The late American Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen will be beatified on September 24, 2026, in St. Louis, Missouri, according to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.
After his heroic virtue was recognized, Fulton Sheen was declared Venerable in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI. In 2019, Pope Francis authorized a decree recognizing a miracle through his intercession, clearing the path for his beatification.
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
The future Blessed Fulton Sheen was known for his dynamic preaching, especially on television and radio.
He served as the Bishop of Rochester, New York, from 1951 to 1969, and was then appointed the Titular Archbishop of Newport.
Born into an Irish family in El Paso, Illinois, on May 8, 1895, Archbishop Sheen discovered his call to the priesthood at the age of 24 and was ordained a priest in 1919.
Pope John Paul II, with Archbishop Sheen, during the latter’s visit to Rome
He pursued higher studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington (US), the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.
In 1930, he began participating in the Sunday radio programme entitled “The Catholic Hour,” which reached an estimated four million listeners at the height of its popularity.
In 1951, he began hosting a weekly television series, “Life is Worth Living,” on matters of faith that attracted some 30 million viewers.
He died in New York at the age of 84, on December 9, 1979.
