A Saint in Tallassee

It isn’t often that a saint passes through Tallassee – or Alabama, or the United States for that matter. But one of the more notable figures in Tallassee history is being beatified by Pope Leo XIV this week.

On Thursday, Fulton J. Sheen officially enters the pathway to sainthood as he will be beatified by the Catholic Church. Popes Benedict and Francis recognized a miracle attributed to the former television host: in 2010, James Fulton Ingstrom, a boy from Illinois, was stillborn and without a pulse for 61 minutes. His parents prayed for the intercession of Fulton Sheen, and the boy made an unexplained full recovery.

Fulton Sheen’s relationship with Tallassee begins with the niece of our former governor, Charles Henderson of Troy. Henderson’s niece, Mildred Weedon was known as Millie, and was married to Col. Roberts Blount. The Blounts owned two banks, a railroad, and an insurance company. They lived in Seven Gables on Gilmer Avenue, now occupied by the Griggs family.

Roberts was Baptist; Millie was Methodist. But Millie loved listening to Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s network radio program, “Life is Worth Living,” which also aired on ABC television and was a successful TV show for many years in the 1950s and 1960s. In fact, along with Billy Graham, Sheen was one of the most well-known and respected Christian figures in America, to the point that actor Martin Sheen (formerly Estevez) took the Sheen name as his own.  With his dramatic flair and sense of humor, Sheen was a star in the early years of television. Sheen won the 1952 Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Television Personality. Stepping up to the microphone in his clerical attire, he humorously and graciously stated: “I feel it is time I pay tribute to my four writers — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.”

Back to the Blounts: After listening to Archbishop Sheen, she began reading the works of St. Thomas Aquinas and John Cardinal Newman, becoming more interested in Catholicism. She engaged with Sheen himself via a letter, and he invited her to visit him in Washington, D.C., where he recorded his television show and worked at Catholic University of America. Mrs. Blount was met at Union Station by a chauffeur-driven limousine courtesy of the Archbishop.

Sheen encouraged Mrs. Blount to visit a Catholic church back home. She said none really existed. And despite the first Mass in the Alabama territory happening in what was then called Talisi way back in 1540, celebrated by Hernando DeSoto and his companion Franciscan priests, there were few Catholics in this region. Bishop Sheen told Mrs. Blount that if she built a Catholic church back home, he would be there to preach at its first Mass.

No one in Tallassee would sell land to the Catholics. Yet, the Blounts owned a lot of property around town and especially along Gilmer Avenue, the main thoroughfare that is Alabama Highway 14 as well as Alabama Highway 229. Roberts and Mildred handed over the land deed to the Vincentians, mission priests who were around the area starting in 1910, and the current St. Vincent de Paul Church was born.

The Colonel later joined his wife and converted to Catholicism, as well. The Vincentian priests went door-to-door in Tallassee and invited people to the opening of the church. They encountered no resistance. On opening day, Archbishop Fulton Sheen visited Tallassee and indeed, he spoke at the first Mass! The appearance of Sheen in Tallassee was big news in its day, and so many people crowded into St. Vincent’s, people gathered at the Armory nearby to listen to the radio broadcast on that day in 1954.

One hundred years after the Vincentian mission priests came to Tallassee, and five hundred years after explorers brought Christianity to this community, Mrs. Blount’s role in the story remains fascinating. Mildred Weedon Blount’s place in Alabama history may not be as well-known as her uncle's, but the governor’s niece contributed so much to the life and lore of the small town of Tallassee. And, as of Thursday, we can claim that Blessed Fulton J. Sheen once visited our town.

On a personal note, my first grandson was born last month. His name? Fulton.

Michael Bird is an assistant professor of music at Faulkner University.