Archbishop Fulton Sheen writes on his chalkboard during a broadcast of his Emmy Award-winning television program "Life is Worth Living" in this 1950s file photo.

The family of the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen has petitioned the Supreme Court of the State of New York to allow the transfer of the sainthood candidate’s remains to Peoria.

Joan Sheen Cunningham, 88, Archbishop Sheen’s niece and his oldest living relative, filed a petition on June 13 asking that the trustees of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City — where Archbishop Sheen has been entombed in a crypt following his death on Dec. 9, 1979 — and the Archdiocese of New York allow his remains to be disinterred and transferred to Peoria for interment in a crypt at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Peoria.

Joan Sheen Cunningham, niece of the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen and his closest living relative, filed the petition with support from family members. (CNS file photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

According to a June 14 press release from the Diocese of Peoria, Cunningham — who resides in New York — has the support of other living relatives of the famed orator and media pioneer who was born in El Paso and ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria.

Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, is “immensely grateful” for the family’s action, according to the press release, and looks forward to the resumption of Archbishop Sheen’s beatification and canonization cause, which has been suspended for nearly two years since the Archdiocese of New York denied the bishop’s request to move the body to Peoria.

The Diocese of Peoria, which greeted the news with “great joy” in its June 14 statement, said that with the progress already made in the cause, a beatification could be celebrated shortly after the arrival of the remains in Peoria and with the approval of Pope Francis. The diocese has been a promoter of Archbishop Sheen’s canonization cause for 14 years. The Congregation of the Causes of the Saints at the Vatican reportedly has no objection to the transfer of the body.

“I am confident that the Archdiocese of New York will cooperate fully with the request of the family of Archbishop Sheen,” said Msgr. James Kruse, vicar general of the Diocese of Peoria. “I cannot imagine that the Archdiocese would oppose the family’s petition presented to the Court. It is our hope that the Archdiocese will offer their consent to this petition in order to expedite these matters.”

The petition signed by Cunningham notes that she was “extremely close” with her uncle during his lifetime and helped care for him up until his death. It was Cunningham to whom Cardinal Terence Cooke of the Archdiocese of New York came for permission to bury Archbishop Sheen in the St. Patrick’s Cathedral crypt.

The reasons for the family’s decision to seek the transfer of his remains to Peoria as listed in the petition include the long efforts of the Diocese of Peoria and the Archbishop Fulton John Sheen Foundation (on whose board Cunningham represents her family) to pursue the cause for canonization.

The petition notes he was raised in the cathedral parish, it is where he was ordained a priest of the diocese on Sept. 20, 1919, and close to where his parents are buried.

The Diocese of Peoria said the transfer could take place as soon as the court is able to grant approval.

BEATIFICATION WOULD BE IN PEORIA

Born May 8, 1895, in El Paso to Delia and Newt Sheen, the family moved to Peoria so that Fulton and his brothers could attend St. Mary Cathedral Grade School and Spalding Institute. Fulton made his First Communion at the cathedral and was a regular altar server in the sanctuary.

At the time of his ordination in 1919, Archbishop Sheen consecrated his priesthood to the Blessed Virgin Mary before a statue of Our Lady that is still revered in the cathedral.

Bishop Jenky greets Pope Benedict XVI as he presents the “positio” on the life of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen in 2011. The “positio” is the official position paper on why the Catholic Church should recognize Archbishop Sheen as a saint. (CNS file photo/L’Osservatore Romano)

After advanced studies in Europe, he returned to priestly ministry in Peoria until his bishop released him to teach at the Catholic University of America in Washington, where he remained on the faculty for nearly 30 years.

He would become a pioneer in radio and television, winning the 1951 Emmy for outstanding television personality for his show “Life is Worth Living.” Throughout the 1950s and 1960s he was an advocate for the church’s missionary work through his leadership of the Propagation of the Faith in the U.S. He served as Bishop of Rochester from 1966 to 1969 and spent his final years preaching retreats and missions.

Archbishop Sheen is the author of dozens of books, including his autobiography “Treasure in Clay.”

In 2000, the Archbishop Sheen Foundation was officially organized, and Bishop Jenky petitioned the Vatican to open the canonization process in 2002.

In 2011, the diocese submitted the case of a child, born without heartbeat or respiration, who revived after 61 minutes through the intercession of Archbishop Sheen. The following year Pope Benedict XVI recognized Archbishop Sheen’s heroic virtue and life of sanctity, granting him the title “Venerable.”

The Diocese of Peoria said that, once Pope Francis would approve beatification, the ceremony would take place in Peoria.