Blessed Fulton Sheen – December 9 – Carmelite Saints
Summary:
Born in 1895 in El Paso, IL, Fulton Sheen was ordained a Catholic priest on September 20, 1919. His talents as a preacher were first seen during his time teaching at The Catholic University of America. In 1926, he began broadcasting Lenten talks on New York radio stations. He soon began a weekly talk on The Catholic Hour radio program, where he spoke on a range of topics including Mary, the Eucharist, communism, and more. He discussed the Gospel's relevance in day-to-day Catholic life. He became a Bishop on June 11, 1951. That year, he also began his television series Life is Worth Living. His influence led to countless conversions to Catholicism. In 1966, he became the Bishop of Rochester, a position he resigned in 1969. He spent the remainder of his life preaching and writing. He died on December 9, 1979.
History:
Peter John Sheen was born on May 8, 1895, to farmer Newton Sheen and his wife, Delia, in El Paso, Illinois. The eldest of four sons, he was baptized as Peter John and called P.J. as a boy, but later preferred Fulton, his mother's maiden name. After his baptism, his mother dedicated him to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and he renewed that dedication at his First Holy Communion.
After the family moved to nearby Peoria, Illinois, Fulton became an altar boy at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception. When he was 8 years old, he was serving Mass for Bishop John L. Spalding and dropped a wine cruet that shattered on the floor. After Mass, Bishop Spalding spoke to the frightened boy and made two bold predictions about him: he would one day study at Louvain in Belgium, and "Someday you will be just as I am."
Raised in the Roman Catholic faith, Fulton attended Spalding Institute for high school and then studied at St. Viator College in Bourbonnais, Illinois.
He decided to become a priest, began his studies at Saint Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, and was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria by Bishop Edmund Dunne at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Peoria, Illinois, on September 20, 1919.
After his 1919 ordination, Sheen continued his studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. He celebrated his first Christmas Mass at St. Mark Parish in Peoria. After finishing his studies at the Catholic University of America, he entered the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium and earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1923. His doctoral thesis was titled "The Spirit of Contemporary Philosophy and the Finite God". At Leuven, he became the first American to win the Cardinal Mercier Prize for the best philosophical treatise.
Fr. Sheen returned to America after varied and extensive work throughout Europe. From 1927 until 1950, he continued to preach and teach theology and philosophy at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
For the next 23 years, Father Sheen developed as a scholar, educator, orator, and evangelist at Catholic University. He first worked in the School of Theology and Religious Studies, then in the School of Philosophy, teaching courses that touched on both disciplines, including "Philosophy of Religion," "God and Society," and "God and Modern Philosophy." Students and visitors crowded into the classroom to hear him lecture.
As his reputation grew on campus and beyond, Father Sheen drew media attention with his brilliant oratory. His first experience in broadcasting came in 1926, when he recorded a series of Sunday evening Lenten sermons for a New York radio station. Four years later, he filled in for two weeks on The Catholic Hour radio program. Because the audience response was so positive, he was asked to continue as a weekly speaker.
In 1929, Sheen delivered a speech at a meeting of the National Catholic Educational Association, where he encouraged teachers to "educate for a Catholic Renaissance" in the United States. He hoped American Catholics would become more influential through education, which would help attract others to Catholicism. He also believed Catholics should "integrate" their faith into daily life.
From 1930 to 1950, Father Sheen's weekly talks on The Catholic Hour presented Catholic teaching in a new way. Drawing from his faith and scholarship, he addressed topics ranging from devotion to the Blessed Mother to the dangers of Communism. Rooted in his knowledge of St. Thomas Aquinas's philosophy, he preached the Gospel and applied it to personal moral decisions and major social issues. By 1950, The Catholic Hour had a weekly audience of four million listeners.
During this period, Monsignor Sheen traveled across the country, giving academic lectures, missions, retreats, guest homilies, commencement addresses, and speaking at meetings of various Catholic organizations.
At the Catholic University of America, Sheen provided voice-over commentary for an Easter Sunday Mass in 1940, the first televised Catholic religious service in the United States. During the sermon, he remarked,
"This is the first religious television in the history of the world. Let, therefore, its first message be a tribute of thanks to God for giving the minds of our day the inspiration to unravel the secrets of the universe."
The busy professor kept up his full teaching schedule and also wrote numerous books. He published 34 books during his 23-year teaching career at Catholic University and another 32 after he left the University. The show's sponsor, the National Council of Catholic Men, also published transcripts of his weekly radio talks in dozens of booklets. He later published many of his other talks and sermons as pamphlets.
Monsignor Fulton Sheen was deeply attracted to the Carmelite Order and became a professed member of the Carmelite Third Order. He made his profession on July 17, 1948. Most Rev. Kilian Lynch, O. Carm., Prior General of the Carmelite Order, received his profession at a ceremony in the Carmelite House of Studies, Whitefriars Hall, Washington, DC.
Monsignor Sheen loved Carmel and maintained a lifetime of correspondence with many Carmelite communities. He is quoted as saying of the Carmelites who prayed for him: “Your Carmelite prayers and sufferings do more good than all our preaching and hectic actions. We make the noise, we get the credit, we enjoy the consolation of a victory, seen and tasted. You are responsible for it, and yet you cannot see the fruits. But you will on the day when the Cross appears in the heavens, and every man is rewarded according to his works.”
Monsignor Sheen also said, “I want to cling onto Carmel for I love its love of Jesus. I refuse to give it up, and like the blind man of Jericho, I shall go on shouting on to you continually to cure my blindness and my ills.”
Monsignor Sheen loved St. Therese and her devotion to the Holy Face. He often spoke and wrote about her and this devotion.
In 1950, Monsignor Sheen left Catholic University and became National Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, raising money to support the missions. During the 16 years he held this position, he raised millions of dollars for the Church's missionary activity. These efforts influenced tens of millions of people worldwide, bringing them to know Christ and his Church. They also brought many converts to Catholicism.
On May 28, 1951, Pope Pius XII appointed Sheen auxiliary bishop of New York, and he was consecrated in Rome at the Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paulo on June 11, 1951.
That fall, he began his famous television series, Life is Worth Living. Archbishop Sheen discussed moral issues of the day and often used a blackboard to draw and make lists to help explain the topic. When the board was full, he moved to another part of the set and asked one of his "angels" to clean it. The show was a tremendous success, eventually reaching an estimated 30 million viewers each week. At the start, only three television stations broadcast it. However, that number jumped to fifteen in less than two months after Life and Time magazines ran feature stories on Archbishop Sheen. In 1953, just two years after its debut, he won an Emmy Award for "Most Outstanding Television Personality." Archbishop Fulton Sheen credited the Gospel writers - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - for their valuable contribution to his success.
He was also known to have led numerous people to convert to Catholicism, from working-class New Yorkers he encountered in his daily life to celebrities who sought him out for instruction. Among those whose conversions he influenced are agnostic writer Heywood Broun, politician Clare Boothe Luce, automaker Henry Ford II, Communist writer Louis F. Budenz, theatrical designer Jo Mielziner, violinist and composer Fritz Kreisler, and actress Virginia Mayo. Each conversion process took an average of 25 hours of lessons, and reportedly more than 95% of those he privately instructed were baptized. The television show ran until 1957.
Archbishop Sheen returned to television in 1961 with a nationally syndicated series, The Fulton Sheen Program. It ran until 1968 and was broadcast first in black-and-white, then in color. The series format closely resembled Life Is Worth Living. For this work, he won two Emmy Awards for Most Outstanding Television Personality and was featured on the cover of Time Magazine. Due to his contribution to televised preaching, Archbishop Fulton Sheen is often referred to as one of the first televangelists.
Between 1962 and 1965, Archbishop Sheen attended all the sessions of the Second Vatican Council. He worked closely with then-Father Joseph Ratzinger, a theological expert on the commission for mission, who later became Pope Benedict XVI.
On October 21, 1966, Pope St. Paul VI named Fulton Sheen bishop of Rochester. While serving in Rochester, he created the Sheen Ecumenical Housing Foundation. On October 6, 1969, he resigned as bishop of Rochester. Pope St. Paul VI then named him archbishop of the titular see of Newport, Wales. The ceremonial position allowed him to devote more time to his extensive writing and preaching. During his lifetime, he wrote 73 books, along with numerous articles and columns.
A consistent theme in Archbishop Sheen's preaching throughout his life, especially in his later years, was the benefits of making a holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament. Throughout his years at Catholic University, he maintained his daily holy hour, praying in Caldwell Chapel and in the private chapel in his residence. Many people who worked closely with him over the years attest that he never failed to keep his holy hour from the day of his priestly ordination until his death.
Beginning in 1977, Archbishop Sheen "underwent a series of surgeries that sapped his strength and even made preaching difficult." Throughout that time, he continued to work on his autobiography, parts of which "were recited from his sickbed as he clutched a crucifix." Soon after that, Archbishop Sheen underwent open-heart surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan.
On October 2, 1979, two months before Sheen's death, Pope St. John Paul II visited St. Patrick's Cathedral during his papal visit to the United States. There, Pope St. John Paul II embraced Archbishop Fulton and said to him, “You have written and spoken well of the Lord Jesus. You are a loyal son of the Church!”
Archbishop Fulton Sheen died on December 9, 1979, in his private chapel while praying before the Blessed Sacrament. He was interred in the crypt of St. Patrick's Cathedral. In 2019, the archdiocese transferred his remains to the Diocese of Peoria, which re-interred them in the Cathedral of St. Mary in Peoria.
In 2002, Archbishop Sheen's Cause for canonization officially opened under the leadership of the Diocese of Peoria, and he was then referred to as a "Servant of God." On June 28, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI announced that the Congregation for the Causes of Saints had recognized Archbishop Sheen's life as one of "heroic virtue," and proclaimed him "Venerable Servant of God Fulton J. Sheen."
Venerable Fulton Sheen is scheduled to be beatified on September 24, 2026, in St. Louis, Missouri, with a miracle involving a stillborn baby’s recovery approved in 2019.
His contributions to the Catholic Church are numerous and varied, ranging from teaching in classrooms, churches, and homes to preaching on a nationally publicized radio show and two television programs. Bishop Fulton J. Sheen had a gift for communicating the Word of God in the purest, simplest way. His strong background in philosophy helped him relate to all his followers in a highly personalized way. His timeless messages remain highly relevant today. He inspires each of us to live a God-centered life with the joy and love that God intended.
Prayer:
O God,
who called the bishop Blessed Fulton Sheen
to preach the Gospel to the whole world,
grant, we pray, that by following his example of prayer
and the devotion to the Mother of your Son,
we may also be loyal sons and daughters of your
Church by bearing witness to the Faith.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.
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