There is a buzz in the air about the newly declared “Blessed” Fulton J. Sheen. He is no longer “Venerable.” Yet he is not declared “Saint.” What in the world? Please explain!
Sure thing!
Before Thursday’s beatification (the ecclesiastical act by which the Church declares that one of the faithful departed is “Blessed”), Sheen had the title “Venerable.” That just means the pope had formally recognized Sheen as one who lived a life of heroic Christian virtue, proper to his state in life as priest and bishop. There were no feast days, no churches bearing his name, nor any statement that he is heaven.
Now he bears the title “Blessed”—Latin, beatus, meaning “happy” or “fortunate.” So something has definitely changed. But what?
Well, for starters, the pope has formally declared that Sheen’s presence in heaven is worthy of belief. And the evidence for that is a miracle attributed directly to his intercession.
In 2010, James Fulton Engstrom was delivered stillborn. Without a heartbeat for sixty-one minutes, he miraculously came back to life following his mother’s prayer for Sheen’s intercession. Now sixteen, he presented relics at the beatification Mass. At least one miracle is required for a person to be raised to the level of “Blessed.”
Also, we now have papal permission—as opposed to a papal directive that’s associated with a canonization—for Sheen to be publicly venerated and reverenced with liturgical honors and public invocations (the practice of asking him to pray for us). And this is on account of the aforementioned worthy belief that he’s in heaven.
For example, he will be assigned a feast day—December 9, the anniversary of his death. Churches can now take on his name and formally be under his patronage. And his relics can be venerated within ecclesial settings. That’s very different from asking Sheen to help us out in our walk with the Lord in the privacy of our home or a private prayer group, which we can do for anyone who we hope is in heaven. So that’s a significant change.
But that liturgical and public honor is not permitted everywhere in the Church. That is one of the key differences between a “Blessed” (beatification) and a “Saint” (canonization).
Public veneration of Sheen will be restricted to certain geographic and communal settings. As of now, the most obvious place is the Diocese of Peoria, which led the cause, where Sheen was ordained, and where his tomb sits in the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception. However, his feast day is anticipated to be added to the Proper Calendar for the Dioceses of the United States, expanding the geographical boundaries for public honor beyond the Diocese of Peoria. If Sheen is eventually canonized, which would require a second miracle attributed directly to his intercession, then his memorial will be added the liturgical calendar of the universal Church, and the Church throughout the world will be directed to honor him.
Now, I said earlier that Sheen’s beatification is the pope giving formal approval to believe that Sheen is in heaven. But what is the nature of that approval? Is it fallible—subject to error? Or is it infallible—not subject to error?
These questions lead us to another key difference between beatification and canonization. A beatification is regarded as a fallible, provisional judgment. That means the pope’s judgment that Sheen is in heaven is not guaranteed freedom from error. It does not exclude the possibility of doubt. Nevertheless, the judgment is based on enough evidence to make rational the permission of a localized public veneration/reverence.
A canonization, on the other hand, is generally believed to be infallible. That means that if the pope were to canonize Sheen and raise him up to ranks of universal veneration and reverence throughout the Church, then such a judgment, believed by many theologians, would be protected from error by the Holy Spirit.
St. Thomas Aquinas argues for this view in Quodlibet IX, question 8, article 1. Cardinals Joseph Ratzinger and Tarcisio Bertone followed Aquinas on this view in their 1998 Doctrinal Commentary on Concluding Formula of “Professio Fidei.” They located papal acts of canonizations among “those truths connected to revelation by historical necessity and which are to be held definitively”—i.e., infallibly.
Now, you might be wondering, “Okay. Sheen is a Blessed. What if he’s never canonized? What then?”
Nothing! Beatification isn’t a probationary period with an expiry date. Sheen will remain “Blessed,” and the pope’s authorization for him to be publicly venerated and reverenced in the approved settings will remain.
There are many beatified who have remained Blessed for centuries. Take Bl. Matthew Carrieri, for example. He’s a Dominican who offered himself back into captivity to free a mother and daughter from pirates. He died in 1470 and was beatified in 1482. That’s more than five centuries a Blessed. Blessed Notker the Stammerer, a ninth-century monk of St. Gall, is another.
Will Sheen be one we put on this list of longstanding Blesseds? Possibly! But I personally have a hunch that won’t be the case.
For now, Catholics can give thanks for the Church’s recognition of Bishop Sheen as Blessed and confidently seek his intercession in the ways the Church permits. Whether a second miracle ultimately paves the way to canonization remains to be seen, but few figures of the twentieth century seem better positioned to leave a lasting spiritual legacy.