Few figures loom as large in the history of twentieth-century American Catholicism as Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (1895-1979), who was recently beatified on September 24, earning the title “Blessed.” A gifted theologian, preacher, author, and pioneering religious broadcaster, Sheen brought Catholic teaching into millions of American homes through radio and television, becoming one of the most recognizable voices of his generation. It is hard to believe that from 1952 to 1957 and again from 1961 to 1968, Archbishop Sheen occupied a primetime television spot. With no prop other than a chalkboard and wearing a bishop's house cassock and purple ferraiolo, at his height, Bishop Sheen drew 30 million viewers. In 1953, he won an Emmy for his program “Life is Worth Living.” In his acceptance speech, he famously thanked his writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Sheen’s beatification offers an occasion not only to reconsider his extraordinary ministry but also to explore lesser-known chapters of his life and work. Among these are his connections with the Knights of Peter Claver, the nation’s largest historically African American Catholic fraternal organization. Sheen’s encounters with the Order and his interest in the apostolate among Black Catholics place his story within the broader history of the Church’s uneven but consequential engagement with African American life in the United States.
By the late 1940s, then a Monsignor, Fulton Sheen reached a weekly radio audience of four million listeners. Inspired in part by his housekeeper, Mrs. Fanny Washington, whom he eventually converted to the Faith, Sheen took an interest in the building of the Blessed Martin de Porres Hospital in Mobile, Alabama, an institution established to provide hospital care for African Americans during the era of segregation. To construct the new hospital, he donated a significant portion of the funds bequeathed to him by philanthropist Genevieve Brady. He also convinced one of his many celebrity converts, author and Congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce, to do the same. However, he didn’t stop there. He even encouraged donations to the hospital on his NBC radio program, leveraging his immense reach. As a result of his major contributions, on April 27, 1947, Sheen was invited to be the principal speaker at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new hospital. Addressing racism directly, he said: “Many forces exist in this country ... preaching doctrines of hate. In building this hospital for Negroes, one of our motives is to undo that hate with a message of love.” On that occasion, he shared the platform with Sir Knight Alex L. Herman, the Order's National Treasurer, and Sir Knight Lancelot Chachere, the Grand Knight of Mobile Council No. 1, who both played a prominent role in fundraising for the hospital.
Later that year, on September 23, he took part in the Centennial Eucharistic Congress of the Diocese of Buffalo, where uniformed Third-Degree members of the newly formed Bishop John F. O'Hara Council No. 94 played a prominent role in the Congress’ honor guard, the group of Knights who form a ceremonial escort for the hierarchy at major liturgies.
Very Reverend Harold R. Perry, S.V.D., then rector of St. Augustine’s Seminary; Bishop Fulton J. Sheen; and KPC Executive Secretary Thomas R. Lee, Jr. at the Silver Anniversary of the First Graduates of St. Augustine Seminary. Photo: The Claverite, May-June 1959.
On May 26, 1959, Bishop Sheen attended the silver anniversary of the ordination of the first four graduates of Saint Augustine’s Seminary at Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. This seminary was formed in 1923 by the Society of the Divine Word and played a pioneering role in the formation of African American priests. The honor guard on that occasion was entirely made up of Fourth Degree Knights of Peter Claver.
The two most prominent occasions on which Bishop Sheen joined the members of the Knights of Peter Claver and Ladies Auxiliary were its national conventions in 1963 and 1970. On August 4, 1963, he served as homilist during the Opening Mass of the Forty-Eighth National Convention, which took place outdoors on the grounds of Saint Rita’s Church in Indianapolis. The celebrant was His Eminence Laurean Cardinal Rugambwa, the Archbishop of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and the first African cardinal in modern history. In reflecting on the strength of the Faith on the African continent, Bishop Sheen proclaimed, “The Church in the United States must look with holy reverence to Africa. It was an African citizen, Simon of Cyrene, who helped Christ bear His cross; and it was to Africa that Christ went to free the persecution of Herod.”
Bishop Fulton John Sheen, Cardinal Laurean Rugambwa, and other clerics process during the 48th Annual Convention of the Knights of Peter Claver, August 3-8, 1963, in Indianapolis. Photo: University of Idaho Special Collections and Archives.
On August 2, 1970, he once again joined the Clavers at their Fifty-Fifth National Convention at the Municipal Auditorium in Mobile. Just as before with Cardinal Rugambwa, the Mass was celebrated by His Excellency Harold R. Perry, the first recognized Black bishop in the United States and the Order’s longtime National Chaplain. In his homily, Bishop Sheen pointed to “democracy and the teachings of Christ” as the best ways to address the problems of modern society.
The Most Reverend John L. May, Bishop of Mobile; and the Most Reverend Fulton J. Sheen; precede the Most Reverend Harold R. Perry, Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans, escorted by Fourth Degree Knights during the 1970 National Convention in Mobile. Photo: The Mobile Press, August 3, 1970.
Viewed in the light of his beatification, Blessed Fulton J. Sheen’s recurring encounters with the Knights of Peter Claver over nearly thirty years take on added significance. Across decades of profound change in both the Church and nation, Sheen and the Knights repeatedly crossed paths in moments of prayer, celebration, and public witness to the call to overcome hatred. Fulton Sheen employed his brilliant mind and eloquence to proclaim the unchanging truth of the Gospel using new media and reaching millions in the process. The Knights of Peter Claver and Ladies Auxiliary gave visible witness to the Gospel, standing proudly as Black Catholic laymen and women committed to charity, fraternity, and service. The photographs and accounts of their encounters remind us that sanctity is lived not apart from history, but within it, through countless meetings, gestures, statements, and bonds formed among the People of God. Blessed Fulton Sheen and the Knights of Peter Claver remain joined in an enduring witness to a Catholic Faith that calls every generation toward a more perfect recognition of the dignity of every child of God. Blessed Sheen succinctly conveyed this in the way he concluded each one of his thousands of broadcasts: “God Love You!”
Jari C. Honora is a New Orleans native with Black Catholic roots dating back more than two centuries in Louisiana. He is a graduate of Tulane University and works in the Williams Research Center of the Historic New Orleans Collection, and also as a professional genealogist. He is a member of St. Katharine Drexel Parish, an active promoter of the Knights of Peter Claver, and a member of Father Schmodry Council #52.
