Vatican Clears the Way for Archbishop Sheen's Beatification

After clearing two big legal hurdles, Archbishop Fulton Sheen's beatification has been approved again by the Vatican.

Born in Peoria, Illinois in 1895, Archbishop Sheen was 84 years old when he died in 1979 in New York City.  

Archbishop Sheen was ordained a priest at St. Mary's Cathedral in Peoria, Illinois on Sept. 20, 1919, and served as bishop of the Diocese of Rochester, New York from 1966-1969.

The popular TV and radio preacher was well known for his television show, "Life Is Worth Living," and radio program, "The Catholic Hour."

"Bishop Sheen was one of the first catholic clergy to use the television media to teach about catholic belief and practices," said Father Tom Ranzino. "His dramatic style and clarity of thought made him a popular figure in the middle of the last century in the Catholic Church in the United States. He was an earlier influencer of televangelists to follow."

Father Ranzino is the director of the Office of Worship of the Diocese of Baton Rouge.

Archbishop Sheen's cause for sainthood was officially opened in 2002 by the Diocese of Peoria. 

Claire Breaux, tribunal director and judge, diocesan tribunal of the Diocese of Baton Rouge, referred to the Catechism of the Catholic Church to define canonization.

CCC828 states: “By canonizing some of the faithful, i.e., by solemnly proclaiming that they practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God’s grace, the Church recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and sustains the hope of believers by proposing the saints to them as models and intercessors.”   

Breaux pointed out that canonization is simply a formal process by which the Church declares we can have confidence that this person is truly with God, that he/she can intercede for us in heaven, and that they are in some way worthy of emulating (either their virtuous life or their heroic death – or both). 

Canonization is a rigorous, multi-year process. In the early days of the church, people were declared saints by popular acclaim. 

"The church gave recognition to the popular acclaim by incorporating saints into the liturgy so their names could be included during Mass, or there would be votive masses offered for them," said Breaux. "That was the church recognizing an established cult, basically. But there wasn't a strict set of processes by which a person was declared to be in heaven. It's much stricter now.

"There's a very clear process governed by canon law with clear milestones and requirements before a person is beatified and then canonized."

For recent causes, at least five years must have passed since the person’s death.

"This is to avoid surprise information that would scandalize or disqualify the person from canonization coming out once the process has already started, although it is not foolproof," said Breaux.

During the first step of canonization a person is declared a servant of God. The sainthood cause is still at the local level.

At the next step, the person is declared venerable. This means they have been investigated and has been officially declared by the pope to have lived a life of heroic virtue or to have made an offering of life.
 
When the person's cause reaches the final step before canonization, they are beatified and receive the title blessed. A person designated as blessed has been recognized as a martyr or a venerable through whose intercession God has worked a miracle. A blessed is beatified following a rigorous investigation and the pope officially declares the miracle and recognizes the person as blessed. A ceremony must be performed.
 
In Archbishop Sheen's case, in July 2019 Pope Francis approved a miracle attributed to the archbishop, which moved his case toward beatification. According to reports in 2010 stillborn baby James Fulton Engstrom had no heartbeat for 61 minutes but was fully restored after his parents prayed to Archbishop Sheen for his intercession. Doctors said the case was medically unexplainable.

When a second miracle is officially approved for a blessed, they are canonized a saint. This means they have been declared worthy of universal veneration and imitation. 

Archbishop Sheen's beatification was first delayed by a lengthy court battle on how his remains were handled.

The archbishop had requested in his will that his remains stay in New York after his death. He was interred in a crypt under the main altar of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. His closest living relative and niece, Joan Sheen Cunningham, argued that he would have wanted to be buried in Peoria if he knew he would be considered for sainthood. In 2016 Cunningham filed a lawsuit to have her uncle's remains moved back to Peoria. The New York Court of Appeals ruled in her favor. On June 27, 2019 Archbishop Sheen's remains were moved to St. Mary's Cathedral in Peoria.

In December 2019, the archbishop's beatification was delayed again due to concerns about how he handled clergy sexual misconduct cases when he was bishop of the Diocese of Rochester, New York. The Vatican conducted a six-year review of Archbishop Sheen's files from the Diocese of Rochester and the Diocese of Peoria and found no wrongdoing. On Feb. 9 the Vatican approved the moving forward of Archbishop's beatification.

Bishop Michael G. Duca said he was glad that Archbishop Sheen's canonization is moving forward for a couple of reasons.

"I find his work to be so accessible, even though it was written many years ago, said the bishop. "It seems to be, at this moment, not only pertinent, but also prophetic. He is clever in his writings by the way he explains things, very down to earth, but in a profound way."

The bishop added, "I'm also happy because when I was in the seminary (Holy Trinity Seminary in Dallas) we had a retreat given by Archbishop Fulton Sheen. He will be the first saint that I personally spent time with. "

The bishop found the retreat to be excellent and Archbishop Sheen moving in his presentations.

"I've always found that to be a very important moment in my life, spiritually," Bishop Duca said.

No date has been announced for the beatification ceremony at this time. The Vatican's approval makes it possible for Illinois-born Archbishop Sheen to be beatified during the pontificate of the Illinois-born Pope Leo XIV.