E33: Becoming Blessed: Archbishop Fulton Sheen

With Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s upcoming beatification on September 24th, we have the perfect opportunity to take a closer look at the Church’s process of recognizing holiness.

What does it actually mean when the Catholic Church declares someone “Blessed”? And how does someone become a Saint in the first place? 

In this episode, we’ll walk through the journey from Servant of God to Venerable to Blessed to Saint, explore what the Church looks for at each stage, and follow Fulton Sheen’s own fascinating (and sometimes complicated) path toward beatification and canonization.

Resources:
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation

Life is Worth Living TV Series| Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

The Miracle of Fulton Sheen 

The History of Canonization | EWTN

Transcript

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Hi, friends. Welcome back to another episode of Catholicism 101 Forever Learning and Living the Faith. Today we are talking about Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen because he is being beatified later this month on September 24th, 2026 in St. Louis. And so in celebration of this moment and all of the years that have been leading up to it, I decided that this month's podcast should not only be about Sheen's own life and his path towards being canonized a saint, but also how does the entire process work in general? So how does someone become recognized as a saint in the Catholic Church? But before we really get into all of that, I'll since this is in celebration of Fulton Sheen's beatification, I want to talk about real quick who was and who is really Archbishop Fulton Sheen. So he was born on May 8th, 1897, in El Paso, Illinois. And it's this small town in the Diocese of Peoria. He was born Peter John Sheen, and he was the oldest of four boys born to his mom, Newton and Delia. So as a young boy, uh he became known by his mother's maiden name, Fulton, rather than his given name Peter. And following his baptism, his mom dedicated him to the Blessed Virgin Mary. And then when it came time for young Fulton to make his first Holy Communion, he followed uh in his mother's footsteps and rededicated him his own self to the Blessed Virgin Mary. And he remained very close to her throughout his entire life. So many years later in 1919, he was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria. And upon ordination, he moved and was sent to Belgium to pursue a doctorate in philosophy from the Catholic University there. And once he graduated from there in 1920-23, later that year, he actually became the first American ever to receive the Cardinal Mercer Prize for International Philosophy. So right off the bat, he's a big deal and just wickedly smart. So after a few years in Europe, uh he returned to the U.S. and he taught theology and philosophy at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. So that was between 1927 and 1950. Now, when people hear Fulton Sheen, they just naturally associate him with uh his work in television and radio broadcasting. So that's what he's really most famous for. Uh his weekly Sunday night radio broadcast that kicked it all off was called The Catholic Hour. And then the next one that is by far was a TV program called Life is Worth Living. And now when I say that this was his most popular program, uh I mean like it competed with Frank Sinatra's things. Uh it had over 30 million views like weekly. So he actually won an Emmy in 1953. And for it was in the category most outstanding television personality. And in his in his speech, in his acceptance speech, he credited his writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, for his success. So really living up to the best, the most outstanding television personality there. And it it doesn't end there. He this this man stays on the move. In 1966, he was then appointed the bishop of Rochester, New York, and he hosted another TV series there entitled the Fulton Sheen Program. And it was very similar to the original TV program, Life is Worth Living. But after three years as the Bishop of Rochester, um, he resigned and he was appointed as stick with me, the Archbishop of Titular See of Newport, Wales by Saint Pope Paul VI. And that allowed him the freedom to continue his preaching. And so he spent the last couple decades of his life doing just that, uh, preaching, writing, and teaching, and all of these things. Um, and then two months before he passed in 1979, uh, he was at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, and Pope John Paul II was there, and he gave him a hug and told him, You have written and spoken well of the Lord Jesus. You are a loyal son of the church. So again, just two months later, uh, he passed away on December 9th in 1979. So now that we've gotten a bit of a little quick crash course into who is Archbishop Fulton Sheen, um, we're gonna talk about what what is the process to become a saint? Uh and the first step is uh, you know, you you have to die. Um so once someone dies, what are the steps for them to be canonized a saint? So I want to point out some key terms before we begin. And there's four like major checkpoints. So the first one is whenever the candidate, the person, is designated as servant of God. The next one is they are designated with the title of venerable. Thirdly, they are designated with the title of blessed, and then finally, they are canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church. So those are gonna be the big four key terms, uh, four things that you hear most when we talk about the process to become a saint. But I want to give you just a little bit more meat under the surface of other terms you will hear whenever um you read or hear about the process of someone becoming a saint. So this includes uh kind of like the big kahuna, um, the big kahuna like congregation that really takes hold of