Fulton Sheen Beatification Expected to Draw 50,000

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen is scheduled to be beatified at a Mass at St. Louis’s Dome at America’s Center, an event expected to draw roughly 50,000 Catholics and mark one of the final steps toward sainthood. The Catholic Church recognized a reported 2010 medical recovery involving James Fulton Engstrom, who was born without a pulse and revived after 61 minutes, as a miracle attributed to Sheen’s intercession. Church officials say a second verified miracle would be required for Sheen’s canonization as a saint. Sheen, who grew up near Peoria and was ordained there in 1919, became one of the most prominent American Catholic broadcasters of the 20th century, reaching millions through radio and television while promoting missionary work worldwide. Supporters traveling to the ceremony include parishioners from New York’s Church of St. Agnes, where Sheen spent his final years, as well as people who recall personal encounters and decades of devotion to him.