Emmy winner beats Lucille Ball

In nineteen fifty-three, Catholic bishop Fulton J. Sheen won an Emmy for Most Outstanding Personality, defeating Lucille Ball of I Love Lucy. Sheen quipped he owed it to his four writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

“I feel it is time I pay tribute to my four writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.”

Sheen's path to the priesthood

Fulton J. Sheen was born May eight, eighteen ninety-five, in El Paso, Illinois, and was ordained a priest in nineteen nineteen. He taught theology and philosophy at the Catholic University of America from nineteen twenty-six to nineteen fifty.

Radio and television evangelist

In nineteen thirty, Sheen began hosting The Catholic Hour on NBC Radio Network, reportedly drawing four million weekly listeners through national syndication. In nineteen fifty-one, he started his television show Life Is Worth Living.

Bishop appointments and influence

After serving in the Archdiocese of New York, Sheen was appointed Bishop of Rochester in nineteen sixty-six and named an archbishop in nineteen sixty-nine. His television show featured him scrawling theological concepts on a blackboard.

Beatification in St. Louis

Sheen's beatification Mass will take place Thursday in St. Louis' former NFL Stadium, the Dome at America's Center, presided over by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle. The event will be broadcast by EWTN and livestreamed by the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois.

One miracle away from sainthood

The Vatican found that Sheen lived a life of heroic virtue and that his intercession was responsible for a miracle. Beatification leaves him one miracle shy of sainthood. Organizers expect fifty thousand people to attend Thursday's Mass.

A boy born without a pulse

Bonnie Engstrom was pregnant with her son James Fulton in twenty ten when she began watching Sheen's shows on YouTube and prayed for his intercession. When James was born at home, he was completely limp and bluish-gray with no pulse.

One hour and one minute without heartbeat

As the midwife performed CPR, Engstrom's husband baptized James and her friend called nine one one. Days later, a neonatal doctor calculated James had been without a heartbeat for one hour and one minute. He survived and is now a healthy sixteen-year-old.

The Holy Hour connection

Engstrom believes Sheen's daily Holy Hour of prayer before the Eucharist aligned with James's survival. She said, "I think very much so that Bishop Sheen made a Holy Hour, and when that Holy Hour was over, that was when Jesus Christ brought James back to life."

“I think very much so that Bishop Sheen made a Holy Hour, and when that Holy Hour was over, that was when Jesus Christ brought James back to life.”

Vatican's rigorous verification process

The Vatican's meticulous investigation confirmed the miracle had no medical explanation and that Sheen was responsible. Engstrom said watching the process reassured her faith. James and his family will attend the beatification on Thursday.