Show me your hands. Do they have scars from giving? This is one of the most popular quotes from Archbishop Fulton Sheen, an American catholic bishop who is known for his television and radio preaching. Regarded as the first televangelist ever, his show was able to reach up to 30 million viewers.
In May 1895, Sheen was given birth to and named Fulton John Sheen in Illinois. The family later moved to Peoria where Fulton attended mass in a local church and in fact became an altar boy there. In the same church, he was ordained into priesthood years later. He went to schools around his home area for his basic education.
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.
Controversy was also part of era of Archbishop Fulton. In 1953, in his program he publicly denounced the leadership of Soviet which was led by Joseph Stalin. He dramatized the episode using the burial scene of Julius Caesar of the Shakespeare fame. He predicted doom to Stalin and other leaders of the Soviet saying that they would indeed face judgment. People were shocked when Stalin died in the same week as a result of stroke.
A cardiac condition claimed the life of Fulton in 1979. The remains were buried in a crypt in New York at St. Patricks cathedral where he served. In 2002, his cause for canonization was begun and resulted in servant of God title for him. Ten years later, his journey toward beatification was started by approval of the Vatican through granting him the title of Venerable.
To be considered for beatification, one has to have performed a miracle. The miracle needs to be something that nature or science cannot explain. For Archbishop Fulton, he was prayed to by the mother of an infant who had been declared still born after lack of a pulse for around one hour. The boy survived without any physical or mental problems. A team of Vatican medical experts have proved that this was indeed a miracle, since there was no medical explanation for it. The decision to give Sheen the title blessed is in the final stages.
The infant miracle has brought the Sheen beatification journey into its final stages conferring to him the title blessed. Coincidentally, this is an important journey towards canonization. The present challenge is to have his remains examined at his home church in Peoria and the tussle with the church in New York has continuously delayed the process. All his followers can hope for is an eventual canonization.
In May 1895, Sheen was given birth to and named Fulton John Sheen in Illinois. The family later moved to Peoria where Fulton attended mass in a local church and in fact became an altar boy there. In the same church, he was ordained into priesthood years later. He went to schools around his home area for his basic education.
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.
Controversy was also part of era of Archbishop Fulton. In 1953, in his program he publicly denounced the leadership of Soviet which was led by Joseph Stalin. He dramatized the episode using the burial scene of Julius Caesar of the Shakespeare fame. He predicted doom to Stalin and other leaders of the Soviet saying that they would indeed face judgment. People were shocked when Stalin died in the same week as a result of stroke.
A cardiac condition claimed the life of Fulton in 1979. The remains were buried in a crypt in New York at St. Patricks cathedral where he served. In 2002, his cause for canonization was begun and resulted in servant of God title for him. Ten years later, his journey toward beatification was started by approval of the Vatican through granting him the title of Venerable.
To be considered for beatification, one has to have performed a miracle. The miracle needs to be something that nature or science cannot explain. For Archbishop Fulton, he was prayed to by the mother of an infant who had been declared still born after lack of a pulse for around one hour. The boy survived without any physical or mental problems. A team of Vatican medical experts have proved that this was indeed a miracle, since there was no medical explanation for it. The decision to give Sheen the title blessed is in the final stages.
The infant miracle has brought the Sheen beatification journey into its final stages conferring to him the title blessed. Coincidentally, this is an important journey towards canonization. The present challenge is to have his remains examined at his home church in Peoria and the tussle with the church in New York has continuously delayed the process. All his followers can hope for is an eventual canonization.
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