Thousands See Fulton Sheen Beatified, Including His Miracle

As tens of thousands of Catholic worshippers stood Thursday in a football stadium-turned-temporary cathedral, all eyes focused on a teenage boy walking solemnly toward the makeshift altar, accompanied by his parents and siblings. James Fulton Engstrom, 16, carried an ornate vessel containing the relics of his namesake, the man whom the Catholic Church credits with his miraculous survival as a newborn—Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, who died in 1979. It was a highlight of a lengthy ceremony in St. Louis of beatification for the famed 20th century TV prelate, the AP reports, who will now be known as Blessed Fulton Sheen—one step away from sainthood.

James' mother, Bonnie Engstrom, said before the ceremony—held at the indoor stadium because there wasn't a venue large enough in Sheen's home Diocese of Peoria, Illinois—that she expected it would feel like a "foretaste of heaven." The presentation of the relics, placed on a pedestal by the altar, was a highlight of a lengthy service that began with a formal procession of hundreds of priests and scores of bishops, accompanied by robust organ, choral, and orchestral music. About 50,000 tickets were distributed, according to organizers. The halls and exhibit areas were thronged in the morning by pilgrims—priests in cassocks, nuns in habits, families with young children, elderly worshipers who recalled watching Sheen on TV. Scores of bishops, a thousand priests, and hundreds of religious order members, seminarians, and deacons participated.

The Vatican's top evangelization official, Filipino Cardinal Luis Tagle, the lead celebrant for the Mass, brought greetings from Pope Leo XIV, calling him Sheen's "fellow Illinoisan." Tagle called Sheen a model for evangelization, or sharing the faith. The service reflected the modern media era, with a livestreamed liturgy and electronic signs urging attendees to use the social media hashtag #celebratesheen. Attendees, many too young to have seen Sheen's broadcasts, said they've taken inspiration from his books and online videos. "There's just a revival in the American church as a whole," said Joseph Punswick, a seminarian from the Diocese of Kansas City, Kansas. "To have an American pope, to have an American beatified man, is amazing to see." Mary Chalupsky of Milford, Connecticut, recalled watching Sheen's original TV programs. "He brought so many to the faith," she said.