these investigations. And that is the Dicastery for the causes of saints. It is an office within the Vatican made up of bishops and cardinals, theologians, um, all of the above. And that is their entire job is investigating and progressing the church through those people who have been brought forward as potential saints for canonization. And so their entire job is to move them through that process, but not just, you know, it's incredibly rigorous. And so we're we're gonna talk a lot about that today. Uh, you will also hear uh the postulator or the promoter of the cause. That is the party that is bringing forth the candidate and being like, hey, this person, we need to look and see if we can canonize them as a saint. So that's the postulator or the promoter of the cause. And you will also hear the promoter of the faith. Now, this title used to be known as the devil's advocate, and we would always explain it in the sense of this person's job was to essentially try and disprove that this person is a saint. Um, but now what they do, it's it's really somewhat similar in the sense that they are not necessarily like out to prove the unholiness of the person, but rather they are constantly keeping this person's story, writings, uh the witness testimonies, all of these things, they're constantly keeping them in check with the faith and with what is divinely revealed and what the church teaches. And so um their job is to constantly keep a pulse on that and bring up any causes for concern or any issues. And I believe it was St. Pope John Paul II who um changed the title of that role. So, devil's advocate in the Vatican, it's funny. Um, but again, it's not exactly fully what they do. So now we're gonna look at what the process is for each stage. So, who all is involved? What is the criteria that has to be met? Uh, how is it to determine to be valid, you know, miracles and things like that? Is there that system of checks and balances to ensure that the church is not seeing this person through rose-colored glasses? So let's begin with the first step, what I kind of like to call the first rung on the ladder, the servant of God, being declared a servant of God. Now, before that can even happen, uh, the case has to be opened. And so, in order for the case to be opened, five years have to pass since that person's death. And this comes straight from the Vatican. They say that this is to allow greater balance and objectivity and evaluating the case and to let the emotions of the moment dissipate. Uh, and so actually until 1983, the waiting period was 50 years. But again, Saint Pope John Paul II, he changed that to ensure that more living witnesses were alive uh and that we were able to more reliably collect memories and writings. And so uh sometimes for pastoral reasons, the Pope actually can choose to waive that five-year waiting period. And it's happened twice in my own lifetime. So uh JP2, he did this for Mother Teresa, and then Pope Benedict did it for JP2. So the it can it can happen, but the rule of thumb is that five-year waiting period again to make sure, you know, it's not just like a cult frenzy kind of thing. And lastly, the cause for canonization, the case has to begin in the candidate's home diocese. So, in the case of Fulton Sheen, uh, for him to be declared servant of God, this actually all began in 1998. So this was 19 years after he passed. So uh two guys in New York, Gregory Ladd and Lawrence Hickey, they formed the Archbishop Fulton Sheen Foundation and they asked permission from the Archbishop of New York at the time, John Cardinal O'Connor, to pursue opening Fulton Sheen's cause. Uh, and so after Archbishop O'Connor passed, uh, his successor, Edward Cardinal Egan, he had the Fulton Sheen Foundation approach his home diocese, so Fulton Sheen's home diocese in the diocese of Peoria. Because even though uh he had been a bishop in New York, his home diocese was ultimately that of Peoria. So, in order for the bishop to petition the Vatican for the cause to be opened, he has to have this abundance of proof that Fulton Sheen possesses a true, widespread reputation for holiness and for intercessory power. So there it's a two-fold thing: it's for holiness and then for intercessory power. So that is and was and still kind of is the task of the foundation. So they did the grunt work of gathering all of this information about Fulton Sheen's life, his virtues, his works, and countless testimonies from people who knew him personally, uh as well as people who received special favors by praying for his intercession. So the foundation, they really become known as the promoter of the cause. That's truly their role. And once they have gathered all of this information, they bring it to Bishop Daniel Jenki of the Diocese of Peoria. And they, you know, the diocese goes over it and reviews it, um, and they work together with the foundation. And then finally in 2002, Bishop Daniel Jenki of the Diocese of Peoria officially petitioned the Vatican to open the cause for Fulton Sheen's canonization. Now, what the Vatican does in response is they will either grant or not grant a nulla osta, meaning no objection. So that allows the diocese to formally open the diocesan inquiry into Sheen's life and holiness, officially designating him the title servant of God. So again, a lot of grunt work and preparation has to happen before you can even ask the Vatican um for approval to, you know, take this on. And so when they do grant that nulla ostra, meaning that they have no objection uh for the diocesan inquiry phase of promoting and pursuing Archbishop Fulton Sheen's canonization, from there on, the foundation and the diocese uh really it's it is spearheaded under the diocese. And this inquiry phase is what leads to uh the candidate's designation as venerable. So, in general, over the course of several years, the candidate's diocese, as we have said, they conduct an investigation and they gather just even more