16 years ago, a baby's life was miraculously saved through Blessed Fulton Sheen's prayers. Where is that baby today?
As some 50,000 people from all over the world gather in St. Louis for the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, a very special guest will be presenting Sheen’s relic.
James Fulton Engstrom — the baby whose life Fulton Sheen’s intercession miraculously saved after he was stillborn and had no pulse for 61 minutes — will be attending the beatification along with his parents and seven siblings. He recently celebrated his 16th birthday on September 16.
“All eight of my kids are here today. James, who is the third, will be the one who will present the relic during the beatification ceremony,” his mother, Bonnie Engstrom, said at a press conference before the event.
Bonnie Engstrom shared the mind-boggling story in her book 61 Minutes to a Miracle: Blessed Fulton Sheen's Prayerful Intercession. Earlier this week, her daughter Lydia pointed out the awe of the occasion on her Instagram, writing, “Packing for a beatification bc my brother that died is now a 16yo.”
“A foretaste of heaven”
Bonnie Engstrom took part in the pre-Mass press conference along with Monsignor Jason Gray, a canon lawyer and priest who serves as the executive director of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation and led the formal investigation into the miracle attributed to Sheen, and Bishop Louis Tylka, both of the Diocese of Peoria.
Engstrom powerfully described her impression of the beatification gathering as “a foretaste of heaven,” saying:
This whole story, for us, has been … walking with the Church, with our loved ones, and with Catholics all around the world, literally, who are praying for our son, and who are reaching out to us and sharing their devotion to Sheen.
For me, when I'm in my seat and I look out, I just feel like it's going to be a foretaste of heaven, where we are all going to be worshiping God together and celebrating the Church as a whole, and just the power of the body of Christ and everything that the grace of God has given us.
Choosing Fulton Sheen as a patron
What led the Engstroms to beseech Archbishop Sheen for his intercession when their baby son appeared to be stillborn?
Engstrom explained how special Fulton Sheen always has been to their family, saying:
When I was pregnant with James, my husband Travis and I decided that we were going to name James after Fulton Sheen and place him under his patronage. So I had already been praying to Fulton Sheen for him to walk with my son for his whole life and to protect and defend my son through his prayers for his whole life, starting in the womb.
And so, it was just a very natural thing in that moment — the hardest hour of our life so far — for us to just naturally fall back on calling for the help of the man that I had already been asking for his help for my child.
As a native of Peoria, where Fulton Sheen grew up, the saintly archbishop felt to Engstrom like “a local boy, you know, like hometown pride.”
“Watching Fulton Sheen, watching his videos, and reading him, for me, it's very similar to listening to my grandpa and my great-grandpa talk … the wisdom and the humor and the personality,” she said. “He just felt like a loved one, and my husband and I were very drawn to him from the very beginning.”
A special devotion
Today, young James Fulton has a special devotion to Archbishop Sheen — as do all of her children for their patron saints, said Engstrom.
For all of our children, we’ve put all of our kids under the patronage of a saint and have really built a culture where we are celebrating feast days, we are calling on their intercession.
I want all of my kids to feel like they have a squad that surrounds them, that is following them through life, praying for them, interceding, cheering them on. And, thanks be to God, I think so far we've done a pretty good job.
But James definitely has a devotion to Bishop Sheen, and he will — not a lot because he's a very private boy — but he will sometimes say, like, “I was praying, and I feel like God said this, and I feel like Bishop Sheen is kind of pointing me in this direction.” And I mean, as a mom, I am super thrilled.
At the same time, the family is careful not to put any pressure on him, and their parish community has been a big support in the effort.
We have tried to keep James out of the spotlight … And we are very blessed to be part of a parish that is very protective of James. He is very loved in our community … He's a delightful young man, but he's still just a teenage boy, and he needs to be given the space and the grace to have his own journey in life. He didn't ask for any of this, and we are very honored to be a part of it.
Today, the baby that Fulton Sheen prayed for from heaven is just a normal 16-year-old boy — his ordinary life a daily witness to the power of prayer and the goodness of God.
