Peoria, Ill., Jul 24, 2006 / 22:00 pm
The process of canonization for Archbishop Fulton Sheen is advancing steadily. Copies of a report on an alleged miracle that took place in 1999 through the intercession of the Archbishop were signed Sunday by Roman Catholic Church officials and will be sent to the Vatican for review, reported The Journal Star.
The 500-page report and supporting documents will be delivered to Rome by canon lawyer Fr. Andrea Ambrosi, postulator of the cause. The cause was officially begun in 2003.
Archbishop Sheen was born in the Woodford County town of El Paso in 1895 and ordained in the Diocese of Peoria in 1909. He became widely known and respected as a teacher of the faith through his television programs in the 1950s and 1960s. He died in 1979.
The alleged miracle involves a Champaign woman, then 72 years old, who was undergoing lung surgery when a tear was discovered in her main pulmonary artery. The woman's husband told investigators he prayed for his wife's recovery invoking the archbishop. The woman is still alive and in good health.