ST. LOUIS, Mo. — For the many U.S. Catholics who already consider mass-media evangelist Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen a saint, the fact that a date has now finally been set for his beatification — a month after his home diocese announced that no further bureaucratic obstacles stood in the way of doing so — is a highly welcome development, but not unexpected.  

Perhaps more surprising was the news that the beatification will take place not in the relatively small central Illinois city of Peoria, where Sheen (1895-1979) grew up and where his mortal remains lie, but rather here, in the “Rome of the West" — about two and a half hours from Peoria by car.  

St. Louis, a city with centuries of Catholic history, once hosted a 1953 Catholic conference led by Sheen — then the national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies — that attracted 270,000 people.  

For Catholics who live in St. Louis with devotions to Sheen, it’s an unexpected blessing and pleasure to know that they won’t have to travel far to attend his beatification. 

Simon Homer Ongsioco, 24, a graduate student in pastoral theology at the Augustine Institute in St. Louis, said Sheen strongly influenced his life and career path. 

A graduate of St. John Paul the Great Catholic University in California, Ongsioco pursued a career in film in part because of Sheen’s example of using mass media to spread Christ’s truth. He had first encountered Sheen when he stumbled on YouTube recordings of his TV shows in 2019, and was excited for Sheen's then-apparently imminent beatification. Like many devotees, he was disappointed at the subsequent delays.  

Ongsioco is a true Sheen superfan; in an effort to drum up devotion among his fellow young people, Ongsioco passed out Fulton Sheen prayer cards at World Youth Day that had been touched to the archbishop’s tomb — even managing to hand one to Cardinal Luis Tagle, who is now set to preach Sheen's beatification Mass on behalf of Pope Leo XIV.  

Ongsioco said he considers it a “full circle moment” that Sheen is set to be beatified in St. Louis, a place that, despite not being his hometown, has in many ways nurtured the strong faith Ongsioco has today.  

"We knew he was going to be 'blessed,' it was just a matter of when, and we've just been waiting for so long," Ongsioco said. "And just to hear the news from the Diocese of Peoria, that was just ecstatic joy, honestly. I've been praying for this for a long time." 

The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints announced Sheen’s beatification on March 25. Beyond the date, Sept. 24, and the location — The Dome at America’s Center in downtown St. Louis — logistical information is still forthcoming. The Diocese of Peoria says that information, including details about tickets and attendance and preparing spiritually for the beatification, will be shared later at celebratesheen.com.  

Devotees across the country expressed excitement and appreciation not only that his beatification is happening at last, but also that it will take place at an indoor venue large enough to easily accommodate the thousands of devotees expected to attend. 

Time To Get Ready 

Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria summed up the reasons St. Louis was chosen for the beatification as boiling down to “availability, being indoors, and the close proximity” to Sheen’s more rural home diocese, which will nevertheless be hosting a number of other celebratory events. 

Though Sheen never had a formal assignment here, St. Louis has in recent years — as a major city roughly the same distance from Peoria as Chicago — served as a starting point for many pilgrims arriving from various parts of the country to visit Sheen’s tomb.    

The Archdiocese of St. Louis, celebrating its bicentennial this year, has long been a locus of Catholic life in the Midwest, having been founded primarily by the French and boasting many striking Catholic Churches that historically have served the city’s substantial Irish, German, and African-American Catholic communities. The archdiocese in 2025 served nearly 450,000 Catholics out of a total population of 2.25 million — a Catholic population mirroring the country as a whole, at about 20%.  

Several canonized saints, including St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, have connections to the Archdiocese of St. Louis — as does Pope Leo XIV, who had one of his first assignments at a former parish here. But as reported by the St. Louis Review, Sheen’s will be the first beatification or canonization ever to take place in the archdiocese.  

Like many major U.S. archdioceses have done in recent years, St. Louis launched a major restructuring plan beginning in 2023 that, in response to declining attendance and a looming priest shortage, closed or merged many parishes. The far-reaching nature of the process, now almost entirely completed, stirred discontent and protest among some of the faithful most affected by the changes. Despite the recent difficulties, St. Louis continues to be a hub for Catholics in the region, and saw massive participation in 2024’s National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which passed directly through the city.  

