Archbishop Fulton Sheen is one step closer to becoming a saint.
Following a beatification Mass Thursday in St. Louis, Missouri, Sheen will now be referred to as “Blessed” Fulton Sheen.
Sheen has a connection to Erie, dating back to 1936, when he visited Mercyhurst College, which was still a relatively new school at the time.
Bryan Colvin, Mercyhurst University archivist, said Sheen was already a well-known radio personality when he came to Erie.
“So at the time that he was here at Mercyhurst, he was a radio star and he was Msgr. Fulton Sheen at the time, and he was brought in because Mother Borgia Egan, who was the founder of the University, was very excited about teaching about the whole woman as she could tell, and she wanted to bring in outside people.”
After becoming a priest, Sheen became a well-known radio and television personality, using the media to spread the word of God.
“Archbishop Sheen, as we knew him, was a larger-than-life media personality,” said Father Michael Kesicki, pastor of St. Lawrence in Albion and chaplain at Gannon University. “He had an appeal to many. He wanted to hear the Gospel as it relates to culture.”
People were interested in listening to and watching Sheen regardless of their religious beliefs.
“He had a common style and there was a certain nobility to him and also a sense of speaking in a common language, so there was great appeal that you could listen to him, that he was talking right to you. He knew how to make use of the media and use it well to reach people, and that was his goal, not to be an entertainer, but to reach people.”
During his 1936 visit to Mercyhurst, Sheen spoke to about 200 students in the college chapel about topics that were relatable to the world at the time.
“When he came on March 30, 1936, he talked about how the world needed a sense of humor. He said at this time in history, the sense of humor was disappearing and that it was divine to have a sense of humor. He also stated a sense of humor brought God a smile,” Colvin said.
Sheen also discussed the state of the world during his visit to Erie.
“He also spoke in Erie City Council that same night about the fear and the impact of communism around the world and especially in the 1930s. He also commented about Hitler and Stalin and how temperatures needed to settle.”
Decades later, following his beatification, Sheen’s message continues to resonate.
“The presence of Christ in culture and what the Gospel brings to the whole world about what it means to be a human being and the dignity of the human being,” Father Kesicki said.
The next step in Sheen’s path to sainthood is confirmation of another miracle. Canonization is the final stage in the process of becoming a saint.
Now that Sheen has been beatified, Catholics can ask for his intercession, and additional virtues and miracles may be attributed to him as his cause for canonization continues.