Last Thursday, Archbishop Fulton Sheen was declared blessed at a special Mass in St. Louis, and Viatorians joined the celebration and shared our community’s part in Blessed Fulton’s life.
Fr. Jason and Fr. John concelebrated Mass, where many of the priests wore chasubles embroidered with “JMJ” (Jesus, Mary, and Joseph) in the handwriting of Blessed Fulton.
Blessed Fulton was born in El Paso, IL, and grew up in Peoria, IL. For college, he headed east to St. Viator College in Bourbonnais, IL. As a student there, he had Viatorians as his teachers and as pastors at Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, the Viatorian parish next to the campus (now Olivet Nazarene University). His graduating class, the Class of 1917, even gifted a sundial to MBVM that is still in the courtyard.
“It’s pretty special that he studied at St. Viator College and was educated by Viatorians, so we should come forward to celebrate our place in his story,” Fr. Jason Nesbit, CSV, pastor of MBVM Church, said. “We were in his life for a bit, and he was in ours. It’s a reminder that God can be doing something extraordinary amid ordinary life, and we may not recognize it at the time.”
In his autobiography, Treasure in Clay, Blessed Fulton recounts a return visit to St. Viator College after graduating. He went to see Fr. William Bergin, CSV, who he called “my dear friend,” to ask his opinion about a post-graduate, full-ride scholarship offer he received. In reply, Fr. Bergin said, “Tear up the scholarship; go to the seminary. That is what the Lord wants you to do. And if you do it, trusting in Him, you will receive a far better education.”
So, he went on to St. Paul Seminary in Minnesota, ordination as a priest of the Diocese of Peoria, and further graduate studies. He was later made a bishop, serving New York City and Rochester, NY, and the Viatorians gifted him an episcopal ring that was cast from the Viatorian ring of the late Fr. John O’Mahoney, CSV, one of his favorite St. Viator College professors.
Blessed Fulton described three Viatorians as his “greatest inspirations,” left to right: Fr. William Bergin, CSV, Fr. John WR Maguire, CSV, and Fr. John O’Mahoney, CSV.
Blessed Fulton became most well-known for his broadcast show, Life Is Worth Living, in which he taught the Catholic faith on television. In Treasure in Clay, he refers back to Fr. Bergin, Fr. O’Mahoney, and Fr. John WR Maguire, CSV, as “my greatest inspirations.”
The beatification Mass for Archbishop Fulton Sheen was held last Thursday at The Dome at America’s Center, a stadium and conference center in St. Louis. Fr. Jason and Fr. John Eustice, CSV, took part – both as concelebrants and confessors as well as to share the Viatorian Community and our part in Blessed Fulton’s life through our exhibit table.
Fr. John and Fr. Jason attended Vespers at the Basilica Cathedral, represented our community with an exhibit table in the festival hall, and concelebrated Mass for the beatification.
Among the many thousands in attendance, Fr. Jason encountered people he knew from growing up near St. Louis, people with Viatorian connections through ministries all around Illinois, and priest-friends from the dioceses of Chicago, Joliet, Peoria, and his home diocese of Springfield (IL). “It was definitely an experience of the closeness of our Church even among a big crowd of people. The whole day brought the Church together so well,” Fr. Jason said. “When you walked into the stadium and saw people from floor to ceiling, all in prayerful quiet, it really looked like a ‘cloud of witnesses’ from the floor.”
Blessed Fulton died in 1979, was declared venerable in 2012, and then was beatified this year. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, former Archbishop of Manila, Philippines, who now serves in the Vatican, celebrated Mass and made the declaration as delegate of Pope Leo XIV.
Blessed Fulton, pray for us!
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Left: Blessed Fulton visited Cathedral High School, a Viatorian school in Springfield, IL, in 1962. Right: Ten years earlier, he sent a thank you note to Fr. John Brown, CSV, Provincial Superior, for the gift of an episcopal ring made of the Viatorian ring of the late Fr. John O’Mahoney, CSV.