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.
Sheen was born Fulton John Sheen in May 1895 in Illinois, Chicago. In Peoria, Illinois he served as an altar boy and years later he would be ordained into priesthood there. He attended local schools for his basic education then proceeded to Catholic University of America to further his studies in Philosophy.
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.
Media evangelism was begun by Fulton in 1930. His first program was a weekly radio broadcast on Sundays called Catholic Hour. This was during the era of World War II and he used this platform to condemn the war. In addition, the first ever mass to be conducted on mass media was conducted by him around this time. He was awarded an Emmy from the popularity of his television program among viewers.
Archbishop Fulton was not short of controversy. Probably one of his most remembered episodes was in 1953 when he denounced publicly the reign of Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union. Using the burial scene from the Shakespeare play of Julius Caesar, he predicted doom to Stalin and other Soviet leaders. Shocking enough, a few days later Stalin suffered a stroke which killed him within the same week.
Fulton died of cardiac diseases in 1979 after an open heart surgery. His remains were buried at St. Patricks cathedral in New York which has since been the cause of his delayed canonization. His cause for canonization began in 2002 where he earned the title Servant of God. In 2012, the Vatican began his path to beatification by recognizing the heroic virtue that has characterized the life of Sheen and therefore earned 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.
Another similar miracle is necessary for him to be canonized as a saint. The process of beatification and canonization of Sheen has however been stopped indefinitely. This is because his remains have to be transported to his home church in Peoria. It is the hope of all his fans that the man who brought Catholicism to the living rooms of so many American homes is eventually canonized.
Sheen was born Fulton John Sheen in May 1895 in Illinois, Chicago. In Peoria, Illinois he served as an altar boy and years later he would be ordained into priesthood there. He attended local schools for his basic education then proceeded to Catholic University of America to further his studies in Philosophy.
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.
Media evangelism was begun by Fulton in 1930. His first program was a weekly radio broadcast on Sundays called Catholic Hour. This was during the era of World War II and he used this platform to condemn the war. In addition, the first ever mass to be conducted on mass media was conducted by him around this time. He was awarded an Emmy from the popularity of his television program among viewers.
Archbishop Fulton was not short of controversy. Probably one of his most remembered episodes was in 1953 when he denounced publicly the reign of Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union. Using the burial scene from the Shakespeare play of Julius Caesar, he predicted doom to Stalin and other Soviet leaders. Shocking enough, a few days later Stalin suffered a stroke which killed him within the same week.
Fulton died of cardiac diseases in 1979 after an open heart surgery. His remains were buried at St. Patricks cathedral in New York which has since been the cause of his delayed canonization. His cause for canonization began in 2002 where he earned the title Servant of God. In 2012, the Vatican began his path to beatification by recognizing the heroic virtue that has characterized the life of Sheen and therefore earned 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.
Another similar miracle is necessary for him to be canonized as a saint. The process of beatification and canonization of Sheen has however been stopped indefinitely. This is because his remains have to be transported to his home church in Peoria. It is the hope of all his fans that the man who brought Catholicism to the living rooms of so many American homes is eventually canonized.
About the Author:
You can visit www.archbishopfultonsheen.com for more helpful information about The Life Of Archbishop Fulton Sheen.
No comments:
Post a Comment