Sheen is often referred to as one of the first televangelists.

          Fulton John Sheen, born Peter John Sheen (May 8, 1895 – December 9, 1979) was an American archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church known for his preaching and especially his work on television and radio. His cause for canonization for sainthood was officially opened in 2002, and so he is now referred to as a Servant of God.

          Sheen was born in El Paso, Illinois, the oldest of four sons of a farmer. Though he was known as Fulton, his mother's maiden name, he was baptized as Peter John Sheen. As an infant, Sheen contracted tuberculosis. After the family moved to nearby Peoria, Illinois, Sheen's first role in the Church was as an altar boy at St. Mary's Cathedral.

         Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria in 1919, Sheen quickly became a renowned theologian, earning the Cardinal Mercier Prize for International Philosophy in 1923. He went on to teach theology and philosophy as well as acting as a parish priest before being appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of New York in 1951. He held this position until 1966 when he was made the Bishop of Rochester. Sheen held this position for three years before resigning and being made the Archbishop of the Titular See of Newport, Wales.

          For 20 years he hosted the night-time radio program The Catholic Hour (1930-1950) before moving to television and presenting Life Is Worth Living (1951-1957). Sheen's final presenting role was on the syndicated The Fulton Sheen Program (1961-1968) with a format very similar to that of the earlier Life is Worth Living show. For this work, Sheen won an Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Television Personality. Starting in 2009, his shows were being re-broadcast on the EWTN and the Trinity Broadcasting Network's Church Channel cable networks. 

Education

          After earning high school valedictorian honors at Spalding Institute in Peoria in 1913, Sheen was educated at St. Viator College in Bourbonnais, Illinois.

          Sheen attended Saint Paul Seminary in Minnesota before his ordination on September 20, 1919, then followed that with further studies at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.. His youthful appearance was still evident on one occasion when a local priest asked Sheen to assist as altar boy during the celebration of the Mass.

          Sheen earned a doctorate in philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium in 1923.While there, he became the first American ever to win the Cardinal Mercier award for the best philosophical treatise.

Career

          Sheen then taught theology at St. Edmund's College, Ware in England. In 1926, the bishop of his hometown in Peoria asked him to take over St. Patrick's Parish. After eight months, Sheen returned to Catholic University in Washington, D.C., where he taught philosophy until 1950.

         He was consecrated a bishop on June 11, 1951, and served as an Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of New York from 1951 to 1965. The Principal Consecrator was the Discalced Carmelite Cardinal Adeodato Giovanni Piazza, the Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina e Poggio Mirteto and the Secretary of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation (what is today the the Congregation for Bishops); the Cardinal had previously served as the Cardinal Patriarch of Venice, Italy). The Principal Co-Consecrators were Archbishop Leone Giovanni Battista Nigris, the Titular Archbishop of Philippi and the Secretary of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (what is today the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples); and Archbishop Martin J. O'Connor, Titular Archbishop of Laodicea in Syria and President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications (O'Connor had been Rector of the Pontifical North American College).

Media career

Radio

          A popular instructor, Sheen wrote the first of 73 books in 1925, and in 1930 began a weekly Sunday night radio broadcast, The Catholic Hour. Two decades later, the broadcast had a weekly listening audience of four million people. Time referred to him in 1946 as "the golden-voiced Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen, U.S. Catholicism's famed proselytizer" and reported that his radio broadcast received 3,000–6,000 letters weekly from listeners. During the middle of this era, he conducted the first religious service broadcast on the new medium of television, putting in motion a new avenue for his religious pursuits.

Television

          In 1951 he began a weekly television program on the DuMont network, Life is Worth Living. The program consisted of Sheen simply speaking in front of a live audience, often speaking on the theology of current topics such as the evils of Communism or the usage of psychology, occasionally using a chalkboard. The show, scheduled for Tuesday nights at 8:00 p.m., was not expected to offer much of a challenge against ratings giants Milton Berle and Frank Sinatra, but surprisingly held its own, causing Berle to joke, "He uses old material, too." In 1952, Sheen won an Emmy Award for his efforts, accepting the acknowledgment by saying, "I feel it is time I pay tribute to my four writers—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John."

