968
The Fulton Sheen Program
Syndicated television
- 1933The Seven Last Words
- 1949Peace of Soul
- 1951Three to Get Married
- 1952The World's First Love: Mary, Mother of God
- 1958Life of Christ
- 1963The Priest Is Not His Own
- 1980Treasure in Clay
Prayer for his canonization
J.M.J.
Venerable Fulton J. Sheen
1895 to 1979
Heavenly Father, source of all holiness, You raise up within the Church in every age men and women who serve with heroic love and dedication. You have blessed Your Church through the life and ministry of Your faithful servant, Archbishop Fulton J Sheen. He has written and spoken well of Your Divine Son, Jesus Christ, and was a true instrument of the Holy Spirit in touching the hearts of countless people.
If it be according to Your Will, for the honor and glory of the Most Holy Trinity and for the salvation of souls, we ask You to move the Church to proclaim him a saint. We ask this prayer through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Imprimatur: +Most Reverend Daniel R. Jenky, C.S.C., Bishop of Peoria
celebratesheen.com
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Saint for a Minute is an independent Catholic Social Ventures digital resource in support of the cause. Not affiliated with the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation or the Diocese of Peoria.