Happy Birthday, Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen! A Prophet for Every Age
Updated: May 8
Today, May 8th, we celebrate the 131st birthday of one of the most remarkable souls American Catholicism has ever produced, the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.
Born Peter John Sheen in 1895 in El Paso, Illinois, to a farming family of modest means, no one could have predicted that this boy from the Illinois prairie would one day preach the Gospel to tens of millions of people, shape the faith of a generation, and be embraced by a Pope as "a loyal son of the Church."
But that is exactly what happened.
Scholar, Preacher, Evangelist
Sheen was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria on September 20, 1919, and from the very beginning it was clear he was different. In 1923, he became the first American ever to receive the prestigious Cardinal Mercier Prize for International Philosophy from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. He went on to teach theology and philosophy at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., while quietly becoming one of the most sought-after preachers in the country.
His reach exploded when he took to the airwaves. For twenty years, his radio program The Catholic Hour drew a national audience hungry for truth delivered with clarity and wit. Then came television and Life Is Worth Living, which ran from 1952 to 1957 and drew an audience of 30 million viewers a week. He won an Emmy Award, besting Edward R. Murrow, Lucille Ball, and Arthur Godfrey in the ratings for the title of Most Outstanding Television Personality. Accepting the award, Sheen famously quipped that he owed his success to his writers - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Beyond the broadcast booth, Sheen authored more than 60 books and guided countless souls to the Faith, including Clare Boothe Luce, Henry Ford II, and former Communist writer Louis Budenz. Pope Pius XII called him "a prophet of the times." He was not wrong.
Words That Still Cut to the Heart
What made Archbishop Sheen singular was his ability to speak eternal truths in language that landed like a thunderclap. He never softened the Gospel, he sharpened it.
"The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil."
"If you don't behave as you believe, you will end by believing as you behave."
"You must remember to love people and use things, rather than to love things and use people."
In an age drowning in noise and moral confusion, those words ring as true today as the day he spoke them.
A Saint in the Making
In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI declared Sheen the Venerable Servant of God. Now, the Church is preparing to take the next great step. On September 24, 2026, the Beatification Mass of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen will be celebrated at The Dome at America's Center in St. Louis, Missouri, a venue that once welcomed Pope John Paul II and more than 100,000 faithful.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime moment for Catholics across America.
If you love Archbishop Sheen, his witness, his words, and his tireless devotion to Christ then don't miss this opportunity. Plan your pilgrimage. Bring your family. Walk in the footsteps of a man who gave everything to lead souls to God.
All the details are at celebratesheen.com.
Happy birthday, Your Excellency. We are still listening.
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