PEORIA - Father Andrew Apostoli wryly mentioned an old saying in his homily Sunday that if your are going to be canonized you should not write too much. He was speaking during a Mass of thanksgiving for Archbishop Fulton Sheen, a native of El Paso who became famous as a television and radio personality and writer. | Photo Gallery

Now Sheen, who died in 1979, is undergoing the steps toward being canonized a saint, but he obviously paid no attention to that old saying mentioned by Apostoli.

Sheen wrote more than 70 books, and during the procession before the Mass at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, altar servers carried numerous file boxes full of reviews of Sheen's voluminous writings.

Apostoli offered his own review of Sheen, lauding him for his outspoken stand against communism during the Cold War and calling him, "a solitary voice warning the nation against the dangers of communism."

The boxes also included about 100 testimonies regarding alleged miracles that some say occurred through Sheen's intercession.

The documents have been collected over the past five years by the Catholic Diocese of Peoria's Theological Commission.

The Mass, held in the cathedral where Sheen was ordained a priest in 1919, was part of the "postrema session," which means the next stage and that concludes the diocesan phase of the path toward sainthood.

After the Mass, Bishop Daniel Jenky commissioned Andrea Ambrosi, a theologian, to present the packages to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican.

Sheen, whom Pope John Paul II declared a "servant of God," has reputedly interceded in the healing of an ailing Champaign woman.

The Congregation for the Causes will, after reviewing the documents gathered Sunday, determine whether there is sufficient evidence that Sheen has interceded in a second miracle.

If they decide that he has, they will recommend that the pope declare Sheen "blessed." After the beatification, another process is necessary, including uncovering evidence of another miracle, before one who is blessed is declared a saint.

One of the testimonies gathered Sunday involves the healing of a Philadelphia woman, Francis Pelosi. Pelosi's daughter, Karen Fulte, who was attending the mass, said that after Pelosi's doctors diagnosed her with inoperable cancer and estimated that she had six months to live, Pelosi and her doctors made a novena, a nine-day prayer, to Sheen. Pelosi is now 84, and is called a "survivor" by her daughter.

In his homily, Apostoli told of Fulton's sense of humor, as expressed in his acceptance speech after winning the Emmy for outstanding television personality in 1952. Sheen thanked his script writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Apostoli also praised Sheen for having spoken against contraception, abortion and euthanasia. He said that Sheen is "still very much the voice of the church."

After the Mass, the Monsignor. Richard Soseman discussed the Bishop Sheen Ecumenical Housing Foundation, which provides low-income housing in the Rochester, N.Y., area, where Sheen was bishop. Soseman said that in addition to overseeing the foundation, Sheen spoke in support of the idea of the equality of the races in the 1920s and that he was frequently witnessed giving his coats to needy strangers.

Sheen was a major figure in the childhood memories of those who attended the Mass and who had grown up in the Roman Catholic church. Dolores Sheen, who married Fulton Sheen's nephew and served as a gift-bearer at the Mass, said the she recalled writing reviews of Sheen's show every week for classes at her Catholic school. Father Stanley Deptula, the master of ceremonies, said he was taught in his Catholic school in Newark a prayer written by Sheen about the Virgin Mary called "The Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue."