Show me your heart. Have you left a place for divine love? The above is a popular quote by Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Sheen is an American Roman Catholic archbishop whose fame in preaching on TV and radio precede him. Seen as the first ever televangelist, his programs brought Catholicism to more than 30 million American households.
In May 1895, Sheen was given birth to and named Fulton John Sheen in Illinois. The family later moved to Peoria where Fulton attended mass in a local church and in fact became an altar boy there. In the same church, he was ordained into priesthood years later. He went to schools around his home area for his basic education.
Sheen proceeded to Belgium where he got a doctorate in philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven. Moreover, while there he won the Cardinal Mercier award for his philosophical work and became the first American to do so. After several years of service as a priest he was consecrated a bishop serving in New York.
Fulton began evangelism through mass media in 1930. His first show was known as Catholic Hour broadcast on radio every week on Sundays. It was right in the middle of World War II and he took advantage of the platform to preach against the war. Besides, he conducted the first ever church service on mass media. The popularity of his program among viewers won him an Emmy award.
Archbishop Fulton was not short of controversy. Perhaps the most remembered broadcast was in 1953 where he publicly denounced the regime of Joseph Stalin. Dramatically, he used the burial scene from Julius Caesar from Shakespeare to predict doom to Stalin and other Soviet leaders of the time. His last words were that Stalin should one day face his judgment. True to his word, Stalin died within the week from stroke.
Fulton faced his death as a result of a heart condition having undergone an open heart surgery in 1979. He was buried in a crypt in the cathedral he served in New York which is to blame for his delayed journey to his sainthood. Cause for canonization was begun in the year 2002 and was granted the Servant of God title. A decade later, the Vatican approved the journey towards his beatification by bestowing him the title of Venerable.
Performing a miracle is one of the prerequisite for beatification. The miracle ought to be an event that cannot be explained by any scientific techniques. For Sheen, a mother to an infant who had delivered a still born baby boy claims to have prayed to him to heal his boy. Despite the fact that the boy was in that state for 61 minutes and doctors had failed to resuscitate him, he survived and does not bear any physical or mental impairment. This case was proven to be a miracle indeed by a specialized medical team from Vatican.
The infant miracle has brought the Sheen beatification journey into its final stages conferring to him the title blessed. Coincidentally, this is an important journey towards canonization. The present challenge is to have his remains examined at his home church in Peoria and the tussle with the church in New York has continuously delayed the process. All his followers can hope for is an eventual canonization.
In May 1895, Sheen was given birth to and named Fulton John Sheen in Illinois. The family later moved to Peoria where Fulton attended mass in a local church and in fact became an altar boy there. In the same church, he was ordained into priesthood years later. He went to schools around his home area for his basic education.
Sheen proceeded to Belgium where he got a doctorate in philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven. Moreover, while there he won the Cardinal Mercier award for his philosophical work and became the first American to do so. After several years of service as a priest he was consecrated a bishop serving in New York.
Fulton began evangelism through mass media in 1930. His first show was known as Catholic Hour broadcast on radio every week on Sundays. It was right in the middle of World War II and he took advantage of the platform to preach against the war. Besides, he conducted the first ever church service on mass media. The popularity of his program among viewers won him an Emmy award.
Archbishop Fulton was not short of controversy. Perhaps the most remembered broadcast was in 1953 where he publicly denounced the regime of Joseph Stalin. Dramatically, he used the burial scene from Julius Caesar from Shakespeare to predict doom to Stalin and other Soviet leaders of the time. His last words were that Stalin should one day face his judgment. True to his word, Stalin died within the week from stroke.
Fulton faced his death as a result of a heart condition having undergone an open heart surgery in 1979. He was buried in a crypt in the cathedral he served in New York which is to blame for his delayed journey to his sainthood. Cause for canonization was begun in the year 2002 and was granted the Servant of God title. A decade later, the Vatican approved the journey towards his beatification by bestowing him the title of Venerable.
Performing a miracle is one of the prerequisite for beatification. The miracle ought to be an event that cannot be explained by any scientific techniques. For Sheen, a mother to an infant who had delivered a still born baby boy claims to have prayed to him to heal his boy. Despite the fact that the boy was in that state for 61 minutes and doctors had failed to resuscitate him, he survived and does not bear any physical or mental impairment. This case was proven to be a miracle indeed by a specialized medical team from Vatican.
The infant miracle has brought the Sheen beatification journey into its final stages conferring to him the title blessed. Coincidentally, this is an important journey towards canonization. The present challenge is to have his remains examined at his home church in Peoria and the tussle with the church in New York has continuously delayed the process. All his followers can hope for is an eventual canonization.
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