In 1953, Lucille Ball, the star of the hit show I Love Lucy, was up for an Emmy for “Most Outstanding Personality.” She lost—but not to famous journalist Edward R. Murrow or presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson—she lost to then-New York Auxiliary Bishop Fulton J. Sheen.
“I feel it is time I pay tribute to my four writers—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,” Sheen reportedly quipped as he accepted the award.
This Thursday, the Catholic bishop who charmed millions while explaining theological concepts and scrawling on a blackboard for his show Life Is Worth Living will come one step closer to being declared a saint. His beatification—which comes after the Vatican found that he lived a life of “heroic virtue” and that his intercession was responsible for a miracle—leaves him just one more miracle shy of sainthood.