evidence to submit to the Vatican. And what this is called, the summary of the candidate's life, his works, and it consists of sworn testimonies, the candidate's own writings, and for those who have lived in a more modern era, such as Sheen, evidence of their holiness is also gathered by TV, video, audio appearances, and just so much more. So this summation of the diocesan findings is known as the Posizio, and that is what is submitted to the diocese, to the Dicastery for the causes of saints. And also included in this are testimonies and investigations of alleged miracles that are already being attributed to the candidate's intercession. So the diocese gathers all of this information and they present it to the Vatican, the Dicastery specifically, and it is now the Vatican's turn to look over it and decide whether or not this person is eligible to be designated as venerable, the second rung on the ladder. So in Fulton Sheen's cause, the diocesan inquiry phase concluded in 2008. And so the Diocese of Peoria submitted 22 volumes of evidence, and it included a 500-page report regarding a potential healing miracle that occurred in 1999. But it wasn't until 2012 when Pope Benedict XVI designated Fulton Sheen with the title Venerable. So he became venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen. So as of 2012, he has truly reached the second rung of the ladder as venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen. And the third rung is beatification, becoming blessed. Now, again, back to general. And the way that that is confirmed is by way of a miracle that is attributed to Fultonsteen's intercession. And far more often than not, these miracles that end up um paving the way for beatification are always some sort of medical miracle. So they have to pass this the following criteria. They have to be instantaneous. The healing has to be instantaneous. It has to be complete, uh, it has to be permanent, meaning there's there's no relapse. Uh, it has to be medically inexplicable and attributed specifically to the candidate's intercession. So, as you can imagine, um there are typically a ton of doctors and scientists that are involved in these investigations into the miracles. Now, it is important to note um that I cannot just like submit um a miracle to the Vatican myself. I have to approach my diocese, and my bishop has to be the one to submit it. And so for Fulton Sheen, uh just all of these numerous accounts of miracles attributed to his intercession, they were submitted to various dioceses, you know, where these healings occurred. Uh, but the most important one for him became the case of an infant in 2010 in the Diocese of Peoria in his own hometown, his own birthplace of El Paso. So the story is that Travis and Bonnie Ingstrom, they felt this special connection with Fulton Sheen, Bonnie especially, uh, and they decided, you know, when they found out that they were pregnant and were gonna have a baby boy, they decided to name him after Fulton Sheen. So his name was to be James Fulton Ingstrom. So in September 2008, he was stillborn at the family's home, and they found during delivery uh that there was this previously undetected knot in the umbilical cord, and through the delivery it had tightened, and he was born um blue. He he was he was stillborn. And so they rushed them. The the the doctor, the ER of the ambulance came, they rushed Bonnie and Baby James to the ER, where um, you know, Bonnie's Bonnie's good, but the ER nurses and doctors, they all are working for 61 minutes to save Baby James's life. And the whole time Bonnie is just repeatedly praying Fulton Sheen's name over and over and over again. And um, so after 61 minutes, uh it it they were like pronouncing him dead. They they were preparing to pronounce him dead, and um just moments before it happens, uh, they detect a heartbeat and he begins to breathe. And um, of course, if if you go without oxygen for 61 minutes, especially as an infant, there are uh just an incredible amount of complications and just uh highly disabling and debilitating things that can happen through the course of your life. Um the the the the possibilities are endless in the worst imaginable way. Today, in 2026, September 2026, James Fulton Ingstrom is 16 years old. He is perfectly healthy, he has no lasting effects from this this terrible stillbirth, uh, and and he has just continued developing normally. Really quickly, I misspoke. He was born in 2010, not 2008. So, yes, he is 16. So as time passes and he is continuously having uh no repercussions, no developmental delays, no issues from being stillborn, um, this gets submitted to the Diocese of Peoria and to the Vatican. And this is unanimously approved by doctors, theologians, and cardinals in the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. And then it was officially recognized by Pope Francis in July 2019. So this miracle and Pope Francis' approval paved the way for his beatification in 2019. So he was originally scheduled to be beatified on December 21st, 2019. Um, but the Diocese of Rochester, where Sheen had served as bishop for three years, just a few weeks before, they requested that the case be delayed because U.S. officials wanted to further examine um a perceived mishandling of some personnel files of a priest accused of sexual misconduct. So not only um are the U.S. officials looking into this, um, but so is the Vatican, so is the church. And she quickly opens an investigation and discovers that Shane uh his handling of these files was not only free of wrongdoing, but it was actually exemplary. And so they exonerated him, and the Vatican was ready to proceed. But now there is uh this delay. It is now 2026, and so why did it still take six to seven years for his beatification to be scheduled? So even though the Vatican had cleared him, his cause for beatification had to remain frozen. Because there was this deadlocked bankruptcy proceeding in the Diocese of