<\/span>
\n <\/button><\/p>\n\u201cHe was probably the best and, in many ways, the first televangelist in the United States,\u201d said Monsignor Jason Gray, executive director of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation, which advocates for his sainthood.<\/p>\n
Sheen\u2019s devotees from far beyond Peoria are also hoping to attend the beatification.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the TV saint,\u201d said Patricia Stephen of Edmonton, Alberta, on a July visit to Sheen\u2019s tomb with her husband. \u201cI\u2019ve heard about him since I was a young kid. His message is very relevant to today.\u201d<\/p>\n
The foundation and the diocese are working on a major, high-tech expansion of the Sheen museum, which already displays his books, holy objects and other memorabilia.<\/p>\n
\u201cSheen plays in Peoria!\u201d proclaims a foundation newsletter headline encouraging pilgrims to visit. It\u2019s a takeoff on the old expression, \u201cWill it play in Peoria?,\u201d which locals trace to the city\u2019s reputed role as a Middle America proving ground on the vaudeville circuit.<\/p>\n
John Kelly, a city councilor who recalls how his parents admired Sheen, says his beatification demonstrates the potential for anyone to become holy. \u201cBeing a hometown boy, he\u2019s a regular guy. He didn\u2019t walk on water,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n
Sheen\u2019s prayers sought during a childbirth crisis<\/h2>\n
Engstrom knew little about Sheen as she grew up in the same Central Illinois region. That changed while she was pregnant with James, the third of her eight children.<\/p>\n
She discovered online videos of Sheen\u2019s broadcasts and began asking for his prayers during her pregnancy \u2014 in keeping with Catholics\u2019 practice of seeking the intercession of those they believe are in heaven.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was kind of the beginning of a beautiful relationship,\u201d Engstrom recalled.<\/p>\n
Her prayers became urgent on Sept. 16, 2010, when Engstrom gave birth to James at her home with the help of a midwife.<\/p>\n
The baby was born without a pulse. Attendants quickly began chest compressions, and he was rushed to a Peoria hospital. <\/p>\n
Dr. Juanita Aguila-Corrales, a specialist in neonatal perinatal medicine, was on call and hurried there as resuscitation efforts continued for some time.<\/p>\n
They prepared to record the time of death but then detected a faint heart tone, she said. The heart began beating normally. The baby was put in therapeutic hypothermia, which helps prevent damage from extended oxygen loss, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a miracle he survived without major setbacks,\u201d said Aguila-Corrales, a Catholic.<\/p>\n
Engstrom waited for James to successfully reach various developmental milestones before calling the Sheen Foundation, triggering the lengthy, formal inquiry that prompted the church to call his survival miraculous.<\/p>\n
\u201cI attribute the miracle to Jesus Christ,\u201d Engstrom said. \u201cBut I firmly believe that Jesus allowed Fulton Sheen\u2019s prayers and presence to play an integral part in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
James enjoys basketball, bike rides and studying meteorological reports. He also remains devoted to Sheen. \u201cHe\u2019s my protector,\u201d the teen told Catholic media.<\/p>\n
Sainthood recognizes a \u201cheroic witness of faith,\u201d Peoria Bishop Louis Tylka said. The church typically requires authentication of one miracle for beatification \u2014 such as what it deems a medically unexplainable cure attributed to prayers to the candidate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have five potential miracles to investigate\u201d for a second one attributable to Sheen, which would qualify him for sainthood, the bishop said.<\/p>\n
A long road to the beatification ceremony<\/h2>\n
Sheen was born in 1895 in the small town of El Paso, Illinois, and raised in Peoria. After seminary, ordination and a doctorate in philosophy, he had a short pastorate in Peoria before becoming a professor at The Catholic University of America in Washington.<\/p>\n
He became known both for his academic lectures and his plainspoken addresses from the pulpit and the studio, first on radio and then on TV.<\/p>\n
Sheen appeared in a Time magazine cover article. He guided celebrities and others converting to Catholicism.<\/p>\n
He met with popes and spoke at the reformist Second Vatican Council. He railed against communism, though he opposed the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n
Sheen raised funds and traveled the world on behalf of Catholic missions. He served as a bishop in New York state, retiring as an archbishop. After his death at 84, he was buried at St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral in New York until his niece won a court battle in 2019 to move his body to Peoria\u2019s Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception. <\/p>\n
Pilgrims today place crucifixes and other items on his marble tomb, giving them status as relics.<\/p>\n
Although Pope Francis confirmed the Engstrom case as a miracle attributed to Sheen\u2019s intercession, the Vatican postponed a scheduled 2019 beatification ceremony.<\/p>\n
The Diocese of Rochester<\/a><\/span> \u2014 which Sheen led in the late 1960s \u2014 requested the delay due to legal investigations into the oversight of priests accused of sexual abuse across New York state.<\/p>\nChurch officials later concluded that Sheen\u2019s record gave no cause for further delay, and plans for the ceremony resumed.<\/p>\n
The Engstroms have found an informal community of those who believe they\u2019ve also experienced Sheen\u2019s miraculous interventions, even if the church hasn\u2019t formally designated them as such.<\/p>\n
Their new friends include Joe and Lizzy Taggart of Bloomington, Illinois.<\/p>\n
After being told it was \u201cnearly impossible\u201d medically for Lizzy to conceive and carry a child to term, Joe said he prayed before a crucifix: \u201cFulton Sheen, if you\u2019re up there, we could really use a miracle right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soon afterward, Lizzy conceived their oldest child \u2014 named Fulton, now a healthy 8-year-old boy.<\/p>\n
The Taggarts firmly believe they\u2019re not alone in experiencing a miracle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hoping to meet some more Fultons when we go down to the beatification,\u201d Joe Taggart said.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP videojournalist Jessie Wardarski contributed.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP\u2019s collaboration<\/a><\/span> with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nuns pray at the tomb of Archbishop Fulton Sheen at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Peoria, Ill., on July 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jessie Wardarski) 2026-09-02T11:02:36Z PEORIA, Ill. (AP) \u2014 Bonnie Engstrom believes a long-deceased TV priest helped save her son\u2019s life after he was born in 2010 without a pulse.… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","neve_meta_reading_time":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2100\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}