The ceremony, scheduled for Thursday, will be presided over by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, the Philippines‑born media figure, and is expected to draw about 50,000 faithful to the former NFL stadium.
The Vatican’s decree follows its determination that Sheen lived a life of “heroic virtue” and that his intercession was linked to a medically inexplicable miracle, leaving him one verified miracle short of full canonization.
The beatification Mass will be broadcast by Catholic network EWTN and livestreamed on the Diocese of Peoria’s YouTube channel, the diocese where Sheen was ordained a priest in 1919.
Born on May 8, 1895, in El Paso, Illinois, Sheen was ordained in 1919, taught theology and philosophy at the Catholic University of America from 1926 to 1950, and reached a national audience with the radio program “The Catholic Hour” in 1930, which attracted four million weekly listeners.
After becoming an auxiliary bishop in New York in 1951, he launched the television series “Life Is Worth Living,” using a blackboard to explain theological concepts to a broad audience; he later served as Bishop of Rochester (1966) and was named an archbishop in 1969.
Peoria Bishop Louis Tylka, who promoted Sheen’s cause, said the beatification highlights Sheen’s “invitation to deepen our friendship with Jesus…by being people of prayer, especially the Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament,” a devotion Sheen popularized.
The Engstrom family, whose son James Fulton survived a near‑fatal birth in 2010 after they prayed for Sheen’s intercession, will attend the Mass; they credit the “Holy Hour” miracle for the infant’s revival after a 61‑minute cardiac pause, underscoring the personal impact of Sheen’s legacy.
With the beatification completed, the next step for Sheen is the verification of a second miracle, which the Vatican must confirm before he can be declared a saint.