Fulton J. Sheen relic arrives at St. Patrick’s Cathedral

A first-class relic of Blessed Fulton J. Sheen has arrived at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Midtown Manhattan for permanent veneration. The relic was presented to Archbishop Ronald Hicks of the Archdiocese of New York by Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria, Illinois, following Sheen’s recent beatification in St. Louis.

Archbishop Hicks described the arrival as a “homecoming,” noting that Sheen served as an auxiliary bishop in New York and considered the city home. The event included midday prayer, public veneration, and a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Hicks.

In a related development, a lost audio recording of a homily delivered by Sheen in 1977 at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark has resurfaced. The recording, made nearly 50 years ago during a Lenten Mass, was shared with the cathedral’s rector, Fr. Matthew Gonzalez. The discovery also led to the identification of the chasuble Sheen wore during that Mass, which is now considered a second-class relic.