www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Archbishop Fulton Sheen - ? for Incognitus

Incognitus,

My friend, my father, I suspect you may be able to answer a couple of questions posed to me elsewhere (if not, and anyone else can do so, please feel free to jump in ).

I was asked why and when the Servant of God, Archbishop Sheen, was accorded bi-ritual faculties.

I have no idea as to why; as to when, I suspect it may have been prior to his elevation to the episcopacy.

In 1932, as a priest, he was present in Ireland on the occasion of a Eucharistic Congress. On the second day of the Congress, a Byzantine Ukrainian Divine Liturgy was celebrated by Blessed Nicholas Charnetsky, then Apostolic Exarch of Volyn and Pidlyashia of the Ukrainians. Father Sheen is recorded as having "participated", which may mean that he concelebrated. However, to have done so would not have necessitated that he have faculties.

On November 5, 1946, as a Monsignor, he was the homilist at the episcopal ordination of Kyr Daniel Ivancho, of blessed memory, as Coadjutor Bishop of the then-Apostolic Exarchate. Again, I don't know whether he was a concelebrant but, as before, faculties would not have been required to do so.

He definitely had faculties in 1955 (by which time he himself had been raised to the episcopacy and was Auxiliary of the Latin Archdiocese of New York), as he served what was reportedly the first Pontifical Divine Liturgy chanted in English, durung the Uniontown pilgrimage.

Your thoughts?

Many years,

Neil

Neil, staying up late to watch "Life Is Worth Living" on EWTN? I was flipping through and saw him not too long ago wearing his big purple cloak.

A Niall, a chara mo chroi,
To begin at the end, so to speak, I don't know for sure when the late and beloved Archbishop received bi-ritual faculties; it may have been for that Divine Liturgy he served at Uniontown, in the course of which he announced the appointment of Bishop Nicholas Elko as Exarch (the applause was less than deafening).

As for the reason, I presume that he wanted the faculties and requested them - in those days the petitioner was supposed to give a reason but the reason was often enough pure verbiage. He was definitely interested, and liked to serve Divine Liturgy for various groups on various occasions. At least once he deputized for Patriarch Maximos IV at a Melkite Convention in the USA.
I'm inclined to suspect that he did not receive the faculties until after his episcopal consecration, but I certainly can't prove it.
Yes, he was in Dublin for the Eucharistic Congress and was present for the Pontifical Divine Liturgy - but I've found no evidence to indicate that he was among the concelebrants.
Didn't know he had preached at the consecration of Bishop Daniel - thanks for the information. He and the Empress Zita must have had an interesting conversation.

This does not mean that we can't find out. I believe his own papers are in Rochester; there may be some record among them. He was Auxiliary of New York, which would make me think that the files of the Archdiocese would have the information, and probably a copy of the rescript giving him the faculties. It may even have been announced in the Catholic News.

Otherwise it would be a matter of finding someone who knew the Archbishop closely at the time - which after so many years might not be easy.

Beir bua!

Incognitus the Inquisitive Inquisitor

Pyrohy,

Not me. I rarely watch EWTN - never if the clicker can be found.

Incognitus,

Glad to have had the opportunity to fill in your knowledge regarding his being the homilist at Bishop Daniel's ordination . In turn, thanks for the information about him making the announcement regarding Bishop Nicholas at Uniontown - I was unaware of that and that he had served at one of the Melkite Conventions - I'll look further into that.

I had similar thoughts regarding his papers. Am also going to check with Charles Bransom and see if he has come across any information regarding this in his studies of the American episcopacy.

Many years,

Neil

I understand, but do not have any evidence, that he participated in the pilgrimage to Union Town.

Shlomo Lkhoolkhoon,

Just a point, a eparch may concelebrate at any church within our Communion.

Poosh BaShlomo Lkhoolkhoon,
Yuhannon

Yuhannon,

Actually, any presbyter may concelebrate, but the specific question regards Archbishop Sheen actually having bi-ritual faculties - thus permitting him to celebrate versus concelebrate.

Many years,

Neil

This one of several old threads speculating on when Archbishop Sheen, of blessed memory, obtained bi-ritual faculties. From what I remember, the best we have ever come in attempting to date the matter has been the certainty that he had such by the time that he celebrated a Pontifical Divine Liturgy in English at Uniontown in 1955.

Well, I can now offer some new factual info to our quest. I was skimming the 75th Anniversary Directory of the Metropolia tonight while working on our EC/OC Parish Directory and stopped to read the history of St Elias in Brooklyn. Mentioned there is the fact that Bishop Sheen visited St Elias several times during 1954 to learn to serve the Divine Liturgy.

So, what think you, gentlemen and ladies? Can we consider 1954 to probably be the definitive answer to our question?

(A humorous side-note, on the occasion of one such visit, Stan Musial - apparently a close friend of St Elias' then-pastor, Father George Chegin - was in attendance with 6 of his St Louis teammates. The local paper headlined the next day "Bishop and 7 Cardinals at St Elias Church".)

Many years,

Neil