The choice of venue for the beatification — The Dome at America’s Center, a former NFL football stadium attached to the city’s downtown convention center — may seem at first to be a purely pragmatic one. The location, however, actually boasts a notable Catholic history.  

St. John Paul II celebrated Mass at the stadium in Jan. 1999 with some 100,000 Catholics during a brief but fondly remembered visit to the city. A quarter-century later, in 2023 and again in 2024, more than 20,000 young people packed into the stadium for the SEEK conference, the flagship gathering of the Catholic evangelization ministry FOCUS.  

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis — consecrated in 1926 and considered by some one of the most beautiful Catholic churches in the country — is about 12 minutes from the stadium by car and is sure to be a well-visited landmark during the beatification celebrations. Other notable Catholic sites in the city include the Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France, also called the “Old Cathedral,” which is located on the Mississippi River on the grounds of the St. Louis Arch; St. Alphonsus Liguori “Rock” Church, a historic African-American parish where Venerable Augustus Tolton once celebrated Mass; and the Shrine of St. Joseph, which is located downtown and has a history of miracles.  

Brian Miller, who formerly directed the St. Louis archdiocese’ evangelization office and now serves as director of development for Amazing Parish, told the Register that he considers Sheen’s call for a renewed focus on evangelization prophetic, led in a special way by the laity. He said he hopes Sheen’s example and message will continuing bearing much fruit in the Church, in St. Louis and beyond.  

“In particular, I hope by having his canonization in St. Louis it will inspire a generation of Catholics for creativity in bringing the good news to as many people as possible,” Miller said. 

Devotees Overjoyed 

Sheen’s beatification was originally scheduled for Dec. 2019 before the Vatican postponed it for reasons that remain opaque. 

Bonnie Engstrom, the Peoria mother whose son James Fulton was miraculously healed through Sheen’s intercession in 2010, said their family is “excited to have a date on the calendar” after waiting seven years since the Vatican formally approved their miracle and cleared the way for Sheen’s beatification.  

“We look forward to attending the Mass and celebrating Bishop Sheen's beatification with family, friends, and the faithful. God is good!” Engstrom told the Register.  

Msgr. Hilary Franco, a former priest-secretary of Sheen’s, said he always anticipated this beatification, noting that daily life with the archbishop was one of encountering “a saint in the true sense of the word.” He recalls realizing that many of the insights shared during lunchtime conversation by the prophetic Sheen eventually became, to his surprise, part of the teaching of the Second Vatican Council.  

“To me, he was a saint while he was alive and I was working with him. So naturally, I expected the Church to say this officially,” the priest told the Register.  

Peter Howard, founder of the Fulton Sheen Movement, called the upcoming beatification of the American Sheen “enormous for the Church” and an appropriate way to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.  

As a perennial good example for both clergy and laity — especially in the strong example Sheen set of devotion to Christ by way of a daily Holy Hour — Howard said he thinks “Sheen is going to be our general. I call him our General MacArthur that we need.” 

Howard told the Register: “While it's been a frustrating six years, God knew it would be now … God has put the spotlight on him now.” 

Excitement Builds 

Social media and Catholic text groups across St. Louis and nearby were buzzing on Wednesday with excitement and anticipation for the Sept. 24 beatification.  

Adam Henrichs, a husband and father of three from St. Louis, is excited to attend the beatification and credits Sheen’s writings and intercession with helping to clarify Henrich’s decision to ask his wife, Rachel, to marry him.  

“I’ve had a devotion to him ever since, and am currently praying for his intercession to heal the brain tumor of a family friend,” he  told the Register.  

Andrew Hansen, spokesman for the nearby Diocese of Springfield in Illinois — many residents of which will doubtless attend the beatification — is the creator of God is Alive, a documentary that highlights miraculous events including the 2010 miracle in Peoria received by the Engstrom family. He said Sheen’s constant reminder that life is worth living is something all people should take to heart and promote, especially in a “secular culture that continues to devalue life.”  

Hansen said: “We are hopeful that this week's news and the beatification Mass will resonate and inspire more and more people to live life with purpose, zeal, joy, and love for Jesus Christ and His Church.”