          One of his best-remembered presentations came in February 1953, when he forcefully denounced the Soviet regime of Joseph Stalin. Sheen gave a dramatic reading of the burial scene from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, substituting the names of Caesar, Cassius, Mark Antony, and Brutus with those of prominent Soviet leaders: Stalin, Lavrenty Beria, Georgy Malenkov, and Andrey Vyshinsky. He concluded by saying, "Stalin must one day meet his judgment." On March 5, 1953, the prophesy came true, and Joseph Stalin died.

          The show ran until 1957, drawing as many as 30 million people on a weekly basis. In 1958, he became national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, serving for eight years before being appointed Bishop of Rochester, New York, on October 26, 1966. Sheen also hosted a nationally-syndicated series, The Fulton Sheen Program, from 1961 to 1968 (first in black and white and then in color). The format of this series was essentially the same as Life is Worth Living.

Evangelization

Sheen was credited with helping convert a number of notable figures to the Catholic faith, including writer Heywood Broun, politician Clare Boothe Luce, American automaker Henry Ford II, American writer Louis F. Budenz, American theatrical designer Jo Mielziner, Austrian violinist and composer Fritz Kreisler, American spy Elizabeth Bentley, and American actress Virginia Mayo.

Later years

          While serving in Rochester, he created the Sheen Ecumenical Housing Foundation, which survives to this day. He also spent some of his energy on political activities, such as his denunciation of the Vietnam War in August 1967. On October 15, 1969, one month after celebrating his 50th anniversary as a priest, Sheen resigned from his position and was then appointed Archbishop of the Titular See of Newport (Wales) by Pope Paul VI.   The largely ceremonial position allowed Sheen to continue his extensive writing. Archbishop Sheen wrote 73 books and numerous articles and columns.

On October 2, 1979, two months before Sheen's death, Pope John Paul II visited St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City and embraced Sheen, saying, "You have written and spoken well of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are a loyal son of the Church."

Death and legacy

          Sheen died of heart disease on December 9, 1979. He is buried in the crypt of St. Patrick's Cathedral, near the deceased Archbishops of New York. The official repository of Sheen's papers, television programs, and other materials is at St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry in Rochester, New York.

         The Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation was formed in 1998 to make known the life of the archbishop. The foundation approached Cardinal John O'Connor of the Archdiocese of New York for permission to commence the process of for cause, which is now under the authority of the Diocese of Peoria.

          In 2002, Sheen's Cause for Canonization as a saint was officially opened, and so he is now referred to as a Servant of God.

          On February 2, 2008, the archives of Archbishop Sheen were sealed at a ceremony during a special Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Peoria, Illinois, where the diocese is sponsoring his canonization.

          In 2009, the diocesan phase of the investigation came to an end, and the records were sent to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican in Rome for further investigation by a panel of prelates, other members, and consultors of the congregation. They will ultimately give a report and recommendation to the Congregation's Pro-Prefect, Archbishop Angelo Amato, who will forward his recommendations with their report to Pope Benedict XVI for a final decision as to whether he has lived the theological and ecclesiastical virtues. Then, he would be called "Venerable". If an authentic miracle were then successfully attributed to him through prayer, he would be beatified and another would be needed for his canonization. The Vatican and the Sheen Foundation, as part of their investigation, would like to see and are currently arranging a coordinated world offering of Masses for his cause so as to know that enthusiasm for his cause (and thus, his example) is indeed a global, not just a Western, phenomenon.

          A commemmorative mass was held by Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Wednesday, December 9, 2009, to mark the 30th anniversary of his death. Cardinals and bishops from around the world concelebrated the Mass, including Bishop Daniel R. Jenky of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria.

         Joseph Campanella introduces the re-runs of Sheen's various programs that are aired on EWTN. Reruns are also aired on Trinity Broadcasting Network. In addition to his television appearances, Archbishop Sheen can also be heard on Relevant Radio.

Actor Martin Sheen, whose birthname is Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez, adopted his stage name early in his career, in honor of Fulton J. Sheen, a popular religious figure on television during the 1950s, hose radio broadcasts he admired since childhood.

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