Fulton Sheen’s Beatification Revives the Legacy of America’s First Television Preacher

A delayed ceremony is back on the calendar

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, the Catholic bishop who carried religious instruction from radio into the first great age of American television, is scheduled to be beatified September 24 in St. Louis. The Diocese of Peoria lists a 2 p.m. Mass for the ceremony.

The Vatican first approved the miracle supporting beatification in 2019, but a December ceremony was postponed after the Diocese of Rochester sought more time to examine Sheen's handling of a priest later associated with an abuse case. The renewed approval follows that delay; it should not be described as though no scrutiny occurred.

The recognized miracle involves James Fulton Engstrom, who was born without signs of life in 2010 and recovered after his family prayed for Sheen's intercession. Medical and church review led Catholic authorities to attribute the unexplained recovery to that intercession.

How Sheen helped invent religious television

Before television, Sheen spoke for two decades on NBC's “The Catholic Hour.” His television program “Life Is Worth Living” began in 1952 and placed a bishop, a blackboard and a forceful speaking style in competition with entertainment stars during prime time.

Sheen understood the camera as a direct address. He used timing, humor and plain metaphors to translate theology for a mass audience, winning an Emmy and helping establish a format later televangelists would expand—sometimes in very different theological and commercial directions.

His archive also includes books, lectures and institutional work. The television image remains dominant because it shows how a religious authority adapted to a new medium before cable, livestreaming or social platforms made that strategy ordinary.

Beatification is not canonization

In Catholic procedure, beatification allows a person to be called “Blessed” and permits limited public veneration. Canonization as a saint ordinarily requires recognition of another miracle occurring after beatification.

The ceremony therefore marks a major milestone, not the final step. It also creates an occasion to examine achievement and accountability together: Sheen's communications influence is historically clear, while the years of delay show why sainthood causes can include contested records and institutional trust.

Limits and what to watch

Beatification permits a defined form of Catholic veneration; it is not canonization, and it does not erase historical questions raised during the delayed process.

The next development to watch is the September 24 Mass in St. Louis and any later review of a second miracle required for canonization.