Peoria, in down state Illinois, is famous for Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and Caterpillar, but it is also the birth place of the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.
In 1948 we bought our first 12 inch black & white TV set to watch Milton Berle on Tuesday night at 8PM. On an opposite channel, then Bishop Sheen, he of the piercing eyes, was reciting his message in front of a blackboard. We had to choose between Uncle Miltie and Uncle Fultie. Now, forty years after the Archbishop's death, there is a movement to relocate his body - intact - to his birth place in the Diocese of Peoria from his resting place in St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. I say "intact" as that was not always the practice. St. Catherine of Siena is enshrined in Rome while her head is revered in a basilica in Siena, Italy. And St. Francis Xavier is entombed in Goa, India but his right arm is in Rome. When my time comes I hope there is no squabbling over my body parts. tjs
(NYT 6/12/19)
Nothing quite like a trip to Peoria
ReplyDeleteBeen there many times, together with our friend Tom Stephenson, visiting Caterpillar. One time we hit a blizzard in our way back to Chicago. Not pretty.
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