American Saints: Fulton Sheen

Ven. Fulton Sheen

As a continuation of our series on American saints and in anticipation of the upcoming beatification of Venerable Fulton Sheen, we would like to highlight his life as a modern American saint. ​

Peter Sheen was born in El Paso, IL on May 8, 1895 to Newton Sheen and Delia (Fulton) Sheen. When Peter was a baby, his family’s relatives and acquaintances took to calling him “Fulton’s boy” so often that his grandfather registered him for school as “Fulton Sheen” and the name stayed with him for the rest of his life. After receiving the sacrament of Confirmation and taking the name John, he became Fulton J. Sheen. ​

After completing his doctorate degree, Fr. Sheen taught philosophy courses but is most famous for his media broadcasts on radio and television. His program, The Catholic Hour, was heard by millions of listeners for more than twenty years. Shortly after his episcopal ordination, Bp. Sheen began hosting a television program called Life is Worth Living ​and reached even greater numbers of Americans on a weekly basis. His message was simple: Christ and the cross. Drawing on the Gospels, Bp. Sheen spoke about angels, sin, human nature, the Trinity, and other topics that drew countless Americans to conversion. Although hosting a television program meant receiving a significant amount of money, Bp. Sheen sent these funds to the world missions through the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. ​

Bp. Sheen encouraged his viewers to pray the rosary for the missions and came up with the “world mission rosary” which he shared on Life is Worth Living. Each decade of the rosary is a different color and corresponds to a section of the world for which one can offer prayers. Green is for the verdant plains of Africa; Blue is for Oceania and the Pacific Islands; White is for Europe, the color the Holy Father wears; Red is for the blood of the American martyrs; Yellow is for Asia and the eastern rising sun. ​

In preparation for Venerable Fulton Sheen’s upcoming Beatification this month, our Sisters have been making 1,000 world mission rosaries to be distributed at the Beatification ceremony in St. Louis, MO. We joined women religious across the nation in an effort to make 75,000 rosaries for the pilgrims who will attend the beautiful event. Although none of our Sisters will be able to make the trip to the Midwest, we will be praying for the many who do. May those who attend experience deeper conversion of heart through the intercession of Blessed Fulton Sheen and Our Blessed Mother!

In case you wanted to know what a 1000 rosaries looks like!