Show me your feet. Are they wounded in service? This is a quote by the American Roman Catholic Archbishop Fulton Sheen. He was one of the most visible Catholics of 1950s whose preaching was famous in radio and television. In fact, he is regarded as the first televangelist who brought church to 30 million American living rooms.
Sheen was born in Illinois, Chicago in May 1895 as Fulton John Sheen. Later, the family relocated to Peoria where he was picked for altar boy and where he would later be ordained to a priest. For his basic education, he attended schools around Illinois. Later, he proceeded to Washington to study Philosophy at the Catholic University of America.
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.
Fulton began his media evangelism in 1930 through a Sunday night radio broadcast weekly. It was around the time for World War II which he associated with not a theological struggle. It was during this time that he conducted the first service ever to be conducted on new media that was radio and television. His television program became so popular that he won an Emmy Award.
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 faced his death as a result of a heart condition having undergone an open heart surgery in 1979. He was buried in a crypt in the cathedral he served in New York which is to blame for his delayed journey to his sainthood. Cause for canonization was begun in the year 2002 and was granted the Servant of God title. A decade later, the Vatican approved the journey towards his beatification by bestowing him the title of Venerable.
Before one is considered for beatification, they have to have performed a miracle. The event that is defined to be a miracle should be beyond the explanation of science or nature. In the case of Sheen, he is said to have healed a baby boy who was declared stillborn after missing a pulse for 61 minutes. The mother of infant is said to have interceded to Fulton. The infant survived with no impairments and the case proved beyond scientific explanation by a Vatican medical team.
As a result, beatification of Sheen is in its last stages which will earn him the title blessed. This is an important step in the journey of canonization although another miracle might be necessary. The challenge at the present moment is his remains which are in New York and are required for an examination in his home church. All his fans hope that Sheen is canonized eventually.
Sheen was born in Illinois, Chicago in May 1895 as Fulton John Sheen. Later, the family relocated to Peoria where he was picked for altar boy and where he would later be ordained to a priest. For his basic education, he attended schools around Illinois. Later, he proceeded to Washington to study Philosophy at the Catholic University of America.
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.
Fulton began his media evangelism in 1930 through a Sunday night radio broadcast weekly. It was around the time for World War II which he associated with not a theological struggle. It was during this time that he conducted the first service ever to be conducted on new media that was radio and television. His television program became so popular that he won an Emmy Award.
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 faced his death as a result of a heart condition having undergone an open heart surgery in 1979. He was buried in a crypt in the cathedral he served in New York which is to blame for his delayed journey to his sainthood. Cause for canonization was begun in the year 2002 and was granted the Servant of God title. A decade later, the Vatican approved the journey towards his beatification by bestowing him the title of Venerable.
Before one is considered for beatification, they have to have performed a miracle. The event that is defined to be a miracle should be beyond the explanation of science or nature. In the case of Sheen, he is said to have healed a baby boy who was declared stillborn after missing a pulse for 61 minutes. The mother of infant is said to have interceded to Fulton. The infant survived with no impairments and the case proved beyond scientific explanation by a Vatican medical team.
As a result, beatification of Sheen is in its last stages which will earn him the title blessed. This is an important step in the journey of canonization although another miracle might be necessary. The challenge at the present moment is his remains which are in New York and are required for an examination in his home church. All his fans hope that Sheen is canonized eventually.
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