Rochester, and it involved really complex legal battles with right around 500 um victims of sexual assault in the diocese. And so um the the a long, very difficult trial uh that we we just continue to pray for uh the victims and everyone involved. Um but the beautiful news is that in September 2025, a federal bankruptcy judge officially approved the settlement plan between um the victims and the Diocese of Rochester. And so finally uh Fulton Sheen's cause for canonization was free to proceed. And in February 2026, they made this announcement that uh Fulton Sheen will be beatified on September 24th, 2026. Now, typically uh a beatification mass takes place in their home diocese, right? Uh so typically um the the diocese of Peoria would be the one to host uh the beatification mass. Um but in the case of Fulton Sheen, they are expecting tens of thousands of pilgrims to come and be present for this. And so uh they have actually decided to have his Beatification Mass at the Dome of America in St. Louis, Missouri. And I am so excited and just tickled pink that I'm gonna get to be one of the pilgrims there. Uh and so I cannot wait to witness just this beautiful moment in history, the beautiful, this beautiful moment in the church, um, and just becoming more of a bestie with Fulton Gene. So this is what happens at a beatification mass. The rite of beatification it takes place at the beginning of Mass. So after they read this brief biography of the new blessed, the cardinal who serves as the papal representative, he reads the apostolic letter of the Holy Father in Latin. So this letter grants uh the candidate the title of blessed, and then it's repeated by a diocesan official in English. So at that point, he is Blessed Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Okay, and so after they declare it, uh they reveal a new image of the blessed with a halo, and they have a relic there for veneration and it's incensed, and we sing a hymn of thanksgiving, and then the mass continues with the collect, which is the opening prayer. And from that point, the mass is said from the proper mass of the new blessed. And so uh just as you have like the opening prayer for certain saints' feast days, so like Saint Cecilia, whenever it's her feast day and you go to Mass, uh she is mentioned in the collect, in the opening prayer. She is mentioned in the Eucharistic prayer, like the preface, she is mentioned at the concluding prayer, the closing rites, the prayer after communion. And so, you know, that is all written by the the Vatican. And um, so this is the first time where his proper mass is said, and so it will be absolutely beautiful. And then after that, mass continues as normal. Now, I'm incredibly excited that I get to be in person in St. Louis at this mass with tens of thousands of other pilgrims, and I I just I cannot wait. Um, but you know, not everyone can go. And so uh the the Fulton Sheen Foundation, the Archbishop Fulton Sheen Foundation, um, they have a website and it's celebrate Sheen.com. And so they are live streaming the mass, they are live streaming the celebration at their website, and I have their site linked in the show notes or the description. So, but what's next? Right? In order for a blessed to become canonized, a second miracle is required and it has to go through that same rigorous process uh as the beatification miracle did. But the thing with this one is it has to occur after uh the date of beatification. So the miracle that will pave the way for Fulton Sheen, for blessed Fulton Sheen at that point to become Saint Fulton Sheen, it has to happen after September 24th, 2026. So again, it it involves all of these independent medical experts, theologians, they have to prove that it has no natural scientific explanation, but that it is truly of supernatural cause. So once the Dicastery for the causes of saints approves, the second miracle, they present it to the Pope. And then he is the one who ultimately will make the decree for canonization, and that mass is scheduled at the Vatican, and it follows a similar rite as the Mass of Beatification. So that one, that was a really big deal. Uh, we recently had one for St. Carlo Acutis and for Saint Pierre Giorgio Frosati. I still want to call them blessed, uh, but I'm glad that I don't. So for Fulton Sheen, though, um, we can expect it to be a number of years before we are able to call him Saint Fulton Sheen. But the the good and the beautiful news for now is that we can ask the soon to be blessed uh to pray for us. And, you know, who knows? Who knows? Your miracle could be the one that paves the way for his canonization. So what a beautiful, what a joyous moment in church history, um, especially as he is in the living memory of so, so, so many people. Um, and we can still go back and watch his shows and listen uh to his broadcasts. And and so what a gift to the church that Fulton Sheen not only was, but continues to be and will continue to be. And so that there's a real beauty uh in someone being beatified and canonized and going through this process uh because it it draws more and more people to the Lord. More and more people. So I uh do want to point out that his Life is Worth Living TV series, it's available on YouTube. Uh, and it's that second link I have down there in the show notes. Uh the third link I have is the story of uh James Fulton Ingstrom's miracle. Uh and then lastly, I have a little piece from EWTN on the history of canonization, and it has a bit more details about uh when Pope St. John Paul II, uh, or St. Pope John Paul II, whenever he made that change from 50 to 5 years, and you know, the the devil's advocate switch uh and among other things. And so um it actually goes back to the early church and and martyrs and all of that. So that's really interesting if you want to kind of nerd out a little bit on that. But, you know, until next time, I hope you have a blessed day and uh soon to be blessed Fulton Sheen, pray for us.