Happy October, readers, and a blessed Month of the Rosary!
What’s in this Edition:
- Life is Worth Living – My experience attending the Beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen
- IRL Authors – Finally meeting author Erin Lewis In Real Life
- Upcoming Events – Where to find me for the rest of 2026
Life is Worth Living: The Beatification of Fulton Sheen
On September 24, my family, a few friends, and I attended the beatification celebration and Mass of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen in St. Louis. I cannot express how amazing and inspirational the experience was. For those unfamiliar, beatification is the step right before someone is declared a Saint. The USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) has a great explanation of the process:
“All Christians are called to be saints. Saints are persons in heaven (officially canonized or not), who lived heroically virtuous lives, offered their life for others, or were martyred for the faith, and who are worthy of imitation. In official Church procedures there are three steps to sainthood: a candidate becomes ‘Venerable,’ then ‘Blessed’ and then ‘Saint.’ Venerable is the title given to a deceased person recognized formally by the pope as having lived a heroically virtuous life or offered their life. To be beatified and recognized as a Blessed, one miracle acquired through the candidate’s intercession is required in addition to recognition of heroic virtue or offering of life. Canonization requires a second miracle after beatification. The pope may waive these requirements. A miracle is not required prior to a martyr’s beatification, but one is required before canonization.” (https://www.usccb.org/offices/public-affairs/saints)
Canonizations always take place in the Vatican while beatifications usually happen at a place local to the saint. The number of American saints is still relatively low, however, which made this event possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity. I sadly didn’t know much about Fulton Sheen until I got my tickets about 6 months ago. When I started learning about his life, wow! This author, tv personality, radio host, and devout archbishop had quite the life. Here are a just a few facts I learned:
- He was born in 1895 just outside Peoria, Illinois in the same state Pope Leo XIV is from and only a few hours from my hometown of St. Louis.
- When he became a priest in 1919, he committed to praying a Holy Hour every day. He kept this promise for 60 years. When he died in 1979, they found him in his chapel, praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Every time he beheld the Eucharist, he would say, “My Lord and my God.” One of his most famous quotes is, “The greatest love story of all time is contained in a tiny white host.”
- His beatification miracle was for an infant boy who was stillborn and not breathing for 60 minutes, the same amount of time as a Holy Hour. After praying for Fulton Sheen’s intercession during that hour, on the 61st minute, the boy returned to life. What’s even cooler is that his family lived in Peoria, Fulton Sheen’s hometown. At the beatification, the now-15-year-old carried in Fulton Sheen’s relic.
- He used media to bring people to Jesus, winning an an Emmy Award for “Best Television Personality” against A-List celebrities like Lucille Ball and publishing 66 books. At its height, his show, “Life is Worth Living” reached 30 million viewers every week, including large numbers of non-Catholics. He concluded every episode by saying, “God love you.”
- On his show, he used a simple set and wore a purple cape like a superhero. (This cape is actually called a ferraiolo and is a part of traditional formal, but non-liturgical (not used for Mass) dress.)
- He has been nicknamed the “convert maker” with recent estimates of 42,000 people converting or returning to Catholicism because of his teachings. When Pope Pius XII, however, asked how many he thought he had converted, however, Fulton Sheen said he hadn’t counted, so he wouldn’t be tempted to think the conversions were his, rather than God’s.
- Two months before his death, he met now-Saint Pope John Paul II who told him, “You have written and spoken well of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are a loyal son of the Church.”
The beatification celebration took place in St. Louis’s Dome (where the Rams used to play) and the adjacent America’s Center Convention Center. Mass was at 2 p.m., but we arrived at 8:30 a.m. for the earlier activities. There were 50,000 people there, from 48 U.S. states and 22 countries, including over 2,000 clergy and religious. Even in that giant crowd, we saw people we knew everywhere we turned. Our parish’s current priests, former priests, our seminarian and religious sister friends were all there. Ladies from Bible study, men from church guys’ group, and people from our former parish who we hadn’t seen in years. The family who sits in front of us at Mass happened to be in the next section over with all five of their kids. And there were a LOT of kids there, including babies. Even with a 4 hour long Mass, I didn’t notice many children crying or arguing.
Yes, Mass was 4 hours long, but every minute was worth attending. It was cool to see so many clergy that it took 40 minutes for them to process in. Every priest received a chasuble with “JMJ” (for Jesus, Mary and Joseph) written on the back just like Fulton Sheen would write on the chalkboard of his show. This is based on a Catholic tradition begun in the 19th century where people would put “JMJ” at the top of the page when they began writing, asking the Holy Family to be with them in their work. It’s a practice I discovered only a few years ago and have incorporated into my own work. You can find “JMJ” written on the copyright page of Sparks Fly Upward, Stars in the Storm, and Astonished.
Before and after Mass, the day also included:
- A huge Eucharistic Adoration Chapel (it probably fit several thousand)
- The sacrament of Confession (there were 30 priests and the line was still out the door and down the hall)
- A short concert by Matt Maher and Sarah Kroger
- Several speakers (unfortunately, we missed many of them since it took a long time to weave back and forth between rooms)
- Special exhibits on the life of Fulton Sheen and the Shroud of Turin
- An Expo room with so many vendors it was impossible to go around to all of them. I wish there’d been a second day just for that. Special shout out to some of my favorites I did see, including Abundance of Grace Prints, Ave Maria Press, Tiny Saints, and Pauline Books and Media.
The recorded live stream of the Beatification Mass can be found on EWTN. If you’re interested in listening to or watching Fulton Sheen’s show, YouTube has many episodes as does The Hallow app. He has an incredible speaking voice that’s hard to describe in words, but once you’ve heard it, you can understand why people were drawn to him. His talks and his books have one thought-provoking line after another that you just need to sit with for awhile. That’s why it took me several weeks to get through his 150-page Victory over Vice. It isn’t one to rush through. There’s too much to underline and think about. I suspect his other books will be the same way.
I know I’ve written a lot, and could write more, but since I am a writer, I’ll just end this section with one last Fulton Sheen quote: “Any book which inspires us to lead a better life is a good book.”
IRL Authors
The night before Fulton Sheen’s beatification, I had the chance to meet up with fellow Catholic Writers Guild author, Erin Lewis, and her family who drove in all the way from Georgia. While we’ve spoken for a few years online, we’ve never met in person, and it was so fun to finally do so. As authors must, we signed each other’s books and took photos with them.
If you haven’t read Erin’s books, they are perfect for celebrating a beatification. Her fictional Chalice series follows a young man through his vocations journey from prison to the priesthood. This series is compelling, convicting, at times gut-wrenching, and the type of Catholic fiction the world needs more of. You can read my full review of Firetender on Goodreads.
Upcoming Events
Mark your calendars! Here’s where you can find me and my books in 2026. As additional events are scheduled, I’ll add details on my website. All events are in partnership with historical fantasy author, Susan Laspe.
- St. Joseph Catholic School Craft Fair – October 10, 2026 – Cottleville, MO
- Fall Into Books Fair at The Quarry – October 11, 2026 – Wentzville, MO
- Duchesne High School Craft Fair – November 21, 2026 – St. Charles, MO
- Francis Howell High School Craft Fair – December 5, 2026 – Weldon Springs, MO
Purchase signed copies of my books: kelseygietl.com
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