PEORIA, Ill. (OSV News) — Tickets for Venerable Fulton J. Sheen’s Sept. 24 beatification in St. Louis and events surrounding the historic celebration will be available starting the week of June 22 through the Archbishop Fulton Sheen Foundation website at celebratesheen.com.
Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria announced the ticket availability with “profound joy and gratitude” in a June 18 letter to friends of the foundation.
The beatification “is a historic moment for the Diocese of Peoria, and the Church throughout the United States and around the world,” he said.
The Illinois diocese is where Archbishop Sheen was born, ordained and first served as a priest.
“I encourage everyone to begin considering how they can make this historic moment meaningful in their own lives,” Bishop Tylka said. “I invite you to review the schedule, prayerfully discern which events you would like to attend, and begin planning your pilgrimage now.”
The beatification will take place at 2 p.m. in St. Louis at The Dome at America’s Center, with Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, a pro-prefect in the Dicastery for Evangelization, presiding.
Schedule of events
According to a schedule of events released by the Peoria Diocese in April, vespers will take place at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis at 5 p.m. on Sept. 23. On the day of the beatification, there will be an expo at The Dome from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Eucharistic adoration and confession available at 9 a.m., and a pre-Mass show at 10 a.m.
Following the 2 p.m. beatification Mass, there will be veneration of a relic of Archbishop Sheen from 4-6 p.m.
In the Peoria Diocese, a novena of Holy Hours takes place every evening at 7 p.m. from Sept. 15 to Sept. 23 at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Peoria, and on Sept. 20, Mass will be celebrated at the cathedral at 3 p.m to mark the anniversary of the future archbishop’s priestly ordination in 1919.
Masses of thanksgiving and various parish talks will take place in the Peoria Diocese Sept. 25, and the Sheen Award Gala, a ticketed event, will get underway in Peoria Civic Center at 6 p.m. that evening.
A Divine Liturgy in the Byzantine rite will conclude the Diocese of Peoria’s multiday pilgrimage celebrations. It will be celebrated Sept. 26 at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception. (Archbishop Sheen was granted special “bi-ritual faculties” by Pope Pius XII and authorized to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in the Byzantine rite alongside his Roman-rite duties.)
“Together, these events form the official Sheen Pilgrimage — an opportunity to walk in the footsteps of one of the Church’s greatest evangelizers while reflecting on his life, legacy, and missionary witness,” Bishop Tylka said in his letter.
Archbishop Sheen beatification an opportunity for renewal
The diocese has more information and tickets for the events that require them at celebratesheen.com.
“My prayer is that the Beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen will be an opportunity for each of us to renew our commitment to sharing the Gospel and leading others to a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ,” Bishop Tylka said in his letter. “Archbishop Sheen dedicated his life to helping people encounter the truth and love of God, and his witness continues to inspire countless men and women around the world today.”
In a March 25 statement, Bishop Tylka said St. Louis was chosen as the location for the beatification Mass in “anticipation of a great number of people wanting to participate” and “because of availability, being indoors, and the close proximity to the Diocese of Peoria.”
On Feb. 9, the Diocese of Peoria had announced that the Vatican had given the green light for the beatification of Archbishop Sheen to move forward six years after the Holy See had postponed the beatification, initially scheduled for December 2019.
