A week ago, I left for St. Louis, a beautiful Catholic city, to attend the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen. I also had the privilege of being there as a vendor with MiraculousMom.co. A week after returning home, I am still overjoyed. This celebration felt personal in a way I did not expect.
The first years of my Catholic life trace a path through three places with deep roots in the Church in America. I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, whose archdiocese began as the Diocese of Bardstown in 1808. When I was a few weeks old, my family soon moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where I was baptized at America’s first cathedral. Then soon thereafter, my father’s job took us to Rochester, New York, where Fulton Sheen was serving as bishop.
We often hear how important the first three years of a child’s life are for development. I find myself wondering about those first years of the soul. I cannot remember meeting Bishop Sheen or even hearing him speak as a little girl, but I know my parents did. Still, it moves me to think that I spent part of my earliest childhood in the care of the diocese he shepherded.
My first little Catholic school, Our Lady Queen of Peace in Rochester, NY and where my sister was baptized.
I do not know exactly when I became attached to Fulton Sheen. Years later, as I began my adult reversion to the faith, I read his biography and immediately felt connected to this spiritual leader and teacher. The fact he was my “first bishop” connected my heart to him. His bold clarity, his love for the Church, and his devotion to Our Lady drew me in. Somewhere along the way, the bishop of my childhood became a spiritual father to me.
That is why being present for his beatification meant so much. As Catholic Answers explains, beatification allows a person to be called “Blessed” and honored publicly in the places or communities specified by the Church. To hear him called Blessed Fulton Sheen was a moment of profound joy.
There was another gift in St. Louis: I was invited to bring MiraculousMom.co to the celebration. Fulton Sheen used the means available to him to share the faith with remarkable creativity. I could never have imagined that God would use my own experience in fashion, my love of textiles, my love of creating and art, and my devotion to Mary to share that same faith. Ha! The first art classes I took were at the art museum in Rochester!
I design fabrics devoted to Our Lady and offer beautiful gifts made with care by small makers I know. It is a business, yes, but it is also the “biznistry” I never saw coming. Each scarf, with its Miraculous Medal sewn on, is an invitation to think of Mary and the Son to whom she always leads us. The scarves are an opportunity to share beauty and the different titles and devotions of Our Lady while placing women under Our Lady’s mantle and the opportunity for the wearer to receive the graces from the promised graces of the Miraculous Medal.
One of the greatest joys of the trip was meeting so many beautiful Catholic families. From newborn babies to Catholics who have loved the faith for a lifetime, people came together to honor a priest and bishop whose preaching advanced our faith, glorified God, changed lives, and saved souls. I am deeply grateful to everyone who stopped at our booth and for all who share a love of Our Lady through my designs. Meeting you was a gift I will carry home with me.
As I stood in St. Louis, grateful to be there both as a pilgrim and a vendor, the threads of my life seemed to meet: Louisville, Baltimore, Rochester, Bishop Sheen, my deepening of faith, and the work I now do through Miraculous Mom. I left with a full heart and a renewed desire to use the gifts God has given me to make His Mother known and to glorify her Son.
Blessed Fulton Sheen, pray for us.
And if you did not get the opportunity to purchase our fabulous Fulton Sheen doll, please send us an email to receive a link to purchase one of the few we are receiving from our maker, or pre-purchase for the next order to be received in November: miraculousmomco@gmail.com