One of the most recognizable Catholic voices of the 20th century is about to receive a new title.
Soon-to-be-blessed Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen will be beatified on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, at 2 p.m. Central at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, will preside at the Mass as the representative of Pope Leo XIV.
For Catholics familiar with Archbishop Sheen through his television programs, books, preaching or missionary leadership, the celebration marks the culmination of decades of prayer and investigation into his life and holiness.
It is also particularly significant for The Pontifical Mission Societies USA.
Archbishop Sheen served for 16 years as national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in the United States, one of the four societies that today make up The Pontifical Mission Societies. During those years, he helped awaken American Catholics to their responsibility for the Church’s missionary work around the world.
Here is what to know as the Church prepares for his beatification.
The Beatification Mass will take place Sept. 24 at 2 p.m. Central at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis.
Organizers selected the large indoor venue because of the number of pilgrims expected and its proximity to the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, where Archbishop Sheen was born, ordained a priest and first served in parish ministry.
The celebration will extend beyond the Mass itself.
On Sept. 24, the Dome will also host a Catholic expo, Eucharistic adoration and opportunities for confession. After the Beatification Mass, pilgrims will have an opportunity to venerate a relic of Archbishop Sheen.
Events are also planned in Peoria before and after the beatification, including opportunities to pray at Archbishop Sheen’s tomb and Masses of Thanksgiving following the ceremony.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle will preside over the Beatification Mass as Pope Leo XIV’s representative.
Cardinal Tagle serves as pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, making his role particularly fitting in light of Archbishop Sheen’s missionary legacy.
For 16 years, Archbishop Sheen led the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in the United States, helping raise awareness and support for missionaries and young Churches around the world.
His beatification therefore brings together two important dimensions of his life: the holiness of the priest and the missionary work to which he devoted so much of his ministry.
Beatification is an important step in the Catholic Church’s process of formally recognizing a person’s holiness.
The Church first examines the candidate’s life, virtues and writings. When the pope recognizes that the person lived a life of heroic virtue, the person receives the title Venerable.
For someone who was not a martyr, beatification ordinarily requires the recognition of a miracle attributed to the candidate’s intercession. Once beatified, the person receives the title Blessed and may receive limited public liturgical veneration in places or communities designated by the Church.
Archbishop Sheen was declared Venerable in 2012 after Pope Benedict XVI recognized his heroic virtues. Pope Francis authorized the recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession in 2019, clearing the way for beatification.
After the rite on Sept. 24, Catholics will be able to refer to him as Blessed Fulton J. Sheen.
The miracle recognized for Archbishop Sheen’s beatification involved James Fulton Engstrom, an Illinois boy who showed no signs of life after his birth in 2010.
His parents, Bonnie and Travis Engstrom, asked for Archbishop Sheen’s intercession as doctors and medical personnel worked to save their son.
James survived despite an extraordinarily prolonged absence of a detectable heartbeat and later developed without the severe neurological injuries physicians feared.
After extensive medical and theological investigation, the Vatican concluded that the recovery could not be explained scientifically and approved it as a miracle attributed to Archbishop Sheen’s intercession.
Pope Francis authorized the decree recognizing the miracle in 2019.
The Engstrom family’s story deserves more space than a few paragraphs can provide, so we will explore the miracle behind Archbishop Sheen’s beatification in a separate article, including Bonnie Engstrom’s account of the 61 minutes that changed their family’s life.
Archbishop Sheen is often remembered first as the television bishop who brought Catholic teaching into millions of American homes.
But his work for the missions occupied one of the most important periods of his priesthood.
As national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith from 1950 to 1966, Bishop Sheen helped Catholics in the United States understand that the Church was larger than their parish, diocese or country.
He used radio, television, preaching and print to bring the lives of missionaries and the needs of young Churches into American homes. He founded MISSION Magazine, promoted the World Mission Rosary and encouraged Catholics to offer both prayer and material sacrifice for the spread of the Gospel.
That legacy remains alive today through The Pontifical Mission Societies USA.
The timing of his beatification is especially meaningful: it comes during the 100th anniversary year of World Mission Sunday, the annual worldwide day of prayer and giving for the missions that Bishop Sheen spent years promoting.
Pope Leo XIV himself highlighted that connection in June, calling it “providential” that Archbishop Sheen would be beatified this year and recalling him as a “light of faith, hope, and love” whose evangelization reached even the future pope while he was growing up.
Tickets for the Sept. 24 Beatification Mass are currently available through the official beatification organizers. The ticket also provides access to the expo, Eucharistic adoration, confession and other public events at America’s Center that day.
For Catholics unable to travel to St. Louis, organizers have confirmed that the Beatification Mass will be available by television broadcast and online livestream, with additional broadcast details expected as the date approaches.
Pilgrims may also participate in events in Peoria before and after the beatification, including visits to Archbishop Sheen’s tomb and Masses of Thanksgiving.
Beatification is not the end of the canonization process.
For a Blessed who was not a martyr, canonization ordinarily requires another miracle attributed to his or her intercession — one that occurs after beatification and is subsequently investigated and approved by the Church. Canonization would allow Archbishop Sheen to be venerated as a saint throughout the universal Church.
But the meaning of Sept. 24 is larger than a change of title.
Beatification proposes Archbishop Sheen to the faithful as a Christian whose life is worthy of imitation and whose intercession may be sought in prayer.
For those who knew him as “God’s microphone,” that invitation may point beyond the television studio and toward the source of everything he accomplished: his priesthood, his daily Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament and his conviction that every gift God gives a person is meant ultimately to help bring others to Christ.
The beatification is an invitation not only to celebrate Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, but to rediscover the missionary faith that shaped his life.
Learn more about his life and missionary legacy, pray for the Church’s missions and follow The Pontifical Mission Societies USA on your preferred social media platform as @tpms_usa as we prepare for this historic celebration.
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