On September 24, the Catholic Church in the United States celebrated a historic event: the beatification of the first U.S.-born bishop, Fulton J. Sheen. The ceremony was held in The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis and was attended by more than 60,000 faithful, 1,200 religious, 850 seminarians, 1,000 priests, and more than 100 bishops and cardinals.
The miracle that led to the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen was the miraculous healing of James Fulton Engstrom, a stillborn baby with no respiration or heartbeat. James was revived 61 minutes after his birth and today, 16 years later, is a healthy young man who participated in Archbishop Sheen’s beatification liturgy, presenting with his family an ornate reliquary to Luis Cardinal Tagle, Pope Leo’s personal representative and liturgy celebrant.
While the healing of James Fulton Engstrom was not a Eucharistic miracle per se, his mother Bonnie related that it does point to the power of Jesus in the Eucharist. Bonnie noted that the healing took place at the 61st minute following James’s birth. We know that holy hours are 60 minutes of prayer before the Eucharist. Bonnie conjectured that Blessed Archbishop Sheen, who faithfully made a daily hour from his ordination in 1919 until his passing on December 9, 1979, had spent a holy hour in heaven, interceding before Jesus for James’ healing. Once this holy hour was completed, James was restored to perfect health.
The life of Blessed Archbishop Fulton Sheen also points to the strength that our clergy can obtain through daily prayer before Jesus in the Eucharist, strength to sustain them in the trials they face in today's world. Archbishop Sheen once said that more souls could be gained before the Blessed Sacrament than through the pulpit. Without our priests there would be no Eucharist. What made Archbishop Sheen extraordinary was not his intelligence but his holiness, a holiness gained through a personal relationship with Jesus that developed through daily adoration. Blessed Archbishop Fulton Sheen, pray for us!
The road to Sainthood is filled with many travelers. A young man in Scotland who passed away in 2011 at the age of 17 from a congenital heart condition affecting young athletes called Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome may be Scotland’s first millennial Saint. The cause for canonization of Joe Wilson was officially opened last November. Despite his youth, Joe’s ultimate goal was to strive for holiness. His personal journal, which he began at the age of 14, details the depth of his spiritual journey. Before Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic visit to Scotland in 2010, Joe intensified his prayers for the Holy Father and for the success of the visit. An integral part of his prayer life was always the Eucharist, which he noted was the closest we can get to God on earth. Joe’s life is truly inspiring a new generation of Scottish youth.
The lives of both Archbishop Sheen and Joe Wilson could not have been more different. Yet, both lived their lives well. Archbishop Sheen and Joe point to the importance of the Eucharist in helping us to be the person God needs us to be. Most of us are not called to do great things, but as St. Teresa of Calcutta reminds us, we are all called to do little things with great love. Jesus shares His Life with us in the Eucharist. Can we share ours with others through our smiles, our availability, our kindnesses, our prayer, our tears, our walking the path God has chosen for us?
Sister M. Marcella Louise Wallowicz CSFN
