The late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen of New York 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 then authorized a decree recognizing a miracle through his intercession, clearing the path for his beatification.
The future Blessed Fulton Sheen was known for his dynamic preaching, especially on television and radio. He made Catholic teachings clear and meaningful to millions of Americans in their everyday lives and his TV show was a runaway hit.
Fulton J. Sheen 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.
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 program 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 was a scholar who made the theology of the Catholic Church come alive for ordinary Americans.
He died in New York at the age of 84, on December 9, 1979.
