The Catholic University of Lueven was in the news this week for a huge controversy involving Islamic prayers being read during Mass
But there is an even more important story of relevance to the coming week, the beatification of one of its most famous alumni, Fulton Sheen
The story of how Sheen ended up studying in Louvain, then one university instead of the split between Dutch and French speaking now, is an amazing one that involves a prophecy by a bishop after a young Sheen suffered a major mishap while an altar boy in Saint Mary's Cathedral in Peoria, Illinois
Sheen recalls in his autobiography 'Treasures in Clay' a story from when he was around 8 years old and was serving Mass for Bishop John Lancaster. Sheen's Irish American mother was in attendance and the young Sheen was nervous at the prospect of serving Mass for such an esteemed figure as Bishop Spalding
When it came to the offertory, Sheen picked up the cruet containing wine to give to the bishop for the consecration. As he picked it up to present it, he dropped it accidentally. The cruet hit the marble floor of the sanctuary, shattering into pieces. Sheen said that it resembled an 'atomic explosion' and left him 'frightened to death'. In the silence of what ensued, Sheen told himself that he was in for a scolding, even for a permanent ban from altar serving.
The bishop called him over after Mass and as Sheen expected the worst, the bishop instead asked him a question. 'Where will you go to school?' Sheen assumed that he meant High School and answered, 'The Spalding Institute'. The bishop said 'no, later in life'. Before Sheen could answer that part, Spalding to Sheen to give a message to his mother.
The message was that Sheen would do two things
1) Study in Louvain (which Sheen had never heard of)
2) Sheen would someday be a bishop just as Spalding was
As fate would have it, Sheen indeed studied at Louvain in the 1920s, where he was awarded a PhD and earned a reputation not just for his intellect, but for his phenomenal preaching skills also.
He was appointed a bishop in 1951, fulfilling Spalding's prediction.
Sheen went on to become the 20th century's most popular Catholic television preacher, with an audience of millions.
During one of his talks, Sheen compared his experience with that of another. Sheen told the story of a an altar boy in Yugoslavia who dropped a cruet also. Instead of being treated with kindness, this altar boy was slapped and told never to return. The altar boy, Sheen tells us, later grew up to be Yugoslavia's Josip Tito.
Sheen spoke often of his time at Louvain, and it was always in admiration for the education that he received there:
'Regardless of how long I live, I will never be able to express the depth of my gratitude to this great university for the brilliance of its teaching, the inspiration of its leadership and the development it gave to the human mind'
