After a nearly seven-year delay, venue changes and a legal battle over where his body should rest, Archbishop Fulton Sheen was finally beatified on September 24 in a Mass celebrated in St Louis, Missouri.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, representing Pope Leo XIV, pronounced the beatification formula in Latin, and a new image of the now-Blessed Fulton Sheen was unveiled at the Mass. At the same time, the image was unveiled at his tomb at the Cathedral of St Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Peoria, Illinois.
His feast day will be December 9, the anniversary of his death.
In his homily, Cardinal Tagle reread part of the apostolic letter from Pope Leo XIV in English, which “describes the archbishop as a tireless preacher of the Gospel, through the modern means of communication, and a diligent shepherd, animated by missionary zeal”.
“What a description,” said Cardinal Tagle.
Blessed Sheen was both an evangeliser and a “missionary shepherd” during his life, said Cardinal Tagle.
“But some of us might be wondering: what is blessed or blessed or fortunate, or happy, about proclaiming the Gospel and going on mission?”
Two aspects of Blessed Sheen’s blessedness, said Cardinal Tagle, were his communion with Jesus and his communion with persons and peoples.
Communion with Jesus, explained Cardinal Tagle, “is the root of blessedness.
“As the Gospel clearly states, the risen Lord chooses and sends His friends to proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Blessed are you to be seen, chosen, and sent by the Lord himself,” he said.
Blessed Sheen once met with Pope Pius XII, who asked him “how many conversions he could claim” through his evangelisation work and media presence, recounted Cardinal Tagle. His answer was emblematic of a person who has a true communion with Jesus Christ.
“He answered the pope, and I quote, ‘I really have not counted – in order to not have the temptation to believe that they were mine.’ Then he added, and I quote, ‘simply as a porter, who is sometimes able to lead people to the open door of the House of God. I have had some success as a porter.’”
The second aspect of Blessed Sheen’s blessedness is how he was “blessed by the communion with persons and peoples, especially the poor and the vulnerable. This is communion in the name of Jesus Christ.”
“To use preaching as an excuse to avoid concrete persons and to be blind to God’s action in them, is not mission,” said Cardinal Tagle.
He continued: “It is not blessedness. Blessed are you, when like St Paul, you count yourself as the people’s slave – servant, for the sake of Jesus. To dominate over others, and to make your importance felt is not mission. It is not blessedness. Blessed are you, when you count yourself as an urban vessel, so that the power may be of God, and not from you, as St Paul says.”
Thursday’s beatification was the culmination of more than a quarter of a century of work, prayers and even a legal battle between two dioceses.
Blessed Sheen’s cause for canonisation was officially opened in 2002 by the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois. He became known as “Servant of God” at that time. A decade later, on June 28, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI announced Sheen would be declared “Venerable” due to the “heroic virtue” of his life.
In 2014, a miracle attributed to Sheen’s intercession was approved by medical experts. Beatification seemed imminent.
And then, the cause was suspended.
Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria made this announcement on September 3, 2014, saying that the cause could not move forward due to a legal dispute between the Diocese of Peoria and the Archdiocese of New York, where Sheen was an auxiliary bishop from 1951-1966.
Sheen’s body was entombed in the crypt at St Patrick’s Cathedral after his death in 1979, in accordance with his wishes in his will. His closest living relative, Joan Sheen Cunningham, wished for his remains to be interred at the Cathedral of St Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Peoria.
Five years later, in June 2019, following the New York State Court of Appeals refusing to hear another appeal, Blessed Sheen’s remains were transported and re-interred in Peoria, where they remain to this day.
The cause was reopened, and on July 6, 2019, the miracle attributed to Sheen’s intervention was officially approved by Pope Francis. On November 18, the date for the beatification was announced as December 21, 2019, at the Cathedral of St Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Peoria.
It was not to be. On December 3, the Diocese of Peoria announced that, at the request of several bishops, the beatification would be delayed indefinitely.
In the days following the delay, it was revealed that Bishop Salvatore Matano, who at the time was the bishop of Rochester, New York, had been the one to request the delay. Bishop Matano was concerned that Archbishop Sheen, who led the Rochester diocese from 1966 to 1969, could be named in a forthcoming report from the New York state attorney general.
Archbishop Sheen was not accused of any wrongdoing or cover-up, but there was silence from the Vatican on a potential rescheduling. In September 2025, Dr Peter Howard, founder and president of the Fulton Sheen Movement and the Fulton Sheen Institute, delivered a petition to the Vatican signed by 14,000 people from 99 countries, requesting that the Mass be rescheduled.
On February 9, 2026, the Diocese of Peoria announced that the beatification Mass would be held on September 24 at The Dome at America’s Center in St Louis, Missouri. This venue is about 170 miles south of Peoria’s cathedral, but has a capacity of between 40,000 and 67,000 people, depending on the configuration and event. An estimated 50,000 people were present on Thursday.
Conversely, the Cathedral of St Mary of the Immaculate Conception seats fewer than 2,000 people.
This was the fifth beatification to occur on US soil, and the first of an American-born bishop.
